Tostadas de Pata Estilo CDMX

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart stockpot or pressure cooker
• •Slotted spoon or kitchen spider
• •Sharp paring knife for picking the patas
• •Heavy skillet for refrying the beans
• •Cast iron comal for warming tostadas
• •Wide mixing bowl for the vinagreta

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the trotters

   Place the trotter pieces in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let them sit for 15 minutes, then drain and rinse well under cold running water. Patas are full of collagen and small bones, and the rinse pulls out any blood and stray bone shards. Do not skip this. The clarity of the broth depends on it.

   Ask your butcher to saw the patas crosswise into 1-inch rounds. Whole trotters take twice as long to cook and are harder to pick clean later. At La Merced, the carniceros will do this without you asking. Anywhere else, you have to say so.
2. 2

   Simmer the patas

   Place the trotters in a heavy 6-quart stockpot. Cover with cold water by three inches. Add the halved onion, halved garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, and 2 tablespoons of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first 20 minutes. Cold water draws the foam to the top where you can lift it off; boiling water folds it back into the broth and clouds the meat.

3. 3

   Cook low and slow

   Reduce heat until you see lazy bubbles every few seconds. Cover partially and cook for two and a half to three hours. The patas are done when the skin yields easily to a knife and the gelatin around the bones turns soft and translucent. Do not rush this. Undercooked pata is rubbery and unpleasant. Properly cooked pata is silky.

   If you use a pressure cooker, 45 minutes at full pressure will do the work of three hours on the stove. No me vengas con atajos, except this one. The pressure cooker is fine here. Just let the pressure release naturally.
4. 4

   Pick the meat

   Lift the trotters out of the broth with a slotted spoon and spread them on a sheet pan to cool until you can handle them. Pick all the meat, skin, and tendons off the bones. Discard the bones and the obvious cartilage knobs. Chop everything else into rough 1/2-inch pieces. The skin and tendons are the texture of the dish. Leave them in. Strain and save the broth for soup; pata broth is liquid gold and gels solid in the fridge.

5. 5

   Make the vinagreta

   In a large bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, the 2 tablespoons extra vinegar, the olive oil, the diced onion, the diced tomato, the minced serranos, the cilantro, the oregano, the ground pepper, and 1 teaspoon salt. Taste it. The vinagreta should be sharp and aggressive. The pata is rich and fatty, and the vinegar is what cuts through. If the vinagreta is timid, the tostada is timid. Adjust the salt and the vinegar until your mouth waters.

6. 6

   Dress the pata

   Add the chopped pata to the bowl with the vinagreta and toss thoroughly. Let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, or refrigerate for up to 24 hours. The longer it sits, the better it tastes. The gelatin in the pata absorbs the vinegar and the dish goes from good to serious overnight. This is a market preparation; the tostaderas at La Merced and Mercado de Jamaica make a big batch in the morning and serve from it all day.

7. 7

   Refry the beans

   Melt the lard in a heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the cooked beans with a splash of their cooking liquid and mash them with a wooden spoon or a bean masher. Cook, stirring, until they tighten into a thick, spreadable paste that pulls away from the sides of the pan. Taste for salt. La manteca es el sabor. Beans cooked in vegetable oil do not taste like Mexican beans. They taste like beans cooked in vegetable oil.

8. 8

   Fry or toast the tostadas

   If you are frying your own tostadas, heat 1/2 inch of neutral oil in a heavy skillet to 350F. Slide in the tortillas one at a time and fry for 30 to 45 seconds per side, until rigid and golden. Drain on paper towels and salt lightly while warm. If you are using store-bought tostadas, warm them on a comal for 30 seconds per side to wake them up. A cold tostada from the bag tastes like cardboard.

9. 9

   Build the tostadas

   Spread a generous tablespoon of refried beans across each tostada. Pile a heaping spoonful of the dressed pata on top. Drizzle with crema. Crumble queso fresco over the top. Lay two slices of avocado across each one. Serve immediately with pickled jalapeños, salsa de chile de árbol, and lime halves on the side. Eat them with two hands and lean forward. Tostadas de pata are not a dignified food and that is part of why we love them. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your patas from a butcher who sells whole pork. Ask for them split into 1-inch rounds. If your butcher will not split them for you, find a different butcher. Whole patas cooked whole take forever and are a misery to pick.
• •The vinagreta is the dish. Make it the day before if you can. Refrigerated overnight, the onion mellows, the tomato breaks down a little, and the vinegar settles. The pata picks up the flavor and the tostada becomes serious.
• •Use crema mexicana, not sour cream. Crema is thinner, less tangy, and pours in a thin stream from a spoon. Sour cream sits on top in a clump and tastes wrong. If you cannot find crema mexicana, thin sour cream with a little whole milk and a pinch of salt. This is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Queso fresco crumbles. Queso añejo grates into a dry, salty powder. Either is correct. Cheddar is not. Do not put cheddar on a tostada de pata. There is no version of this dish where that is acceptable.

Advance Preparation

• •The patas can be cooked and picked two days ahead. Store the meat refrigerated in some of its strained cooking liquid to keep it moist.
• •The dressed pata in vinagreta keeps in the refrigerator for up to four days and improves with time. This is the kind of dish that gets better, not worse, as the days pass.
• •The refried beans can be made up to three days ahead. Reheat with a splash of water or bean broth to loosen them back to spreadable consistency.
• •Assemble the tostadas at the last possible moment. A built tostada sitting on the counter for ten minutes is a soggy tostada. The crisp tortilla is non-negotiable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)