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Puebla's small soft tortillas, briefly fried in lard on the comal and dressed alive with red or green salsa, shredded chicken, and raw white onion. Served by the half-dozen, eaten with the hands, gone in minutes.
Chalupas are from Puebla. Not the Tex-Mex fried boat with lettuce and yellow cheese, that thing is a costume. The real chalupa poblana is a small, soft tortilla, slightly thicker than a regular tortilla and about the size of your palm, briefly fried in lard on a comal, dressed with salsa verde or salsa roja, topped with shredded chicken and raw white onion. Nothing else. They come to the table by the half-dozen, alternating green and red, and you eat them with your hands while they are still hot.
In Puebla, the chalupas at El Carmen and along the streets near the centro are made on big black flat-iron comales, one cook pressing masa, another dressing them with salsa from clay cazuelas with a wooden spoon, a line of people watching the assembly. The chalupita goes from press, to comal, to lard, to salsa, to plate in under two minutes. That speed is part of the dish. A chalupa that sits is a chalupa that fails.
The key is the lard. Not oil. La manteca es el sabor. You are not deep-frying. You are passing each little tortilla through hot lard for ten seconds, just long enough to seal the surface and give the masa the flavor of manteca de cerdo. Then it gets dressed immediately, while it is still hot enough to drink in the salsa. Skip the lard, use oil, and you have a flat tortilla with sauce on it. That is not what a poblano eats on a Tuesday night.
My mother was not from Puebla. She was jalisciense. But she had a recipe for chalupas in her notebook, copied from a woman she worked with at the office where she kept the books before I was born. The woman was from Puebla and she made my mother promise she would not use cheese. I have kept that promise. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chalupas poblanas take their name from the Spanish word for a small boat (chalupa), a reference to the slightly raised edge that traditional versions can have, though the modern Puebla chalupita is essentially flat. The dish is documented as a street food in Puebla since at least the late 19th century, sold from comales set up outside churches and in the central markets, and it remains a fixture of the city's antojito tradition alongside cemitas, chalupas' richer sandwich cousin. The American Tex-Mex 'chalupa,' a deep-fried boat-shaped shell topped with ground beef, lettuce, and cheese, has no relation to the Puebla original beyond the borrowed name; the divergence happened in the mid-20th century as Mexican-American cooks in Texas adapted the form for a different palate and pantry.
Quantity
2 (about 1 pound)
Quantity
1/2 medium, plus more for serving
Quantity
3
peeled
Quantity
1
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
or 2 cups masa harina mixed with 1 1/4 cups warm water
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
only if using masa harina
Quantity
1/2 cup, plus more as needed
Quantity
1 pound
husked and rinsed (for salsa verde)
Quantity
3
stemmed (for salsa verde)
Quantity
1/2 cup, packed
for salsa verde
Quantity
1/4 small
for salsa verde
Quantity
1
for salsa verde
Quantity
4
stemmed and seeded (for salsa roja)
Quantity
2
stemmed and seeded (for salsa roja)
Quantity
2
stemmed (for salsa roja)
Quantity
3 medium
for salsa roja
Quantity
1
for salsa roja
Quantity
1/4 small
for salsa roja
Quantity
1
finely diced, for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs | 2 (about 1 pound) |
| white onion | 1/2 medium, plus more for serving |
| garlic clovespeeled | 3 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| masa fresca for tortillasor 2 cups masa harina mixed with 1 1/4 cups warm water | 1 1/2 pounds |
| fine salt (optional)only if using masa harina | 1/2 teaspoon |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo) | 1/2 cup, plus more as needed |
| tomatilloshusked and rinsed (for salsa verde) | 1 pound |
| fresh chile serranostemmed (for salsa verde) | 3 |
| fresh cilantro leavesfor salsa verde | 1/2 cup, packed |
| white onionfor salsa verde | 1/4 small |
| garlic clovefor salsa verde | 1 |
| dried chile guajillostemmed and seeded (for salsa roja) | 4 |
| dried chile anchostemmed and seeded (for salsa roja) | 2 |
| dried chile de arbolstemmed (for salsa roja) | 2 |
| roma tomatoesfor salsa roja | 3 medium |
| garlic clovefor salsa roja | 1 |
| white onionfor salsa roja | 1/4 small |
| small white onionfinely diced, for serving | 1 |
Place the chicken thighs in a small pot with the half onion, three garlic cloves, bay leaf, and the kosher salt. Cover with cold water by an inch. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and cook for 25 minutes, until the meat pulls away cleanly from the bone. Let the chicken cool in its broth for ten minutes. This keeps it moist. Shred the meat by hand into thin strands and reserve. Save the broth. You will use it later if the masa is dry.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Drop in the tomatillos and serranos. Boil for 5 to 7 minutes, until the tomatillos turn from bright green to olive and the skins start to split. Drain and transfer to a blender with the cilantro, the quarter onion, the garlic clove, and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth but not foamy. Taste for salt. A salsa verde for chalupas should be sharp and assertive, not shy.
Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo, ancho, and arbol chiles separately for about 20 seconds per side. They should puff and smell like the chile vendor's stall at the Mercado Sanchez in Puebla. Watch the arbol, it burns first. On the same comal, char the tomatoes, the garlic clove, and the quarter onion until blackened in spots, about 8 minutes, turning often. Transfer the toasted chiles to a bowl, cover with hot tap water, and soak 15 minutes. Drain the chiles and blend with the charred tomatoes, garlic, onion, and a pinch of salt until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. The salsa should be the color of dark brick.
If using fresh masa, knead it for two minutes with damp hands. It should feel like soft clay, neither sticky nor cracked. If it cracks at the edges when you pinch it, work in a tablespoon of the warm chicken broth at a time until it gives. If using masa harina, mix it with the warm water and the fine salt and let it rest covered for 20 minutes before kneading. Divide into 24 balls about the size of a small walnut, around 1 ounce each. Keep them covered with a damp cloth so they do not dry out.
Cut two squares of plastic from a freezer bag. Place a masa ball between them and press with a tortilla press into a round about 3 1/2 inches across and a little thicker than a tortilla, around 1/8 inch. Chalupas are smaller and slightly thicker than a regular tortilla because they need to hold sauce without falling apart. Peel the plastic carefully. The edges should be slightly uneven. That is correct.
Heat a dry comal over medium-high. Cook each chalupita for about 45 seconds on the first side, until it releases easily, flip and cook 60 seconds on the second side, then flip back and cook 30 more seconds. It should puff slightly and develop a few brown spots. Do not let it dry out or crisp up. A chalupa is soft, not a tostada. Stack them in a clean cloth as they come off the comal.
This is the step that makes a chalupa a chalupa. Melt the lard in a wide, heavy skillet or back on the comal until it shimmers but does not smoke. Slide a chalupita into the lard for 10 to 15 seconds per side. Not more. You are not making a tostada, you are sealing the surface and giving the masa the flavor of the manteca. La manteca es el sabor. Lift it out with a slotted spatula and immediately spoon a tablespoon of salsa, verde or roja, over the top while the chalupa is still hot from the lard.
Top each saucy chalupita with a small mound of shredded chicken and a generous pinch of finely diced raw white onion. No cheese. No crema. No lettuce. That is Tex-Mex. A chalupa poblana is salsa, pollo, cebolla. That is it. Serve by the half-dozen on a flat plate, alternating verde and roja, and eat them with your hands the moment they hit the table. Así se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 435g)
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