Chef Lupita
Birria Tacos with Consome
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Culinary Explorer
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Burro Percheron Sonorense
Created by
Hermosillo's nighttime monster, named for a draft horse: mesquite-grilled carne asada, melted queso Chihuahua, whole avocado, frijoles, and crema rolled in a 20-inch sobaquera so thin you can read through it.
Sandwiches & Wraps
Mexican
Outdoor Dining
Game Day
Comfort Food
45 min
Active Time
20 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 large burros
This is from Sonora. Specifically from Hermosillo, where the burro percheron belongs to the late-night carretas parked along the avenues and to the food trucks that open after the sun finally lets go of the desert. The burro percheron is not a Mission burrito. It is older, simpler, and rooted in a different geography: the cattle country of the Mexican northwest, where flour tortillas are a birthright and mesquite is the cooking fuel.
The sobaquera is the soul of this dish. A flour tortilla so thin and so wide it drapes over the cook's forearm while she stretches it. The name comes from sobaco, the armpit, because that is roughly where it ends up. Sonoran women have been making them this way for generations, in wheat-growing country where corn was always the second grain. If you serve a burro percheron on a small store-bought flour tortilla, you have made a burrito. You have not made a percheron.
The meat is arrachera grilled over mesquite. Not gas. Not propane. Mesquite. The smoke is dry and faintly sweet and the desert wood is what makes Sonoran carne asada taste like Sonoran carne asada. The cheese is Chihuahua or asadero, melted onto the tortilla so it pulls in long strings when you lift it. The avocado is whole, not mashed. The crema is real Mexican crema, not sour cream. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and this one belongs to the noroeste.
The burro is named for the percheron, the heavy draft horse, because it is supposed to be huge. Two-handed huge. The kind of food you eat once a week and remember for the rest of it. La manteca es el sabor and so is the size. No me vengas con atajos.
The flour tortilla tradition of Sonora and the broader Mexican noroeste dates to the 17th and 18th centuries, when Spanish colonists introduced wheat cultivation to the arid northwest and indigenous Yaqui, Mayo, and Opata women adapted the grain to the comal in place of corn, which grew poorly in the desert. The sobaquera, sometimes called tortilla de agua, is the regional refinement of that tradition: stretched by hand to enormous diameters, paper-thin, and impossibly elastic. The burro percheron itself is a 20th-century street-cart invention from Hermosillo, named for the percheron draft horse to advertise its size, and it predates by decades the more famous Mission-style burrito of San Francisco; the chimichanga, often credited to Tucson, descends from the same Sonoran chivichanga tradition of frying a stuffed flour tortilla, a fact that Sonoran cooks have been quietly correcting for years.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
beef arrachera or skirt steak
Quantity
2 pounds
trimmed of silverskin
fresh lime juice
Quantity
1/2 cup (about 6 limes)
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
smashed
kosher salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon
coarsely cracked black pepper
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dried Mexican oregano
Quantity
1 teaspoon
crumbled
sobaquera flour tortillas, 18 to 20 inches across
Quantity
4
queso Chihuahua
Quantity
12 ounces
shredded (substitute queso asadero or Menonita)
large Hass avocados
Quantity
2
halved and sliced
crema mexicana
Quantity
1 cup
frijoles puercos or refried pinto beans
Quantity
2 cups
warmed
pico de gallo
Quantity
1 cup
tomato, white onion, serrano, cilantro, lime, salt
salsa de chiltepin
Quantity
1/2 cup
or salsa de chile de arbol
mesquite wood chips
Quantity
1 cup
soaked 30 minutes (or mesquite lump charcoal)
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
for the comal
pickled jalapenos and carrots (optional)
Quantity
for serving
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| beef arrachera or skirt steaktrimmed of silverskin | 2 pounds |
| fresh lime juice | 1/2 cup (about 6 limes) |
| garlic clovessmashed | 4 |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon |
| coarsely cracked black pepper | 1 teaspoon |
| dried Mexican oreganocrumbled | 1 teaspoon |
| sobaquera flour tortillas, 18 to 20 inches across | 4 |
| queso Chihuahuashredded (substitute queso asadero or Menonita) | 12 ounces |
| large Hass avocadoshalved and sliced | 2 |
| crema mexicana | 1 cup |
| frijoles puercos or refried pinto beanswarmed | 2 cups |
| pico de gallotomato, white onion, serrano, cilantro, lime, salt | 1 cup |
| salsa de chiltepinor salsa de chile de arbol | 1/2 cup |
| mesquite wood chipssoaked 30 minutes (or mesquite lump charcoal) | 1 cup |
| manteca de cerdo | for the comal |
| pickled jalapenos and carrots (optional) | for serving |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Charcoal grill with a chimney starter
- •Mesquite wood chips or mesquite lump charcoal
- •Wide cast iron comal, at least 14 inches
- •Sharp chef's knife for chopping the carne asada
- •Wide metal bowl or sheet pan for melting the cheese on the tortilla
Instructions
- 1
Marinate the arrachera
Lay the meat in a shallow dish. Rub it with the lime juice, smashed garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, no longer. Sonoran carne asada is not ceviche. The lime is for fragrance and a little bite. Leave it overnight and the meat turns mealy. Asi se hace y punto.
