FAQ · Things people ask
Oaxacan chorizo (chorizo negro) is made with darker dried chiles — pasilla negro and mulato — that give it a richer, earthier flavor than the brighter, more vinegar-forward chorizos of northern Mexico. It is sold fresh and raw (never cured like Spanish chorizo) and has a coarser, chunkier texture. In a pinch, any fresh Mexican chorizo can substitute, but the flavor profile will be lighter and more acidic.
Yes — drain, rinse them thoroughly, and mash with the cooked chorizo. The key step is cooking the mixture until genuinely dry and thick. Canned beans hold a lot of water, so expect the drying step to take a bit longer — 8 to 10 minutes rather than 5 to 7.
The masa will cook, but you will not get the authentic crackling crust that makes molotes what they are. If you prefer not to fry, brush generously with melted lard or oil on all sides and air-fry at 200°C (400°F) for 12–15 minutes, flipping once. The texture is acceptable but noticeably different — the exterior is matte and softer rather than golden and crisp.
Quesillo is Oaxacan string cheese — mild, slightly salty, and very stretchy when hot. It is made by pulling hot fresh cheese into long strands and winding it into a ball. Low-moisture mozzarella is the most similar substitute available in most markets. Avoid high-moisture fresh mozzarella, which releases too much water in the filling.
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Tacos dorados are Mexico's golden fried tacos — corn tortillas folded in half around a savory filling, secured with a toothpick, and shallow-fried until they shatter with a deep, earthy masa crunch. Unlike flautas and taquitos (which are rolled into cylinders), a dorado is always folded: a half-moon that opens into toppings. These are the everyday comfort food of Mexico City lunch counters, school cafeterias, and family kitchens across Jalisco, Guerrero, and Oaxaca. The two most beloved fillings are shredded chicken (pollo deshebrado) and seasoned mashed potato — and the potato version is arguably more beloved than the meat version, especially on Fridays in Catholic Mexico. Whichever filling you use, the architecture is the same: hot, shattering golden shell on the bottom, then toppings layered in sequence — salsa first to warm against the shell, then cold shredded cabbage for crunch, cool crema in zigzags, crumbled cotija for salt, and sliced avocado over everything. Two technique points matter above all others: warm your tortillas until pliable before folding (cold corn tortillas crack in half — this is the most common failure point for home cooks), and keep your frying oil at 175–180°C. Get those two right and the rest follows naturally.
Lomitos de Valladolid is one of the quiet glories of Yucatecan home cooking — not the famous cochinita pibil that fills tourist menus, but the stovetop braise that Valladolid families have been eating for lunch on weekdays for generations. Named for the colonial city in eastern Yucatán, a pueblo mágico that sits at the crossroads of the old Maya trade routes and the road to Chichén Itzá, the dish is credited by local culinary legend to Doña Hermelinda, a home cook whose recipe spread through the city's comedores and kitchens until it became synonymous with the place itself. What makes lomitos taste the way it does is layered charring at every stage. The tomatoes, onion, and garlic all spend time directly on a hot comal until they're blackened in spots — that caramelized bitterness becomes the backbone of the sauce. The pork gets browned hard in lard, building a fond on the pan bottom. Then the blended sauce goes back into that same pan and cooks down in the fat until it darkens and thickens before the pork returns. By the time the braise is done, you've built three separate Maillard layers into a single pot. This is not primarily an achiote dish — that's a common misconception that conflates lomitos with cochinita pibil. The achiote in this recipe is optional, adding a faint earthiness and the orange-red color that signals Yucatán, but the dish exists and is authentic without it. The tomato is the star. The sliced hard-boiled egg placed on top before serving is not decoration — it's a traditional textural foil, mild and cooling against the spiced pork, and it appears on every lomitos plate in Valladolid's lunch spots. Don't skip it. --- ## Ingredients ### Pork - 1½ lbs (680g) **pork loin**, cut into 3 cm (1¼-inch) cubes — pork shoulder works if the loin seems too lean - 2 tablespoons **lard** or vegetable oil (lard is traditional and gives better flavor) - 1 teaspoon fine sea salt - ½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground ### Tomato-Chile Sauce - 1½ lbs (680g) **ripe tomatoes** (about 4 medium; Roma or