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A Valles Centrales market staple built on a fried corn tortilla, spread with refried black beans, layered with thinly grilled tasajo, crumbled queso fresco, and a smoky salsa de chile pasilla oaxaqueño that belongs to no other state.
This is Oaxaca. Valles Centrales, specifically. The 20 de Noviembre market in Oaxaca City, where the pasillo de carnes runs the length of the building and the smoke from a dozen charcoal grills hangs in the air from morning until the last customer leaves. That is where the tostada de tasajo lives.
Tasajo is thinly sliced, salt-cured beef. Not jerky. Not carne seca from the north. Tasajo is cut so thin you can nearly see through it, salted lightly, and grilled fast over charcoal until the edges crisp and the center stays tender. The women at those market stalls have been grilling tasajo on the same parrillas for decades. They don't time it. They watch the meat. When the edges curl and the fat renders, it comes off the fire. Thirty seconds too long and you have shoe leather.
The tostada underneath is fried in oil until it holds its shape like a plate. The black beans are refried in manteca, because in Oaxaca the beans are black and the fat is lard. The salsa is made from chile pasilla oaxaqueno, the smoked chile that exists nowhere else in Mexico, ground with garlic and nothing more. And the queso fresco on top is the soft, crumbly kind from the Tlacolula market, not the block you find vacuum-sealed at a supermarket.
My mother didn't make tasajo. She was jalisciense. But when I first traveled to Oaxaca in my twenties and sat at a market stall with a tostada de tasajo in front of me, I understood something. Every state guards its own ingredients, its own cuts of meat, its own chiles. Cada estado, su propia cocina. The pasilla oaxaqueno on that tostada tasted like nothing I had eaten in Mexico City. Smoky, deep, with a heat that builds slowly. I wrote the name in my notebook and underlined it twice.
Tasajo as a preservation method, thin-slicing and salt-curing beef for extended shelf life, has roots in pre-refrigeration Oaxaca, where the Valles Centrales' warm, dry climate made air-curing practical and where indigenous Zapotec market systems distributed dried and cured meats across the region's tianguis network. The chile pasilla oaxaqueno, a smoke-dried chilaca pepper processed almost exclusively in Oaxaca's Mixe and Sierra Norte communities, has no equivalent outside the state and is classified separately from the non-smoked chile pasilla used in central Mexico. The 20 de Noviembre market's pasillo de carnes, where tasajo is grilled to order alongside cecina enchilada and Oaxacan chorizo, became a culinary landmark in the mid-20th century and remains the reference point against which every tostada de tasajo in the state is measured.
Quantity
1 pound
thinly sliced
Quantity
8
preferably Oaxacan-style from nixtamalized masa
Quantity
about 1 cup
for frying the tostadas
Quantity
2 cups
with 1/2 cup of their broth
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1/4 medium
finely chopped
Quantity
to taste
Quantity
5
Quantity
2
unpeeled
Quantity
1/4 cup
Quantity
4 ounces
crumbled
Quantity
1/2 cup
Quantity
1
sliced
Quantity
1 cup
shredded
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| tasajo (Oaxacan salt-cured beef)thinly sliced | 1 pound |
| corn tortillaspreferably Oaxacan-style from nixtamalized masa | 8 |
| vegetable oilfor frying the tostadas | about 1 cup |
| cooked black beanswith 1/2 cup of their broth | 2 cups |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo) | 2 tablespoons |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/4 medium |
| kosher salt | to taste |
| dried chile pasilla oaxaqueno | 5 |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 2 |
| water | 1/4 cup |
| queso frescocrumbled | 4 ounces |
| Mexican crema (optional) | 1/2 cup |
| ripe avocado (optional)sliced | 1 |
| iceberg or romaine lettuce (optional)shredded | 1 cup |
Heat a dry comal or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Toast the chile pasilla oaxaqueno for about 20 seconds per side, pressing them gently against the comal with a spatula. They will puff, darken slightly, and release a smoky smell that is unmistakably Oaxacan. No other chile in Mexico smells like this. At the same time, place the unpeeled garlic cloves on the comal and let them char on all sides, turning every couple of minutes, until the skin is black and the inside is soft, about 8 minutes. Peel the garlic. Tear the toasted chiles into pieces, removing the stems and most of the seeds. Place the chiles, garlic, water, and a pinch of salt in a blender. Blend until you have a rough, thick salsa. It should not be perfectly smooth. Taste it. Smoky, moderately hot, with a deep dried-fruit quality underneath. Adjust salt. Set aside.
Pour the vegetable oil into a deep skillet or wide saucepan to a depth of about half an inch. Heat over medium-high until a small piece of tortilla dropped in sizzles immediately and floats. Fry each tortilla one at a time, about 45 seconds to one minute per side, until golden and rigid. They should hold flat without bending when you lift them with tongs. Drain on a wire rack or paper towels. Salt them lightly while they are still hot. If you have good pre-made tostadas from a Mexican market, use those. No shame in it. The market vendors in Oaxaca buy theirs from a tortilleria down the street.
Melt the lard in a skillet over medium heat. When it shimmers, add the chopped onion and cook until it softens and turns translucent, about three minutes. Add the cooked black beans with their broth. Mash them in the skillet with a bean masher or the back of a wooden spoon, leaving some texture. You are not making baby food. You want a thick, spreadable paste that still has chunks. Cook for five to seven minutes, stirring often, until the beans pull away from the bottom of the pan and hold their shape on a spoon. La manteca es el sabor. The lard gives these beans the richness that oil never will.
Heat a comal, cast iron skillet, or outdoor grill to high heat. You want it hot enough that the meat sizzles on contact. If you are using a skillet, brush it with a thin film of oil. Lay the tasajo slices flat on the hot surface in a single layer. Do not crowd them. Cook for about one to two minutes per side. The edges will curl and darken, the fat will render, and the surface will develop a light char. That is your signal. Pull it immediately. Tasajo is thin and salt-cured, so it cooks fast and it dries out faster. Better to pull it ten seconds early than ten seconds late. Let it rest for a minute on a cutting board, then chop it into rough bite-sized pieces.
Spread a thick layer of refried black beans on each tostada. The beans are the glue and the foundation. Pile the chopped grilled tasajo on top of the beans. Add a small handful of shredded lettuce if you want the contrast. Drizzle with Mexican crema. Scatter crumbled queso fresco generously over everything. Lay a few slices of avocado on top. Spoon the chile pasilla oaxaqueno salsa over the whole thing or serve it on the side for each person to add as they like. Eat it immediately. A tostada waits for nobody. The moment the beans meet the fried tortilla, the clock starts. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
1 serving (about 210g)
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