Adventures of an American Chef on the Run: Chicken and Bacon Tortas

in #food8 years ago

One of my favorite foods that happen to be available all over here in Mexico are Tortas.  What are they? They're just Mexican sandwiches, served on large white bread buns by the name of taleras. Lots of restaurants and street carts sell them here, all with differences.  There are actually entire restaurants, like a place called Tortas Aki, devoted to the sandwiches.  In Coasta Azul, there's a guy there on the weekdays that sells cheap, simple tortas for ten pesos each, and he has a good little business with it going. Some places use beans and avocado on every one, others make more specialized ones, with items like ham and pineapple.  The point here is, there's a torta for everyone here.  

I bought some taleras from my local miscelanea for 3 pesos each (with a slightly annoying sudden price change....after no price changes for 6 months). I buy the cubed bacon from Walmart now, as it's cheaper per kilo and pretty versatile. There's some chicken and butter.  Not shown in the photo is mayo, lettuce and tomato, which I added later. 

I chop the bacon up pretty fine when using it like this, so it cooks into little bits.  I also chop the chicken to make the sandwich easier to eat. 

I put the chicken and back in a pan with butter on medium high, just allow it to fry for awhile, stirring here and there. 

Cut the talera in half and toast it on a heated, buttered griddle. John likes his less toasted than I do.

When the bacon is crispy and the meat is slightly golden it's done.  Top the bun with your dressing, in this case mayo.  I put the meat on top of the bun to coat in an even layer from end to end. 

Forgive me for showing the same picture again, but I only got one good one before devouring it.  The nice thing about these are that they are extremely versatile, you can make them with whatever you have on hand.  Those taleras are available everywhere here, often delivered to your door if you happen to catch a guy with a basket selling them. It's a sandwich that is remeniscient of home, while still being different than most sandwiches I've ever encountered in the states. 

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bacon tortas? now there's something i need to try..!

Indeed, they're really good with just bacon, no chicken. Like a giant blt

They look great! You may want to try making a cemita next. Puebla makes cemitas that are insane!

The cemita, also known as cemita poblana, derives from the city (and region) of Puebla. The word refers to the sandwich as well as to the roll it is typically served on, a bread roll covered with sesame seeds.

The bread is made with egg, and resembles brioche. Additionally, the ingredients usually are restricted to sliced avocado, meat (milanesa de pollo o de cerdo empanizado), quesillo or queso panela, onions, the herb pápalo and chiles chipotles or rajas. Keep up the amazing blogs!

Those sound like buyos here, the breads do.