vine-ripened) - 1 medium **white onion**, halved through the root — one half for charring, one half left raw for the table - 4 cloves **garlic**, unpeeled for charring - 2 to 3 **chiles de árbol** or chile seco, stemmed (use 2 for medium heat, 3 for more) - 1 teaspoon **Yucatecan oregano**, dried — Mexican oregano is a usable substitute; the Yucatecan variety is more floral - 1 tablespoon **achiote paste (recado rojo)**, optional but traditional; dissolved in the sour orange before adding - 3 tablespoons **naranja agria** (sour orange juice) — substitute: 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice + 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice - 1 cup **water or light chicken broth** - Salt to taste ### For Serving - 2 cups **long-grain white rice**, cooked (makes about 4 cups cooked) - 2 **hard-boiled eggs**, peeled and sliced into rounds - 1 to 2 **habanero peppers**, charred whole on the comal and served on the side - 1 **lime**, cut into wedges --- ## Instructions **1. Season and dry the pork.** Pat the pork cubes completely dry with paper towels — moisture is the enemy of a good sear. Season generously on all sides with the salt and pepper. Set aside while you prepare the sauce ingredients. **2. Char the tomatoes, onion, and garlic.** Heat a dry comal or cast iron skillet over high heat until smoking. Place the tomatoes, one onion half (cut side down), and the unpeeled garlic cloves directly on the dry surface. Char, turning occasionally, until the tomatoes are blistered and blackened in spots (10–12 minutes), the onion cut face is deeply caramelized (8–10 minutes), and the garlic skin is scorched and the cloves are softened (6–8 minutes). They don't need to be uniformly blackened — you want patches of deep char, not ash. Transfer everything to a plate. Peel the garlic when cool enough to handle. **3. Toast and rehydrate the chiles.** On the same dry comal, toast the dried chiles over medium heat for 30–45 seconds per side, pressing them flat with a spatula, until they darken slightly and smell fragrant. Don't let them blacken — the seeds will turn bitter. Transfer to a small bowl, cover with hot water, and soak for 10 minutes until pliable. Drain. **4. Blend the sauce.** In a blender, combine the charred tomatoes (with any accumulated juices), charred onion half, peeled garlic, drained soaked chiles, oregano, and ½ teaspoon salt. If using achiote paste, dissolve it in the sour orange juice first, then add it to the blender. Add the sour orange juice (or orange-lime substitute). Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. The sauce will be deeply colored — brick-red to mahogany. **5. Brown the pork in batches.** In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat the lard over high heat until shimmering and a drop of water sizzles on contact. Working in two batches (do not crowd the pan — crowding steams the pork instead of browning it), add the pork cubes in a single layer. Sear without moving for 3–4 minutes until deeply golden on the bottom, then turn and brown at least one more side, 2–3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the second batch. The fond (browned bits) on the pan bottom is flavor — leave it. **6. Fry the blended sauce.** Reduce the heat to medium-high. Without cleaning the pot, carefully pour the blended sauce directly into the hot fat — it will splatter, so stand back and use a lid as a shield if needed. Stir to incorporate the fond from the pan bottom. Cook the sauce, stirring frequently, for 8–10 minutes until it darkens further, thickens visibly, and the raw tomato taste mellows into something deeper. The sauce is ready when it holds its shape briefly in a spoon trail. **7. Braise the pork.** Add the browned pork and any resting juices back to the pot. Pour in the water or chicken broth. Stir to coat the pork with sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and braise for 60–70 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes, until the pork is completely tender — it should yield easily to a fork with no resistance. In the last 10 minutes, remove the lid and raise the heat slightly to reduce the sauce to a thick, glossy consistency that coats each piece of pork. Taste and adjust salt. **8. Char the habaneros.** While the pork finishes, place the habanero peppers on the dry comal over high heat and char on all sides until blistered, 5–6 minutes. Keep them whole — the heat releases the fragrant oils but the intact skin holds back most of the fiery capsaicin. Serve them whole on the side; diners pierce or bite as desired. **9. Serve over rice with egg.