Pacholas Potosinas

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Metate and mano for grinding and flattening
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chile pasilla
• •Wide cast iron skillet or shallow clay cazuela for frying
• •Wire rack or brown paper for draining

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the pasilla

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile pasilla for 15 to 20 seconds per side, just until the skin softens and the smell turns deep and raisiny. Do not blacken it. Pasilla is thin and turns bitter fast. Burned chile will announce itself in every bite.

2. 2

   Soak and grind

   Cover the toasted chiles with hot water and let them soften for 15 minutes. Drain well. Grind the chiles with the garlic, salt, cumin, clove, oregano, and black pepper on a metate until you have a dark paste. If you use a blender, use only a spoonful of water to move the blades. You need paste, not salsa.

3. 3

   Soften the bread

   Tear the bolillo into small pieces and soak it in the milk for 5 minutes. Squeeze lightly so it is moist but not dripping. This bread is not filler for laziness. It keeps the thin pachola tender while the lard browns the outside.

4. 4

   Mix the meat

   In a wide bowl, combine the ground beef, chile paste, grated onion, soaked bread, and egg. Mix with your hand until the seasoning is evenly worked through and the meat feels sticky. Taste for salt by frying a teaspoon of the mixture in a small skillet. Raw guessing is how food comes out flat.

5. 5

   Flatten on metate

   Divide the meat into 12 portions. Lay one portion on a lightly damp metate or between two pieces of plastic if you must. Press and drag it into a thin oval, about 1/4 inch thick. The old cooks make them with the mano so the surface has ridges from the stone. Those ridges catch the lard and brown first. That is the pachola's character.

6. 6

   Fry in lard

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide cast iron skillet or cazuela over medium-high heat. Fry the pacholas in batches, 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the edges darken and the center is just cooked through. Do not crowd the pan. Crowding drops the heat and the meat stews instead of frying. La manteca es el sabor.

7. 7

   Serve potosino

   Drain the pacholas briefly on a rack or brown paper. Serve hot with frijoles charros, warm corn tortillas, and salsa de chile serrano. Put them on barro or terracotta, not a cold fancy plate. This is weeknight food from San Luis Potosi, but weeknight does not mean careless. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chile pasilla that is flexible, dark, and smells like dried fruit. If it cracks like paper and smells dusty, leave it at the stall. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •The beef should have some fat. Very lean ground beef makes dry pacholas, and then people blame the recipe. Use 85 percent lean and fry in manteca de cerdo.
• •A metate gives the right texture. If you do not have one, flatten the patties thin between plastic and press ridges with your fingers. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Frijoles charros belong beside this dish because they make the plate complete: beans, broth, pork, chile, and beef. A dry pile of rice is not the same meal.

Advance Preparation

• •The seasoned meat mixture can be made up to one day ahead and refrigerated tightly covered. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before shaping so it presses evenly.
• •Shaped raw pacholas can be layered between parchment and refrigerated for up to 8 hours. Fry them just before serving so the edges stay crisp.
• •Cooked pacholas reheat best on a hot comal with a small spoonful of lard, 1 minute per side.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 350g)