Torta Cubana Chilanga

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 12-inch skillet for frying milanesa
• •Cast iron comal for toasting the teleras
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Sharp serrated knife for slicing the teleras
• •Three shallow plates for breading station

Instructions

1. 1

   Find the right telera

   Before you cook anything, find proper teleras at a Mexican bakery. Not bolillos. Not ciabatta. Not brioche. Teleras are oval, flat, with three ridges scored on top, and a soft crumb that absorbs sauce without falling apart. The torta cubana is built on the telera. Substitute the bread and you have made something else. No me vengas con atajos.

   Day-old teleras are better than fresh ones for this. The crumb firms up overnight and holds the weight of everything you are about to pile inside.
2. 2

   Bread the milanesa

   Season the pounded meat with salt and pepper on both sides. Set up three shallow plates: flour, beaten egg, breadcrumbs. Dredge each piece in flour, shake off the excess, dip in egg, then press firmly into the breadcrumbs on both sides until fully coated. The crumbs need to grip the meat. Loose breading falls off in the pan and you end up with bald milanesa, which is no milanesa at all.

3. 3

   Fry the milanesa

   Heat the vegetable oil in a wide skillet over medium-high. The oil should shimmer but not smoke. Fry the milanesas one or two at a time, about 2 minutes per side, until golden brown and crisp. Drain on a wire rack, never paper towels. Paper towels steam the bottom and ruin the crust you just built. Keep warm.

   If the oil is too cool, the breading drinks oil and goes soggy. If it is too hot, the crust browns before the meat cooks. Test with a pinch of breadcrumbs first. They should sizzle on contact but not blacken.
4. 4

   Sear the salchichas and warm the pierna and ham

   Melt the lard in a clean skillet over medium heat. La manteca es el sabor. Lay the split salchichas cut-side down and cook until the edges curl and brown, about 2 minutes. Push them to one side and warm the pierna and the ham in the same fat for one minute per side, just enough to soften them and let the fat carry the flavor.

5. 5

   Fry the eggs

   In the same skillet, fry the four eggs in the remaining lard. You want the whites set with crisp lacy edges and the yolks still soft. The yolk is part of the architecture of this torta. It breaks when you bite and runs through the layers. Cook them too hard and you lose that.

6. 6

   Toast and prepare the teleras

   Slice each telera in half horizontally. Toast the cut sides on a dry comal or in a clean skillet over medium heat until golden and lightly crisp. While the bread is still warm, spread the bottom half with a generous layer of refried black beans and the top half with a smear of mayonnaise. The beans are the glue. They keep the bread from going soggy under the weight of everything else.

7. 7

   Build the torta

   Now you stack. On the bean side, layer in this order: pierna, ham, milanesa, queso Oaxaca pulled into ribbons across the hot milanesa so it melts on contact, two halves of split salchicha, the fried egg, two slices of tomato, a handful of sliced white onion, sliced avocado, a generous pile of pickled jalapenos en escabeche with their carrots and onion. Drizzle with crema. Sprinkle a teaspoon of the pickle liquid over everything. Close with the mayonnaise-spread top.

8. 8

   Press and serve

   Press the torta firmly with the palm of your hand. The bread should compress and the layers should settle into one another. This is not a sandwich you eat politely. Cut diagonally if you must, but in any tortería in Ciudad de México they hand it to you whole, wrapped in waxed paper, and you eat it standing up. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •The pierna is the ingredient most cooks skip and most cooks should not skip. It is slow-roasted pork leg, sold sliced at the deli counter of any Mexican rosticeria or tortilleria. Without it, your torta is missing the deepest, most pork-forward layer. If you cannot find pierna, use a good roast pork loin you cooked yourself the day before. Do not use deli ham twice. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Queso Oaxaca is the right cheese here because it pulls into long ribbons and melts on contact with the hot milanesa. Queso manchego mexicano (which is nothing like Spanish manchego) is the second choice. Do not use mozzarella. Do not use cheddar. Yellow cheese on a torta cubana is Tex-Mex thinking, and this is a chilango sandwich.
• •Refried black beans go on the bread before anything else for a reason. They seal the crumb against the wet ingredients and they add a layer of flavor that holds the whole stack together. Pinto beans work but black beans are what they use at the torterias in the Centro.

Advance Preparation

• •The milanesa can be breaded several hours ahead, laid on a plate, and refrigerated uncovered so the breading dries and adheres better when fried.
• •The refried beans can be made up to three days ahead and reheated with a splash of water to loosen them.
• •The pierna and the pickled jalapenos en escabeche can be bought the day before. Do not assemble the torta in advance under any circumstances. The bread will collapse and the milanesa will lose its crust within ten minutes of being stacked. This is a sandwich built to order.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 580g)