** Spoon a mound of white rice into each bowl or onto each plate. Ladle the lomitos over and around the rice, making sure each portion gets plenty of sauce. Lay 2–3 slices of hard-boiled egg across the top — this is the traditional Valladolid presentation, not optional garnish. Place a whole charred habanero alongside and a lime wedge at the edge. Serve immediately. --- ## Tips **Don't skip the charring.** The charring of tomatoes, onion, and garlic is what gives this sauce its complexity. Plain simmered tomato produces a flat, acidic braise. The char adds a bittersweet depth — this step is non-negotiable. **Brown in batches, seriously.** Crowding the pan drops the oil temperature and the pork steams instead of sears. Brown in two batches minimum. **Achiote is optional, not central.** Many recipes online — especially those written outside Yucatán — portray lomitos as an achiote-forward dish. It isn't. It's a tomato braise. The achiote adds color and a faint earthiness. If you don't have recado rojo, skip it. **This dish is better the next day.** Like most braises, lomitos improves significantly after resting overnight. Reheat gently over low heat with a splash of water or broth to loosen the sauce.
Walk into the Mercado 20 de Noviembre in Oaxaca City after noon and you'll find the Pasillo de Humo — the Smoke Corridor. It's a charcoal-lined indoor lane where vendors grill three meats side by side, the smoke pooling under the low ceiling until the air smells of coals and salt: tasajo, cecina enchilada, and chorizo verde. The Oaxacan meat triad appears together on tlayudas across the Central Valleys, but among the three, tasajo is the one that most repays close attention. Tasajo is beef — specifically, lean beef leg or flank, spiral-cut or sliced into thin sheets, rubbed with coarse salt, and air-dried until pliable but not hard. That's the entire cure: salt, time, and dry air. No garlic. No chiles. No herbs. The flavor comes from what salt does to beef: it draws out moisture, tightens the muscle, and concentrates whatever beefy character was already there. Then charcoal does the rest — a ferocious two-minute encounter that chars the surface and caramelizes whatever moisture remains, creating a rough, uneven crust that catches the heat in patches. The cecina distinction matters and is worth stating clearly. In Oaxaca, tasajo is beef (salt-only cure) and cecina enchilada is pork rubbed with dried chiles. Elsewhere in Mexico — particularly in Morelos — "cecina" often means beef: the Yecapixtla style, a national institution in its own right. If you're talking to someone outside Oaxaca about cecina, clarify the animal. Tasajo means beef, salt, and nothing else. Oaxaca's Central Valleys have an entrenched culture of dry-curing meats, born from the region's hot, arid climate and pre-refrigeration preservation needs. In Oaxaca City, the Mercado 20 de Noviembre's Pasillo de Humo is the symbolic home of all three cured meats — one of the most cited market dining experiences in Mexican food writing — where vendors grill each cut to order over charcoal and serve it directly onto tlayudas spread with black beans. Pati Jinich (PBS) has demonstrated that the home refrigerator replicates the Central Valley's dry air well enough. The key is a wire rack: cold air circulates around all sides, removing surface moisture without Oaxacan weather. Three technique points are non-negotiable. First: pound the meat to under 3 mm (1/8 inch) — this is not optional. Traditional butchers spiral-cut leg beef into 2–3 mm sheets; at home, slice flank steak against the grain as thin as possible and pound further between parchment. The thinness creates the surface-to-mass ratio that lets charcoal do its job in under two minutes. Second: do not rinse the cure salt before grilling — the salty exterior is intentional, not a mistake. All accompaniments should be lightly seasoned to balance. Third: the accompaniments are doing the flavor layering that the salt-only cure deliberately withholds. Pasilla negro salsa, black bean paste, and the soft corn of the tlayuda are structural components of the dish, not optional sides. --- ## Ingredients ### The Beef - 1½ lbs (680g) **flank steak** or beef round — lean, flat cuts that dry-cure well; fatty cuts risk going rancid during the cure - 3 to 4 tablespoons **coarse sea salt** or kosher salt — this is the only seasoning; no spice rub, no marinade, no garlic, no herbs ### For Serving (traditional tlayuda presentation) - 4 **tlayudas** (large, dried Oaxacan corn tortillas, 12–14 inches) — or large corn tortillas briefly dried on a comal until semi-firm - 1 cup **black bean paste (frijoles negros refritos)** — Oaxacan black beans simmered until very soft and mashed smooth; should be thick, not soupy; make with minimal or no added salt - 1 cup **pasilla negro salsa** — dried pasilla negro chiles blended with charred tomato and garlic; this is where the flavor complexity lives - 3 oz (85g) **quesillo (Oaxacan string cheese)**, torn into strips — optional but traditional; low-moisture mozzarella is the closest substitute ### Optional garnishes - Sliced avocado - Shredded cabbage - Lime wedges --- ## Instructions **1. Slice the beef as thin as possible.** Working against the grain, cut the flank steak into sheets as thin as you can manage — aim for 3–4 mm or thinner. Lay each sheet between two pieces of parchment paper and pound with a meat mallet or the flat side of a heavy skillet until under 3 mm (roughly 1/8 inch). The edges will be rough and irregular — that's correct. The rough, uneven surface is what catches char and creates the eating experience. Don't try to make them neat. **2. Salt the beef.** Lay the pounded sheets on a clean work surface. Rub coarse salt generously on both sides of each sheet, pressing it in with your palm so it adheres firmly. You want full coverage without pools of undissolved salt. This is a cure, not a seasoning — it should feel like significantly more salt than you'd normally use on raw beef. **3. Air-cure in the refrigerator.** Transfer the salted sheets to a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Place uncovered in the refrigerator for 3 to 8 hours. The beef is ready when the surface is dry to the touch and the color has deepened to a darker red, but the sheets remain pliable — they should fold without cracking. This is semi-dry, not jerky. The cold, dry refrigerator air removes surface moisture just as the Central Valley climate does. Do not exceed 8 hours; beyond that the exterior becomes too hard. **4. Prepare the grill.** Build a hot charcoal fire — the coals should be fully ashed over and glowing red, with the grill grate positioned close to the heat source. You need fierce, direct heat. A gas grill on its highest setting or a cast-iron comal (griddle) preheated until smoking are the home workarounds. If using a comal or cast-iron skillet, heat it dry with no oil — the cured surface will color and release cleanly from a properly hot surface. **5. Grill fast and hot.** Remove the cured beef from the refrigerator. Do not rinse it, do not pat it dry. Lay the sheets directly on the hot grill. Grill for 1 to 2 minutes per side — maximum. Watch closely: on a very hot grill, the thin sheets can be done in under a minute per side. The target is deeply charred and caramelized on the surface, with the interior barely past hot. Remove immediately when done. Rest briefly, loosely tented with foil, for 2 minutes. **6. Assemble the tlayuda.** Warm the tlayuda briefly on the grill or comal until lightly charred at the edges and slightly pliable. Spread a generous layer of black bean paste across the surface. Lay the grilled tasajo slices over the beans, folding or tearing as needed. Spoon pasilla negro salsa over the meat. Add quesillo strips, avocado slices, or shredded cabbage as desired. Serve immediately. --- ## Tips **Paper-thin is the key variable.** Every other step depends on the meat being thin enough. At 3 mm or under, charcoal can char both sides in under 2 minutes without toughening the interior. Thicker slices require longer cooking, which dries the beef out and intensifies the saltiness past balance. If in doubt, pound more. **All accompaniments should be minimally seasoned.** The cure salt is not rinsed off — the beef is intentionally salty by design. Black bean paste, pasilla negro salsa, and quesillo should all be made with little or no added salt. The salt in the beef seasons the entire dish. **The salsa does the flavor work the cure doesn't.** Pasilla negro salsa provides the complexity, heat, and acidity that the salt-only cure deliberately withholds. Without it, tasajo is salty charred beef. With it, it's a complete dish. A bottled dried-chile salsa can substitute in a pinch, but the dried pasilla negro character — chocolaty, smoky, not fiery — is important. Fresh salsa verde is too bright and doesn't complement the concentrated beef the same way. **Tlayuda vs. corn tortilla.** A tlayuda is a large, slightly dried Oaxacan corn tortilla — denser and more substantial than a soft tortilla, with a dry, cracker-like center and pliable edges. If unavailable, briefly dry a large corn tortilla on a hot comal until half-crisped. The substantial base balances the intensity of the beef. **On charcoal vs. alternatives.** Charcoal delivers the irreplaceable smoky caramelization of the Pasillo de Humo. A gas grill on high is a legitimate substitute — preheat on maximum with the lid down for 10 minutes before grilling. A cast-iron comal or large skillet works without smoke; the char and caramelization will still develop on properly preheated cast iron.
