Earlier this year, I spent four months traveling around Mexico. It was every bit as fantastic as it sounds, but one of the best parts was how much I learned about Mexican food.
Not only did I eat my way through Mexico’s bangin’ regional cuisines—Yucatan and Oaxacan, plus the incredible pan-regional smorgasburg that is Mexico City—but I tried quite a few dishes I never knew existed. Now, they rank among my favorites. Maybe they’ll become yours, too.
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Chicharron prensado
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I clearly remember the first time I bit into the fatty, porky deliciousness that is chicharron prensado—crunchy pork skin that’s been “pressed” in a cloth to squeeze out the juices. It was at a gorditas stand near the entrance to the excellent Tlacolula Sunday market, outside of Oaxaca City (a must when you’re in that town). The fatty, flavorful mass of pork tasted to me like Chinese char siu, but maybe that’s only because I’d been deprived of Asian food for months. After that, I ordered chicharron prensado where I could find it, which was pretty much everywhere.
Pambazo
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Turns out there’s more to Mexican sandwiches than just tortas. Meet the pambazo, whose soft bread roll has been soaked in red guajillo pepper salsa until it gets completely soggy, and then griddled into warm crispness on both sides. It’s typically stuffed with sauteed chorizo and potatoes and garnished with shredded lettuce, salsa, crumbled fresh cheese, and cream. This beast will fill you up for quite a few hours, but it’s worth it. You can find pambazos at street stands all over Mexico City and elsewhere—just look for sandwiches on red-tinted bread.
Costras
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When someone described a costra to me, I kept exclaiming, “So it’s like a taco, but the ‘tortilla’ is made of cheese?!” Turns out that’s a pretty accurate description for what must be one of the most genius inventions in recent food history. Like many of the world’s best eats, costras were first served to the late-night crowd, outside of a nightclub in Mexico City. The word means “scab” in Spanish, which sounds gross, but is completely logical when you see these puppies being made: The cook takes shredded white mozzarella-like cheese and spreads it in a mound on the griddle until it melts into a sort of a cheese pancake. Then the hot cheese shell is browned a bit, scraped off in one piece, and wrapped around whatever fillings you’ve asked for. It’s awesome. Everyone is obsessed with the original Mexico City Costras stand, aptly called Las Costras, but you can also find good ones at the various (more convenient) outposts of El Farolito.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider