Panuchos de Pavo en Escabeche Oriental

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart stockpot or olla for the turkey
• •Wide cazuela or 12-inch cast iron skillet for the escabeche
• •Cast iron comal for charring chiles and puffing tortillas
• •Tortilla press lined with cut plastic
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan
• •Sharp paring knife for opening the panuchos
• •Molcajete or spice grinder if making recado blanco from scratch

Instructions

1. 1

   Pickle the red onions

   Drop the sliced red onions into a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water for ten seconds, then drain. This takes the raw bite off without cooking them. Return to the bowl and add the naranja agria juice, oregano, and salt. Press the onions down so they sit submerged. Leave on the counter for at least 30 minutes while you build the rest of the dish. They will turn the color of a Mérida sunset.

   Naranja agria is the only correct acid here. If you cannot find it, mix orange juice with lime and a splash of white vinegar. Plain lime alone is wrong: too sharp, no perfume.
2. 2

   Simmer the turkey

   Place the turkey in a heavy pot with the halved onion, halved head of garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, oregano, and one tablespoon salt. Cover with cold water by two inches. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam that rises in the first fifteen minutes. Cook at a lazy bubble, partially covered, for 50 to 60 minutes, until the meat pulls cleanly from the bone. Cold water start, slow simmer. A rolling boil makes the meat stringy and the broth cloudy.

3. 3

   Char the chiles and garlic

   While the turkey simmers, heat a dry comal over medium-high. Lay the chile xcatic directly on the metal. Turn them until the skin blisters and blackens in patches on every side, about 6 minutes total. Pull them off. Now char the 8 garlic cloves in their skins until the papery exterior is dark and the cloves inside are soft, about 8 minutes. Peel the garlic. The char is not optional. Without it, the escabeche tastes flat. The Yucatecan kitchen runs on fire.

4. 4

   Build the escabeche

   Lift the turkey from the broth and let it rest until cool enough to handle. Reserve 2 cups of the strained broth. Pull the meat from the bones in large rough pieces, leaving the skin attached where it wants to stay. Discard the bones. In a wide cazuela or heavy skillet, melt the 3 tablespoons of lard over medium heat. Add the sliced white onions and cook until they soften and turn translucent without browning, about 8 minutes. Add the charred garlic, the recado blanco, whole cloves, and canela stick. Stir for one minute until the spices wake up.

   Recado blanco is the Yucatecan spice paste built around black pepper, clove, cinnamon, and cumin. The eastern style of pavo en escabeche leans on it heavily, more than recado rojo. If you cannot find it commercially, the substitute spice mix in the ingredients works. Grind it fresh.
5. 5

   Add vinegar, broth, and turkey

   Pour in the white vinegar and the 1/4 cup naranja agria juice. Let it bubble hard for 30 seconds to cook off the sharp edge. Add the reserved 2 cups of turkey broth and the charred chiles xcatic. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat. Return the pulled turkey to the pot. Cook at a bare simmer for 20 minutes so the meat drinks in the vinegar, clove, and cinnamon. Taste for salt. The escabeche should taste bright, warm with spice, and unmistakably acidic. That sharpness is the point. Esto no es comida de un solo México.

6. 6

   Mix the masa

   Knead the masa with 1/2 teaspoon of salt until smooth and pliable. If using masa harina, mix with warm water and let it hydrate for 20 minutes before kneading. The dough should hold its shape when you press it but not crack at the edges. If it cracks, work in another tablespoon of warm water. Divide into 18 balls, about the size of a golf ball, and cover with a damp cloth so they do not dry out.

7. 7

   Press and puff the tortillas

   Heat a comal over medium-high. Press each masa ball between two sheets of plastic in a tortilla press into a 4-inch round, slightly thicker than a regular tortilla. This thickness matters. Lay one tortilla on the hot comal. Cook 30 seconds, flip, cook one minute, flip again. On the third turn it should puff up like a balloon. That puff is what makes a panucho a panucho. If it does not puff, the tortilla is too thin, too thick, or the comal is wrong. Keep going. You will get a rhythm by the fourth one.

   If a tortilla refuses to puff, press the back gently with a folded cloth as it cooks. That coaxes the steam to lift the top layer. The señoras at the panucherias on Calle 62 in Mérida do this without thinking.
8. 8

   Stuff the panuchos

   While each tortilla is still warm and puffed, slit a small opening along the edge with a sharp knife, lifting the top layer like a pocket. Spoon a generous tablespoon of the refried black beans inside. Smooth the beans flat across the interior. Press the pocket closed. Set aside on a tray. Continue with the rest. The beans inside the tortilla is what separates a panucho from a salbute. Both are Yucatecan. They are not the same dish.

9. 9

   Fry the panuchos

   In a wide cast iron skillet, melt enough lard to come a quarter inch up the sides. Heat over medium-high until a pinch of masa sizzles immediately. Fry the panuchos two or three at a time, bean-side down first, for about 90 seconds, until the bottom is golden and crisp. Flip and fry the other side for 45 seconds. Lift onto a wire rack. La manteca es el sabor. Do not fry them in vegetable oil. The flavor will be wrong and the crisp will not hold.

10. 10

    Build and serve

    Set each warm panucho on a talavera plate, bean-side up. Pile on a generous tangle of the pavo en escabeche with some of the cooked onions and a spoonful of the vinegar broth. Top with a heap of the pickled red onions. Lay one or two slices of charred habanero on the side for the brave. Serve immediately with lime wedges. Eat them with your hands, in two or three bites each, while the bottom is still crisp and the escabeche is still warm. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •If you cannot find chile xcatic outside the Peninsula, fresh chile güero (also called Hungarian wax) is the closest substitute. It is a compromise, not an upgrade. The xcatic has a perfume that wax chiles do not, but the visual and structural role is the same.
• •Naranja agria is sold bottled in Latin markets as 'sour orange' or 'jugo de naranja agria.' If you cannot find it, the mix of orange juice, lime, and white vinegar in the ingredients list approximates it. Do not skip it and use plain lime. Lime is too one-note for the recado blanco to bloom against.
• •The refried black beans should be very smooth and thick, almost like a paste. Wet beans will leak out of the panucho when you fry it and the whole structure collapses. Cook them down longer than you think. The señoras at the panucherias work them in a cazuela with lard and epazote until the spoon stands up on its own.
• •Make the escabeche the day before. The vinegar, clove, and cinnamon need overnight to settle into the turkey. The next day the broth tastes calmer and deeper, and the meat carries the spice all the way through.

Advance Preparation

• •The pavo en escabeche can and should be made one day ahead. Refrigerate the meat in the escabeche broth and reheat gently before serving. The flavor only deepens.
• •The pickled red onions keep refrigerated for one week. They get better after the first day.
• •The refried black beans can be made two days ahead and reheated with a splash of broth or water to loosen them just enough to spread inside the tortilla.
• •The puffed tortillas should be made the day you serve. Day-old tortillas will not crisp properly when fried.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 340g)