Tacos Sudados de Canasta (Surtidos)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and warming tortillas
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Deep pot or bowl with tight-fitting lid, or a true woven canasta lined with cotton cloth
• •Heavy cotton kitchen towel for wrapping

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the papa filling

   Boil the cubed papa in salted water until a knife passes through without resistance, about 12 minutes. Drain well. Melt 1 tablespoon of lard in a skillet over medium heat. Add half the diced onion and one minced garlic clove. Cook until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the drained papa and mash it roughly with a fork. You want texture, not puree. Season with salt and a pinch of the cumin. The papa should be assertive on its own. Inside a taco it will only get quieter.

2. 2

   Refry the frijoles

   Melt 1 tablespoon of lard in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining onion and the chopped tomate verde and cook until the onion is soft and the tomatillo has broken down, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining garlic for 30 seconds. Add the drained frijoles and mash them with a wooden spoon or a bean masher. Loosen with a splash of the reserved cooking liquid until you have a thick, spreadable paste. Season with salt. The frijoles need to be thick enough to stay inside the tortilla and not bleed out. Watery frijoles ruin a basket taco.

   Frijoles bayos are the bean of the Bajio and the Valle de Mexico. If you can only find pintos, use them. Black beans are the wrong color and the wrong flavor for this taco.
3. 3

   Cook the chicharron prensado

   Chicharron prensado is the dense, pressed pork fat and skin sold in slabs at every Mexico City mercado. It is not the airy puffed chicharron you eat with lime. This is the dark, rich, slightly funky version that basket tacos demand. Break it into a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Add 2 tablespoons of water and cover. Let it steam and soften for 8 to 10 minutes, then uncover and break it down further with a wooden spoon. It should be loose, dark, and unctuous. No additional fat needed. The chicharron is already swimming in its own.

4. 4

   Build the chile oil

   Toast the guajillo, arbol, and pasilla on a dry comal for about 30 seconds per side. They should puff and release their oil but never blacken. Tear them into pieces and soak in just enough hot tap water to cover for 15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a blender with 1/4 cup of the soaking water, the bay leaves broken in half, the oregano, the remaining cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend until completely smooth.

   The chile oil is what makes these tacos sudados, sweated. It saturates the tortillas inside the basket and lets them steam soft from the inside out. Without it you have cold tacos, not basket tacos.
5. 5

   Fry the chile oil

   Heat 1/3 cup of lard in a small saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Pour in the chile puree. Stand back. It will sputter hard. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, for 6 to 8 minutes, until the puree darkens and the lard separates and pools around the edge of the pan. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a heatproof bowl. You want the silky red-orange oil. Keep it warm. La manteca es el sabor.

6. 6

   Warm the tortillas

   Heat a comal over medium. Warm the tortillas one or two at a time, about 15 seconds per side. They should be pliable, not toasted. You are not making tacos dorados. Stack them under a clean kitchen towel as you go. If the tortilla cracks when you fold it, it is too dry. Pass it back over the comal for another few seconds.

7. 7

   Fill and fold

   Work fast now. The tortillas need to still be warm when you fold them. Spread about a tablespoon and a half of filling across the center of each tortilla. Papa in eight tortillas, frijoles in eight, chicharron prensado in eight. Fold each tortilla in half. Do not press them flat. You want them folded but loose so the chile oil can find its way inside.

8. 8

   Bathe the tacos in chile oil

   One taco at a time, dip the folded taco into the warm chile oil so both sides are lightly coated. Do not soak it. A quick swim through the oil is enough. The tortilla should turn red-orange and glisten. Stack the bathed tacos as you go in a deep bowl or pot lined with plastic wrap or a clean cotton cloth, the way the canasteros line their baskets to trap the heat.

9. 9

   Sweat them

   Once all 24 tacos are bathed and stacked, fold the cloth or plastic over the top, press a clean kitchen towel on top, and weigh it down with a small plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes minimum, up to two hours. This is the sweating. The tortillas absorb the chile oil, soften, and the tacos compact into the dense, gently steamed bundle that defines them. This is the step that separates basket tacos from any other taco. No me vengas con atajos.

   If you have a real woven canasta, line it with a thick cotton cloth and pile the tacos in. The traditional method. A pot with a tight-fitting lid and a folded towel is the kitchen substitute and works fine.
10. 10

    Serve in twos and threes

    Tacos de canasta are eaten in handfuls, two or three per person to start, more if the appetite calls for it. Serve straight from the cloth onto a plate. Pass the salsa verde cruda, the chiles en escabeche, the diced onion, and the cilantro at the table. No tomatoes, no lettuce, no cheese. These tacos do not need decoration. The canastero on the bicycle does not stop to plate. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Chicharron prensado is non-negotiable for this taco. It is not the puffy chicharron you eat with lime. It is the dense pressed version sold in slabs at Mexican carnicerias and mercados. If your butcher does not know what you are asking for, find a Mexican market that does. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •The tortillas have to be small, 4 to 5 inches across. Standard 6-inch tortillas are too big for this format. The canastero buys his tortillas from a specific tortilleria for a reason. Size matters here.
• •Do not refrigerate the bathed tacos and reheat them later. The chile oil congeals and the tortilla turns gummy. Sweat them at room temperature and eat them the same day. This is a dish that lives in a four-hour window.

Advance Preparation

• •The papa filling, refried frijoles, and chicharron prensado can all be made one day ahead and refrigerated separately. Bring them back to room temperature before assembling.
• •The chile oil can be made one day ahead and gently rewarmed. Do not assemble and sweat the tacos until the day you serve them. The sweating window is two to four hours at room temperature, and they do not survive refrigeration well.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 265g)