Cemitas

An egg-enriched roll built for a sturdy crumb, because it is loaded heavily and then squashed flat.

Pork, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name, pork.

Ingredients

the rolls

• 500 g strong white flour
• 2 eggs, plus 1 for glazing
• 180 ml milk, lukewarm
• 60 g butter, softened
• 50 g sugar
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 10 g salt
• 4 tablespoons sesame seeds

the filling

• 600 g pork loin, in thin slices, breaded and fried
• 300 g Oaxaca cheese, pulled into strands
• 2 avocados, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 4 chipotles in adobo, in strips
• a bunch of papalo, or coriander

Method

1. IT IS AN EGG-ENRICHED ROLL BUILT FOR A STURDY CRUMB, because it is loaded heavily and then squashed flat. That is the whole reason this dough is different from a bolillo's. Two eggs and sixty grams of butter give a close, slightly springy crumb that compresses under a filling and springs back rather than tearing. A bolillo's lean open crumb is lovely to eat and shears apart when a cemita's worth of meat, cheese and avocado is pressed into it, and the juices go straight through the base within two minutes.
2. THE SESAME GOES ON THICK AND IS PRESSED IN. Four tablespoons across six rolls, scattered onto an egg-washed top and then pressed down with the flat of the hand so it beds into the dough. Sprinkled on loosely, most of it ends up on the board when the roll is cut and filled.
3. THE TOP IS LEFT DOMED AND IS NOT SLASHED. No cut anywhere. A slash would open into a ridge, and this roll has to be split cleanly through the middle and pressed flat; a ridge on top makes it rock and the knife wander.
4. THE PORK IS BREADED AND FRIED AND MUST BE DRAINED PROPERLY. On a rack rather than on paper, so the underside stays crisp, and it goes into the roll as late as possible. A breaded cutlet that has sat in its own steam is soft, and soft breadcrumb inside a soft roll makes the whole thing one texture.
5. THE PAPALO GOES IN RAW AND IN QUANTITY, AND CORIANDER IS NOT THE SAME HERB. Papalo is much stronger -- sharper, faintly soapy, closer to rue than to coriander -- and a cemita carries a real handful of it. Coriander is the honest substitute and makes a milder sandwich, which is worth saying rather than listing them as alternatives.
6. The flour, sugar, yeast and salt stirred together, salt away from the yeast.
7. The 2 eggs, the lukewarm milk and the softened butter added and mixed to a soft dough.
8. Kneaded 12 MINUTES -- an enriched dough takes longer -- until smooth and elastic.
9. Covered and risen 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES until doubled.
10. Knocked back, divided into 6, and each rolled into a tight BALL and left DOMED. NOT slashed.
11. Set well apart on a lined tray, covered, and proved 50 MINUTES.
12. Brushed with the remaining beaten egg, the sesame scattered on THICKLY and PRESSED IN with the flat of the hand.
13. Baked at 190°C for 18 to 20 MINUTES until deep golden and hollow when tapped. Cooled completely.
14. The pork slices breaded and fried, then drained on a RACK -- not paper -- and kept warm.
15. Each roll split horizontally and a little crumb pulled out of the lid.
16. Built in order: cheese on the base, the hot pork, chipotle strips, onion, avocado, then a real HANDFUL of papalo.
17. The lid put on and the whole thing PRESSED FLAT with the palm, hard, and eaten at once.

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