Chef Lupita
Birria Tacos with Consome
Jalisco's goat birria, born around Cocula and carried into Guadalajara's markets, slow-braised in ancho, guajillo, cascabel, and chile de arbol, then tucked into corn tortillas crisped in its own red fat.
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Tlayuda Doblada con Pescado y Pitiona de la Costa
Created by
The Oaxacan coast's folded tlayuda, spread with asiento and frijol negro, filled with grilled huachinango, pitiona herb, sliced avocado, and quesillo, served with a salsa de chile costeño rojo that carries the heat of the Pacific lowlands.
Sandwiches & Wraps
Mexican
Dinner Party
Outdoor Dining
Special Occasion
40 min
Active Time
30 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield4 servings
This is a coastal Oaxacan dish. Not the Central Valleys, not the city of Oaxaca. The coast. Pinotepa Nacional, Puerto Escondido, the stretch of Pacific shoreline where the Sierra Madre del Sur drops into the ocean and the cooking changes with the altitude.
The tlayuda is Oaxaca's tortilla, but calling it a tortilla is like calling a cathedral a building. It is wide, thin, leathery from slow drying on the comal, and it holds everything a cook puts on it without buckling. In the Central Valleys, the tlayuda goes open-faced with tasajo and chapulines. On the coast, the cooks fold it: doblada, with whatever came off the boats that morning. Huachinango, pargo, robalo, sierra. The fish changes. The structure does not. Asiento on the tortilla first, always. Then the black bean paste. Then the quesillo. Then the fish, grilled whole or in fillets over mesquite or huanacaxtle wood on a grate the fishermen's wives keep at the back of the kitchen.
Pitiona is the herb that places this dish on the coast and nowhere else. It grows wild in the lowlands from the Isthmus to the Costa Chica, and it has a flavor somewhere between oregano and mint with something floral underneath that neither of those herbs can replicate. The senoras in the market at Pinotepa sell it in fat bunches, still sandy from the hillside. They will tell you it is for fish, for tamales de tichinda, for beans. They are right about all of it. If you cannot find pitiona, I will tell you what to use instead, but I will also tell you what you are losing.
The chile costeno rojo is the other marker. Small, thin-skinned, bright with a sharp heat that does not linger the way a habanero does. It grows along the Oaxacan coast and is not widely available outside the state. My mother never used it because she was from Jalisco. I first encountered it in Puerto Escondido, in a salsa a woman was selling from a plastic bucket at the edge of the highway, and I wrote down what she told me in the same notebook my mother left me. Cada estado, su propia cocina. Every coast, too.
The tlayuda is a Zapotec tradition from Oaxaca's Central Valleys, where the large, partially dehydrated corn tortilla served as both plate and utensil in the markets of Tlacolula, Ocotlan, and Etla for centuries before it became a street food icon. The coastal doblada variation reflects the broader Oaxacan pattern of adapting valley staples to regional ingredients: when the tlayuda traveled south to the Costa Chica and Costa de Oaxaca with internal migration and market trade routes, local cooks replaced tasajo with Pacific fish and introduced pitiona (Lippia alba), a perennial herb of pre-Columbian medicinal and culinary use documented among the Mixtec and Chatino peoples of the southern lowlands. Asiento, the dark sediment from rendering pork lard, is the base fat of Oaxacan tlayuda preparation and predates the modern use of vegetable oil that cheaper market stalls have adopted; its smoky, concentrated pork flavor is structurally essential to the dish and is not interchangeable with plain lard.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
tlayuda tortillas
Quantity
4 (12 to 14 inches each)
large Oaxacan dried tortillas
fresh huachinango (red snapper) or pargo fillets
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
skin on, pin bones removed
asiento (dark pork lard sediment)
Quantity
3 tablespoons, plus more for the tlayudas
cooked black beans
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
drained, with 1/4 cup bean broth reserved
pork lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