Cecina enchilada is the Oaxacan pork version of cecina — not to be confused with the beef cecina of Yecapixtla, Morelos. That Morelos version is salt-only, unspiced, and nationally famous. This one — the Oaxacan kind — is pork leg or shoulder rubbed in a paste of dried guajillo and ancho chiles, blended with garlic, white vinegar, and Mexican oregano, then air-dried until the surface turns from glossy to matte and slightly tacky, and grilled over fierce heat for 2–3 minutes. In Oaxaca City's markets, cecina enchilada hangs in enormous sheets at carnicerías next to tasajo and chorizo verde — the triad of Oaxacan cured meats that appear together on tlayudas across the Central Valleys. The name enchilada signals the chile treatment: it distinguishes this pork from the plain beef kind. Call it by the full name when you're describing it outside Oaxaca, or you'll be misunderstood. The recipe is an exercise in restraint applied in the right places. The adobo is deliberately simple — four dried chiles, garlic, vinegar, oregano, cumin, salt — because the objective is not a complex mole-adjacent paste but a concentrated chile coating that can dry and then char. Too much liquid in the adobo prevents the drying. Too many spices compete with what charcoal does to it. The air-drying step is where most home recipes fail: they skip it and produce adobo-marinated pork, good in itself but not cecina. The drying concentrates the paste, changes its texture from wet to tacky, and creates the substrate for the caramelization that happens on the grill. Without it, the adobo steams instead of chars. Even two hours in the refrigerator on a wire rack, uncovered, changes the result significantly. Overnight is better. The grill itself is the final step and the fastest: 2–3 minutes per side over maximum heat. At 3–4 mm, the pork cooks through almost instantly. You are not cooking the meat so much as charring the chile coating — the goal is caramelized, slightly blackened edges on the adobo crust, with the interior just cooked through. A cast-iron comal at maximum heat is a legitimate indoor alternative. --- ## Ingredients ### The Pork - **1½ lbs (680g) pork leg steaks or pork shoulder**, butterflied and sliced 3–4 mm thin — ask a Mexican butcher for *pierna de cerdo fileteada* or for *cecina verde* (unspiced thin-sliced pork). At home: place each piece between plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet until uniformly 3–4 mm. Thickness is non-negotiable. Pork belly is too fatty; loin or leg are the right cuts. ### Chile Adobo - **4 dried guajillo chiles**, stems and seeds removed — the adobo backbone: deep red, mild-to-medium heat, slightly fruity and tannic - **1 dried ancho chile** (or mulato), stem and seeds removed — adds chocolate-raisin depth; use one per 3–4 guajillos - **1 dried pasilla negro chile**, stem and seeds removed *(optional but excellent)* — earthier and darker; some Oaxacan versions use it for a deeper paste - **4 garlic cloves**, unpeeled - **3 tablespoons white vinegar** — tenderizes, helps the paste adhere, and extends shelf life - **1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano** (*Lippia graveolens*) — do NOT substitute Mediterranean oregano; the flavor is completely different, earthier and more citrusy - **½ teaspoon ground cumin** - **1½ teaspoons kosher salt** - **¼ cup water**, plus more as needed ### To Serve - **2 limes**, cut into wedges — required garnish, not optional - **Warm corn tortillas** or tlayuda (large toasted Oaxacan tortilla) - **Thinly sliced white onion** - **Salsa verde or salsa roja** - **Black beans** *(optional, for the tlayuda plate)* - **Quesillo** (Oaxacan string cheese) *(optional, for the tlayuda plate)* --- ## Instructions **1. Toast the dried chiles.** Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium heat. Toast the guajillo, ancho, and pasilla chiles one at a time, pressing each flat with a spatula for 15–20 seconds per side until fragrant and pliable — toasted but not blackened. Transfer immediately to a bowl, cover with boiling water, and soak for 20 minutes until fully softened. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid. **2. Roast the garlic.** In the same dry skillet, roast the unpeeled garlic cloves over medium heat, turning occasionally, for 8–10 minutes until the skins are charred in spots and the cloves are soft throughout. Let cool briefly, then squeeze the roasted cloves from the skins. **3. Blend the adobo.** Combine the drained chiles, roasted garlic, white vinegar, Mexican oregano, cumin, salt, and ¼ cup water in a blender. Blend on high for 2–3 minutes until completely smooth — the adobo should have the consistency of thick paint. Add water a tablespoon at a time if the blender needs it. Taste and adjust salt. The paste will be very thick; that is correct. **4. Pound the pork thin and coat with adobo.** If your pork is not already sliced thin, place each piece between plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet to 3–4 mm uniform thickness. Lay the pork flat on a rimmed baking sheet. Coat both sides generously with the chile adobo, working it in with your hands for even coverage. This is a dry rub paste, not a marinade — apply a thin, even layer that adheres to the surface, not pooling in liquid. **5. Air-dry the pork (2–4 hours or overnight).** This is the step that makes cecina cecina. Place the coated pork on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Position it in a cool, dry spot: in front of a fan for 3 hours, or uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. The surface should go from glossy to matte and slightly tacky to the touch — that is moisture leaving and the adobo concentrating. Do not cover or stack the pieces; airflow does the work. Even 2 hours makes a real difference; overnight is best. **6. Grill hot and fast.** Heat a charcoal grill, gas grill, or cast-iron comal to maximum heat — screaming hot. Lay the cecina pieces flat (work in batches if needed) and cook 2–3 minutes per side. You want a caramelized, slightly charred adobo crust with a few dark spots — the chile sugars should visibly blacken at the edges. At this thickness the pork cooks through almost instantly. Remove to a warm plate immediately. **7. Rest and serve.** Let the cecina rest 2 minutes off the heat. Squeeze lime generously over each piece immediately before eating — this is not optional. **For the Oaxacan tlayuda plate:** spread black beans on a toasted tlayuda, top with cecina, add quesillo, and serve with salsa roja. **For tacos:** slice the cecina into strips, pile into corn tortillas with raw white onion and salsa verde. Lime always. --- ## Tips **Thickness is everything.** 3–4 mm only. Thicker cuts won't dry properly and will steam rather than char on the grill. A Mexican carnicero who does cecina will know exactly what you need if you ask for *pierna fileteada para cecina*. **Do not marinate — adobo is a dry rub paste.** Excess moisture defeats the air-drying step and produces a soft, steamed result instead of the firm, lightly chewy texture that defines the dish. If the paste is pooling and wet, reduce the water and let it sit longer. **Cast-iron comal for indoor cooking.** A cast-iron comal or large skillet at maximum heat is an excellent indoor alternative to a grill. The thermal mass sears the thin pork almost instantly and delivers real caramelization on the adobo crust. **Leftover adobo paste.** Any unused adobo keeps refrigerated for 2 weeks or frozen for 3 months. Use it on chicken thighs, beef skirt steak, or roasted vegetables.