Enchiladas de Bautizo (Christening Enchiladas)

Ejutla de Crespo, Central Valleys, Oaxaca, Mexico. Recipe sourced from the family tradition of Señora Paula Ríos, via her granddaughter Señorita Soledad Díaz.

A festive antojito from Ejutla de Crespo in Oaxaca's Central Valleys, traditionally prepared for baptism celebrations. Corn tortillas are pan-fried in lard, draped in mole coloradito, then rolled around a hearty picadillo made from three meats — chicken, pork, and beef — and finished with crumbled queso fresco, sliced white onion, and flat-leaf parsley. The recipe was passed down from Señora Paula Ríos of Ejutla and shared with Diana Kennedy by Señorita Soledad Díaz of Oaxaca City. Although this dish has largely given way to other foods at modern baptism feasts, it remains a benchmark of Central Valley celebration cooking.

Mole coloradito delivers a layered mid-heat warmth — dried chiles guajillo and ancho lending earthy, faintly chocolatey depth without the darkness of negro — while the lard-fried tortilla absorbs that sauce and turns silky rather than crisp, creating a yielding chew beneath. The three-meat picadillo reads as rich and slightly sweet from slow-cooked pork and beef fat mingling with chicken, and the crumbled queso fresco cuts through with a clean, lactic salinity. Flat-leaf parsley and raw white onion brighten each bite at the finish, keeping the whole composition from feeling heavy despite the celebration-scale generosity of the filling.