Tacos de Canasta de Queretaro

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry comal or heavy cast iron skillet
• •Blender
• •Small clay cazuela or heavy saucepan for chile oil
• •Deep wicker basket, insulated pot, or cooler lined with cloth
• •Clean cotton servilletas and food-safe plastic or parchment

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile guajillo and chile ancho separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skins darken slightly and smell warm. Do not blacken them. Burned chile makes bitter oil, and the whole basket will taste like your mistake.

2. 2

   Soak and blend

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes. Drain them, then blend with the sliced onion, 3 garlic cloves, Mexican oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup clean hot water until completely smooth. This is your adobo base. Strain it if your blender leaves skins behind. The oil must be clean enough to coat the tortillas, not gritty.

3. 3

   Make chile oil

   Melt 1 cup manteca de cerdo in a small cazuela or heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the blended adobo carefully, because it will sputter. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until the color deepens to brick red and the fat begins to separate at the edges. Reserve 1/2 cup of this adobo for the pork filling and keep the rest warm for brushing the tacos. La manteca es el sabor.

4. 4

   Cook potato filling

   Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Drain and mash them roughly, leaving small pieces. In a skillet, melt 3 tablespoons lard and cook the chopped onion with the chile serrano until the onion turns translucent. Add the potatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook until the potato absorbs the fat and holds together without looking wet.

5. 5

   Season pork filling

   Warm the shredded pork shoulder in a skillet with the reserved 1/2 cup adobo. Cook over medium heat until the meat is coated and the sauce clings instead of pooling. Taste for salt. This is adobo filling, not a saucy stew. The taco has to close.

6. 6

   Soften chicharron

   Put the chicharron prensado in a small skillet with 1/3 cup water. Cook over medium heat until it loosens, softens, and releases some fat, 6 to 8 minutes. Break it into coarse pieces with a spoon. Do not puree it. You want texture under the tortilla.

7. 7

   Prepare the basket

   Line a deep wicker basket or insulated pot with a clean cotton servilleta, then a sheet of food-safe plastic or parchment, then another clean cloth. The cloth holds heat, the liner keeps the chile oil from escaping, and the basket gives the tacos their shape. This is why they are tacos de canasta. The container is part of the recipe.

8. 8

   Fill the tortillas

   Warm the tortillas on a comal until pliable. Fill each with a modest spoonful of papa, adobo pork, or chicharron prensado. Fold once. Do not overfill. A basket taco should lie flat and stack cleanly. If it bursts, you were greedy, and the canasta will punish you.

9. 9

   Pack the canasta

   Brush the bottom cloth lightly with warm chile oil. Lay the tacos in tight rows, brushing each layer with more chile oil before adding the next. Keep the fillings in separate rows if you want people to know what they are grabbing. Fold the liner over the tacos, then fold the cloth over everything and close the basket. Let the tacos rest 45 minutes. They finish by sweating in their own heat and fat.

10. 10

    Make the salsa

    While the tacos rest, simmer the tomatillos and 3 serranos in water until the tomatillos turn olive green, about 8 minutes. Blend with 1 garlic clove and salt, then stir in the chopped cilantro and finely chopped white onion. The salsa should be sharp enough to cut through the lard. If it tastes sleepy, add salt and another serrano.

11. 11

    Serve from basket

    Open the basket at the table or picnic blanket. Serve the tacos warm and soft, with salsa verde, lime halves, and chiles en escabeche in small barro dishes. No plates are necessary, but a brown-glazed cazuela from Dolores Hidalgo looks right on a Bajio table. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use fresh corn tortillas from a tortilleria if you can. Supermarket tortillas crack because they are old and dry. If that is what you have, warm them well and keep them covered before filling. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Chicharron prensado is not the same as crisp pork rinds from a bag. Ask at a Mexican carniceria. It should be dense, reddish-brown, and fatty, sold in slabs or rough chunks.
• •Do not replace the manteca de cerdo with neutral oil unless you are accepting a different dish. Oil can stain the tortilla, but it will not give the same round flavor or soft texture.
• •The canasta must be packed tightly. Loose tacos cool too fast and do not sweat properly. The pressure is part of the method.
• •If the tomatillos are pale, hard, and flavorless, make a salsa de chile de arbol instead. Cook what the market is selling today. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.

Advance Preparation

• •The papa filling, pork adobo filling, and chicharron filling can be made one day ahead and refrigerated separately. Rewarm them before filling the tortillas.
• •The chile oil can be made one day ahead. Reheat gently until fluid before brushing the tacos.
• •Packed tacos de canasta are best eaten within 2 to 3 hours. After that, the tortillas keep softening and lose their structure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 100g)