quesillo oaxaqueno (Oaxacan string cheese)
Quantity
8 ounces
pulled into strips
ripe Hass avocados
Quantity
2
fresh pitiona leaves
Quantity
1/4 cup
stems removed
limes
Quantity
2
juiced, divided
kosher salt
Quantity
to taste
dried chile costeno rojo
Quantity
8
stemmed and seeded
Roma tomatoes
Quantity
2 medium
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
unpeeled
kosher salt (for salsa)
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| tlayuda tortillaslarge Oaxacan dried tortillas | 4 (12 to 14 inches each) |
| fresh huachinango (red snapper) or pargo filletsskin on, pin bones removed | 1 1/2 pounds |
| asiento (dark pork lard sediment) | 3 tablespoons, plus more for the tlayudas |
| cooked black beansdrained, with 1/4 cup bean broth reserved | 1 1/2 cups |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo) | 1 tablespoon |
| quesillo oaxaqueno (Oaxacan string cheese)pulled into strips | 8 ounces |
| ripe Hass avocados | 2 |
| fresh pitiona leavesstems removed | 1/4 cup |
| limesjuiced, divided | 2 |
| kosher salt | to taste |
| dried chile costeno rojostemmed and seeded | 8 |
| Roma tomatoes | 2 medium |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 2 |
| kosher salt (for salsa) | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Large cast iron comal or 14-inch cast iron skillet
- •Grill or grill pan for the fish
- •Blender
- •Bean masher or wooden spoon
- •Wide spatula for pressing and flipping the dobladas
Instructions
- 1
Toast the chiles costenos
Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium heat. Toast the chile costeno rojo for about 20 seconds per side, pressing them flat with a spatula. They are thin-skinned and turn fast. The moment they puff and release a sharp, bright smell, they are done. Pull them off. A burned chile costeno turns acrid and there is no covering it up in a salsa this simple.
Chile costeno rojo is smaller and thinner than a guajillo. It toasts in half the time. Stay at the comal and do not walk away. - 2
Roast the tomatoes and garlic
On the same comal, place the Roma tomatoes and the unpeeled garlic cloves. Let them char slowly, turning every few minutes. The tomatoes need about 10 to 12 minutes until they are blistered and collapsed on all sides with dark spots but not burned through. The garlic takes about 8 minutes. Set them aside. Peel the garlic when cool enough to handle.
- 3
Blend the salsa de chile costeno
Place the toasted chiles in a small bowl and cover with hot tap water for 10 minutes. They do not need long. Drain the chiles and transfer to a blender with the roasted tomatoes, peeled garlic, and the half teaspoon of salt. Blend until smooth but not perfectly pureed. This salsa should have texture, a slight coarseness that tells you it was made on a comal and not in a factory. Taste it. The heat from the chile costeno is sharp and forward. Adjust the salt. Set aside.
If the salsa is too thick, add a tablespoon of the soaking water. No more than that. This is a table salsa, not a soup. - 4
Make the black bean paste
Melt the tablespoon of lard in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the drained black beans and a splash of the reserved bean broth. Mash them with the back of a wooden spoon or a bean masher until you have a thick, spreadable paste. Not a puree. You want some whole beans still visible. Cook for three to four minutes, stirring, until the paste holds together and pulls away from the sides of the skillet. Season with salt. This is the base layer of the tlayuda and it needs to be assertive.
- 5
Season and grill the fish
Pat the fish fillets dry. Season both sides generously with salt and the juice of one lime. Let them sit for five minutes. Heat a grill, grill pan, or the comal over medium-high heat and brush lightly with a thin layer of asiento. Place the fillets skin side down. Cook without moving for four minutes until the skin is crisp and releases easily. Flip and cook for two to three more minutes, depending on thickness, until the flesh is just opaque and flakes when pressed with a finger. Do not overcook. The fish will carry over as it rests. Transfer to a plate and break into large, generous flakes with a fork. Squeeze the remaining lime juice over the fish and scatter half the pitiona leaves over it while it is still hot. The warmth opens the herb.
If you are using whole fish, as they would on the coast, grill it whole over charcoal and pull the flesh from the bones at the table. The bones add flavor that fillets cannot replicate. - 6
Prepare the tlayudas on the comal
Heat the comal or a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Place one tlayuda flat on the surface and warm it for about a minute per side until it becomes pliable enough to fold without cracking. It should still be leathery, not soft like a fresh tortilla. Spread a generous tablespoon of asiento across the entire surface. The dark, smoky fat soaks into the tortilla and gives it that flavor you cannot get any other way. Spread a quarter of the black bean paste over one half. Layer strips of quesillo over the beans. Add a quarter of the flaked fish on top of the cheese. Scatter a few slices of avocado and a pinch of the remaining pitiona leaves. Fold the empty half over the filled half and press down gently.
The tlayuda must be warm enough to fold but not so soft that it loses its structure. If it cracks, it was too dry. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the comal and let the tortilla absorb the moisture for 30 seconds before trying again. - 7
Grill the doblada
Press the folded tlayuda gently on the comal with the flat of your hand or a spatula. Cook for two to three minutes per side until the exterior is charred in spots and rigid, and the quesillo inside has begun to melt and bind everything together. The asiento on the surface will darken and the tortilla will smell of toasted corn and rendered pork. Repeat with the remaining three tlayudas. You can work two at a time if your comal is large enough.
- 8
Serve with the salsa
Cut each doblada in half on the diagonal. The cross-section should show the layers: dark bean paste, white threads of melted quesillo, flaked fish streaked with the green of pitiona, pale avocado. Serve immediately on a clay plate or a wooden cutting board with the salsa de chile costeno in a small bowl alongside and lime wedges scattered around. Let each person spoon the salsa into the open cut. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •Tlayuda tortillas are not regular corn tortillas. They are large, partially dehydrated, and sold stacked and dry. If you live outside Oaxaca, look for them at Mexican grocers that stock Oaxacan products, or order them online from vendors in the Central Valleys. There is no real substitute. A large flour tortilla is not a tlayuda. A regular corn tortilla is not a tlayuda. If you cannot find them, this is not your recipe today. Come back when you can.
- •Asiento is the dark residue left at the bottom of the pot when pork lard is rendered. It has a deeper, smokier, more concentrated flavor than plain manteca. In Oaxaca, every market has a woman selling it by the spoonful from a clay pot. Outside Oaxaca, render your own lard from pork back fat and scrape the dark layer off the bottom of the pot. That is your asiento. Do not substitute vegetable oil. You will lose the dish entirely.
- •Pitiona (Lippia alba) grows wild on the Oaxacan coast and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Outside Mexico, it is nearly impossible to find fresh. Your best compromise is a combination of fresh Mexican oregano and a few torn mint leaves, about two parts oregano to one part mint. It will not taste the same. It will taste close enough to understand the direction the herb is supposed to take the dish.
- •Chile costeno rojo can be ordered online from Oaxacan spice vendors. If you truly cannot find it, chile de arbol is the nearest substitute for heat and brightness, but the flavor is not the same. Chile costeno has a fruitier, sharper quality that arbol does not carry. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
Advance Preparation
- •The salsa de chile costeno can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor sharpens overnight.
- •The black bean paste can be made one day ahead and rewarmed with a splash of water before spreading.
- •The fish must be grilled fresh. Do not grill it ahead. Cold reheated fish on a tlayuda is not what the women on the coast are serving.
- •Assemble and grill the dobladas only at serving time. A tlayuda that sits after grilling loses its crispness, and a doblada without crispness is a folded tortilla with food inside.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
865 calories
Total Fat
41 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
24 g
Cholesterol
115 mg
Sodium
895 mg
Total Carbohydrates
64 g
Dietary Fiber
16 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
60 g
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