Today tortes are entirely Mexican, proudly modern. The sandwich is popular and commonplace, sold in markets, bodega stands, convenience stores and puestos, the fixed stalls scattered throughout every neighborhood. Tortas are the population's daily sandwich: cheap, abundant and infinitely customizable. Striped like the layers of minerals preserved in the bedrock, the combination of ingredients reflects the creativity of their creator.
As with any national dish, regional variations emerged, becoming iconic sandwiches in their own right: Puebla's enormous cemitas; the northern lonch; pambazos stuffed with potatoes and chorizo; the French-style ahogada cakes, literally "drowned" in the sauce. There are tortes filled with bacalao a la vizcaína, a Basque cod stew enjoyed during Lent; vegan cakes sold at punk markets; tortes topped with cochinita pibil (citrus-roasted pork) and pickled red onions; and cakes filled with chilaquiles. The varieties offered in places dedicated to the preparation of cakes, called torterías, have also evolved: the "Hawaiian" almost always features canned pineapple rings; the “Cuban” is not related to the Cuban sandwich but rather a local invention of ham, roast pork, soppressata, two types of real cheese.
If there are so many varieties, what actually defines a cake?
First of all the bread: a sandwich ofpastasimple and savory wheat bread, more commonly a bolillo (also called birote or francés), which are cheap sandwiches with a soft inside and a dry, crunchy top; or a roll of telera, which is flatter, softer and scored twice lengthwise. Fresh bread is essential. Tortas are not always toasted, so same-day bread is a common practice. The accessories are added to the bread first: a shot of beansfried, to add richness and moisture; mayonnaise, for the same reason; avocado, layered on shingles; thin rings of raw white onion;tomato, contrasts with freshness. Lettuce is rare.
Once thevegetablesand the condiments led the way, here comes the proteins. Standard offerings include pierna (thick-cut, ringed roasted pork leg with scarlet marinade), turkey ham, regular ham, American cheese, queso Oaxaca, panela cheese, fried breaded beef or chicken cutlets (cut into small pieces before being added) and hot dogs, more tubular meatballs than snappy sausage, cut into thin strips: if you didn't know that a hot dog can be filleted, welcome to the school of cakes. Three or more proteins are de rigueur.
Another key element is pickling, to cut through the richness: common choices are rajas, meaning strips of pickled jalapeño with carrot, cauliflower and onion in tow, or chipotles en adobo, a vinegar-based marinade drizzled with syrup piloncillo which plumps up the dried chillies. Both of these pickles may come from a can, but old-school cake joints often make their own.
Theremodern cakestends to perform with macho clout, boasting layer upon layer of ingredients; however, even the more modest varieties have a decent following. Contained and slim, the bacalao cakes, for example, stew thefishdried with onion and tomato, he adds some green olives to the mixture and then spreads the fish paste on the bread without any of the necessary vegetable additions. Along the same lines is the pierna with mole cakesChurreria El Moro, open since 1935, which piles dried pork leg onto a roll and sprinkles it with liquid black mole. That's all. Another classic is the morning tortes guajolota, which pulls a steaming tamale out of its corn husk and slides it into a bolillo, the ultimate starch-on-starch sandwich that every Chilango has eaten at least once. No sauce. No vegetables. Just corn and wheat, an edible portmanteau.
Surely, all this talk about cakes makes you want to eat one, and the best news is that you can easily make it at home.When you decide to create your own cakes, there are a few elements worth mentioning to help you achieve success:
1. Fresh and cheap bread
Most Latin American bakeries will sell both bolillos and teleras, and every supermarket bakery will carry some type of plain, crusty roll. Bread is essential. Here no sourdough, natural yeast, bread with seeds; and while there is a variety of tortes served on industrial, pre-sliced white bread, the crispy roll is preferred. Open it and toast it if you want.
2. Spreads, sauces and condiments
Beansfried (the legume must be on more sandwiches, am I right?!). Mayonnaise, always. THE'avocadoIt also adds moisture. Whatever vegetables you have in the crisp: tomato,cabbagechopped, serrano pepper flakes. A little aboutonionsliced white.Pineappledripped crushed from a can? Foul.
3. The meats
Whatever you want, and more protein if you have it: deli meats, a mix of ham and turkey,eggsscrambled and so on. Do you have vegan chorizo? It's easy to veganize tortes. Cocktail weenies. Leftover rotisserie chicken. Canned sardines in tomato sauce. Achilifried relleno. Spam. The possibilities are endless - see below for proof and some other ideas.
- Crispy chicken cutlet
- Albondigas
- eggs(boiled, fried or scrambled)
- Braised anything (chicken thighs, pork shoulder, and ribs are some of my favorites for pie-ing)
- Marinatedtofu
- Ham or bacon
- Grilled shrimp
- Chorizo (in the wrapper or loose and ground, in which case it's like a Mexican sloppy Joe)
4. The cheese
I'd say you can leave it out (and really, you can), but cheeses of all kinds are the glue of these cakes: the melted cheese helps hold things together, and the softer cheese can be spread or crumbled for fun textures. Don't forget the cheese sauce I pushed on top. And if you're super queso-crazy, using lots of cheese is a great way to go the vegetarian route. Some of my suggestions aren't super traditional but provide all the necessary, cheesy beauty that makes a great cake.
- Panela, or any of those super firm cheeses that you can grill/bake without melting (like halloumi)
- Goat cheese
- Cozia
- This fresco
- Jack
5. Pickles (don't forget the pickles!)
The final topping of a large cake is pickled pieces; they bring essential spice and flavor to the mix. Some recipes to get you started:
- Pickled anything: jalapeños (or any other pepper), onions, nopales,tomatoes.
- Citrus juice: lime,lemon or grapefruit.
However you slice it, the best cakes are those made with love, with care. Any cakes slapped together that fall apart before they reach your mouth are bad cakes, so build cakes with the intent: spread thosebeansright to the edge! Evenly distribute the carrots andpepperonipickle. Season each layer of ingredients as you go, then slice and admire the careful striation and structural integrity of the sandwich. The key to a successful cake, according to Aburto, who has been assembling these sandwiches for 46 years, is this: "There are a lot of factors, but first you have to love what you're doing."
Taken from food52