Sincronizadas

Two flour tortillas with ham and cheese between them — a sandwich, and it is built and cut like one.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains lard, mozzarella whose rennet the source does not name, pork.

Ingredients

• 8 flour tortillas, as on their own page
• 250 g cooked ham, thinly sliced
• 300 g Oaxaca cheese or mozzarella, pulled into strands
• 1 avocado, sliced, to serve
• salsa, as on its own page, to serve

Method

1. TWO FLOUR TORTILLAS WITH THE HAM BETWEEN THEM, which makes this a sandwich rather than a fold, and it behaves like one from start to finish. There is no open edge: the filling is enclosed on all sides by two complete rounds, so it can be turned, pressed hard, and cut into wedges without anything escaping. A single tortilla folded over the same filling is a quesadilla and a looser thing altogether.
2. FLOUR AND NOT CORN, AND THAT IS WHY IT CAN BE PRESSED. Wheat tortillas are larger, stronger and flexible when warm, so the pair can be squashed down with a weight to drive the two halves together. Two corn tortillas under the same pressure crack across the middle and the filling comes out of the crack.
3. THE CHEESE GOES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE HAM. A layer on the bottom tortilla, the ham, then a second layer on top. The ham is a barrier -- nothing sticks through it -- so cheese on one side only glues half the sandwich and the other round lifts off as it is cut. Cheese against both faces and the whole thing is one piece.
4. IT IS WEIGHTED DOWN WHILE IT COOKS. A second pan set on top, or a plate with a tin on it. Three minutes a side under weight gives an even, thin, well-sealed sandwich; cooked loose, it puffs up in the middle, the edges stay cold and it never quite bonds.
5. IT IS CUT INTO WEDGES AND RESTED FIRST. One minute off the heat before the knife, or the molten cheese runs out of the cut and the wedges separate. Rested, it cuts cleanly into four and each wedge holds together in the hand.
6. A griddle or heavy pan set over a medium heat, dry.
7. One flour tortilla laid down and a layer of pulled cheese spread to within 1 cm of the edge.
8. The ham laid on in a single even layer, then a SECOND layer of cheese over the ham.
9. A second tortilla laid on top and pressed down by hand.
10. Slid onto the griddle and WEIGHTED with a second pan or a plate.
11. Cooked 3 MINUTES, until freckled underneath and beginning to seal.
12. TURNED carefully with a wide spatula, weighted again, and given another 3 minutes.
13. TESTED: the cheese should be molten right to the edge and the two rounds should move as one piece.
14. RESTED 1 minute off the heat, then cut into 4 wedges.
15. Served with sliced avocado and salsa.

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