No me vengas con atajos like soy sauce, beer, or pineapple. Sonora marinates carne asada with lime, salt, pepper, and a little oregano. The mesquite does the rest. - 2
Build the mesquite fire
Light a charcoal grill and let the coals burn down to a glowing bed with white ash on top. Scatter the soaked mesquite chips over the coals, or use mesquite lump charcoal from the start. Mesquite is the cooking fuel of the Sonoran Desert. The smoke is dry, sweet, and faintly resinous, and it is what separates Sonoran carne asada from any other grilled beef in Mexico.
- 3
Grill the meat hot and fast
Pull the meat from the marinade and shake off the garlic. Lay it directly over the hottest part of the fire. Sonoran arrachera is thin. Two to three minutes per side, no more. You want a deep char on the outside and a rosy pink interior. Pull it onto a wooden cutting board and let it rest five minutes before chopping it into rough small pieces. The juices stay where they belong.
- 4
Warm the sobaquera
A sobaquera is the flour tortilla of Sonora and northwest Mexico, paper-thin and stretched until it is wide enough to drape over the cook's forearm. The name comes from sobaco, the armpit, because that is roughly where it ends up while she works it. Heat a wide comal over medium-low and rub it with a film of manteca. Lay one sobaquera on the comal for 20 seconds per side, just to soften and pick up a few light brown freckles. It must stay pliable. A crisp tortilla cannot roll a burro percheron without splitting.
If you cannot find a true sobaquera, the largest burrito-size flour tortillas you can buy will work in a pinch. They are a compromise, not an upgrade. The thinness and stretch of a sobaquera is part of the dish. - 5
Melt the cheese on the tortilla
While the second side warms, scatter a generous handful of shredded queso Chihuahua across the center of the tortilla. Cover with a wide metal bowl or a sheet pan for 30 seconds so the cheese melts into the surface and pulls in long strings when you lift it. Queso Chihuahua, asadero, or Menonita. No cheddar. No yellow shredded blend. The cheese has to be Norteno or the burro is wrong.
- 6
Layer the burro percheron
Slide the cheesed tortilla onto a clean board, melted side up. Down the center, in a straight line, build the burro: a generous spoon of frijoles puercos first, then a quarter of the chopped carne asada, then half an avocado fanned out, then a few spoons of pico de gallo, a drizzle of crema, and a spoon of salsa de chiltepin. Be generous. The burro percheron is named for the percheron horse, the heavy draft animal. It is supposed to be huge. A polite burro is not a percheron.
- 7
Roll it tight
Fold the bottom edge of the tortilla up over the filling, then fold in both sides, then roll forward, keeping the bundle tight. The sobaquera is forgiving because it is thin and elastic. Lay the rolled burro seam-side down on the comal for 30 seconds to seal it shut. Cut it in half on the bias if you want to see the layers, or leave it whole and let the eater wrestle it. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo.
- 8
Serve at the cart
Set the burro percheron on a small plate or a square of butcher paper. Pickled jalapenos and carrots in a small bowl. Lime wedges. More salsa de chiltepin on the side for the brave. This is street food from Hermosillo and it should be eaten standing up, late at night, with cold beer in hand. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •Mesquite is the difference between Sonoran carne asada and grilled beef from anywhere else. If you cannot find mesquite chips or lump charcoal, find a Mexican grocery that sells carbon de mezquite. A gas grill will give you a fine steak and a wrong burro.
- •Queso Chihuahua, asadero, or Menonita are the three correct cheeses, all from the noroeste. Monterey Jack is a compromise that will melt acceptably but will not taste right. Cheddar is wrong. A pre-shredded yellow blend is a costume.
- •Frijoles puercos are pinto beans cooked with lard, chorizo, and chiles, the Sinaloa-Sonora cousin of refried beans. If you only have refried pinto beans, fry them in a tablespoon of manteca with a little crumbled chorizo before they go in the burro. La manteca es el sabor.
- •Salsa de chiltepin is the salsa of Sonora. The chiltepin is a tiny wild chile that grows in the foothills of the sierra and tastes hotter and brighter than the chile de arbol. If you cannot find it, salsa de chile de arbol is the closest substitute.
Advance Preparation
- •The carne asada can be marinated up to 30 minutes ahead. Longer than that and the lime starts to break the meat down. Do not marinate overnight.
- •The frijoles puercos can be made two days ahead and reheated with a splash of bean liquid or water. They taste better on day two.
- •The pico de gallo and the salsa de chiltepin are best made the same day. Pico goes watery overnight and the chiltepin loses its bright edge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 785g)
Calories
1845 calories
Total Fat
116 g
Saturated Fat
50 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
60 g
Cholesterol
280 mg
Sodium
2750 mg
Total Carbohydrates
111 g
Dietary Fiber
18 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
89 g
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