Burro Percherón

Built on a tortilla the width of a dinner plate, with the ends left open because at that size they cannot be folded.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, cheese whose rennet the source does not name, lard.

Ingredients

• 4 very large flour tortillas, as on their own page, made 35 cm across
• 700 g carne asada, as on its own page, chopped
• 300 g refried beans, as on their own page
• 250 g cheese that melts, grated
• 2 avocados, sliced
• 4 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 4 tablespoons soured cream
• salsa, as on its own page

Method

1. IT IS BUILT ON A TORTILLA THE WIDTH OF A DINNER PLATE, AND THE ENDS ARE LEFT OPEN BECAUSE AT THAT SIZE THEY CANNOT BE FOLDED. Thirty-five centimetres across, which is roughly double a burrito's. At that diameter the side-fold trick stops working: folding in two sides of a tortilla that wide creates four or five thicknesses of dough at each end that never heat through and eat like raw pastry. So this one is rolled as an open cylinder, ends showing, and it is held upright in a sheet of paper and eaten from the top down -- which is why the fillings are stacked rather than laid in a line.
2. THE FILLINGS ARE STACKED IN LAYERS, NOT LAID IN A LINE. Because it is eaten from one end downward, each bite should contain everything. Beans across the whole tortilla, then meat, then the rest, and the roll made loosely so the layers stay stacked rather than being squeezed into a sausage.
3. THE TORTILLA HAS TO BE MADE RATHER THAN BOUGHT AT THIS SIZE. The flour tortilla page rolls to twenty-two centimetres; for this, the same dough is divided into four instead of ten and rolled out to thirty-five, which takes real effort and a long pin. Nothing sold in a packet is this big.
4. IT IS ROLLED LOOSELY AND THEN WRAPPED TIGHTLY IN PAPER. The paper is the structure -- it is what holds the open cylinder together and what the eater grips. Rolled tight in the hand instead, the layers compress and the bottom end splits under the weight.
5. IT IS GRIDDLED BRIEFLY SEAM DOWN AND NOT HEATED THROUGH. A minute to seal the seam, no more. A thing this size cannot be heated through on a griddle without the outside going hard, so everything inside goes in hot and the griddle only closes it.
6. The flour tortilla dough made as on its own page but divided into FOUR instead of ten, and each rolled out to about 35 cm across.
7. Cooked on the griddle as on the flour tortillas page -- a little longer per side at this size -- and kept soft in a cloth.
8. The carne asada made as on its own page, chopped, and kept HOT. The beans warmed.
9. One large tortilla laid on a sheet of greaseproof paper.
10. The beans spread across the WHOLE surface, then the cheese, then the hot chopped meat in an even layer.
11. The tomato, onion, avocado, cream and salsa layered on top of that.
12. ROLLED LOOSELY into an open cylinder from one side. The ENDS LEFT OPEN -- not folded in.
13. Laid SEAM DOWN on the dry griddle 1 MINUTE only, to seal.
14. WRAPPED TIGHTLY in the greaseproof paper, which is what holds it together.
15. The paper torn down an inch at the top.
16. Held upright and eaten from the TOP DOWN, the paper peeled back as it goes.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes