Cooking in
British Columbia
Mexican
Pintos — Xicotepec de Juárez, Sierra de Puebla
A regional antojito from the Sierra de Puebla highlands, these thick masa rounds are studded with whole black beans folded directly into the dough. Cooked on a dry comal until opaque and lightly charred at the edges, each pinto is shaped while still warm into a shallow-rimmed vessel, then bathed in a hot jitomate salsa characteristic of the Sierra de Puebla style and finished with white onion and aged cheese. The name likely refers to the speckled appearance of the bean-dotted masa. Diana Kennedy documented this preparation from Xicotepec de Juárez, a coffee-growing mountain town in northern Puebla, where such masa-based snacks anchor daily market eating.
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Cook
I
The Market List
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340 g (¾ lb / 1½ cups)
prepared corn tortilla masa
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
3 tablespoons
softened lard
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 teaspoon
sea salt, or to taste
Your own market
¾ cup
frijoles negros de olla (whole cooked black beans, Phaseolus vulgaris), drained
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1¼ cups
salsa de jitomate Sierra de Puebla style, kept at a simmer
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
6 tablespoons
finely chopped white onion (Allium cepa)
Your own market
¾ cup
finely grated queso añejo or Romano cheese
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
II
The Method
1
Combine the masa, lard, and salt in a bowl. Work together until the fat is evenly incorporated and the dough is smooth and pliable.
2
Fold the whole black beans through the dough carefully, distributing them without breaking their skins.
3
Divide into 12 equal balls. Using a tortilla press or your palms, flatten each into a round approximately 9 cm (3½ inches) across and noticeably thicker than a standard tortilla.
From the canon — The corn tortilla is the foundational food of Mexican cuisine — a thin, round disc of nixtamalized masa cooked on an ungreased comal (flat griddle) until it … Tortilla — hand press, comal, and the puff →
4
Heat an ungreased comal or heavy cast-iron griddle over medium heat — around 160–175 °C (320–350 °F). Cook each pinto 5 minutes per side until the surface turns opaque and shows light golden-brown patches.
5
While each pinto is still hot, use your fingers to pinch and press a small raised ridge around the circumference, forming a shallow rim.
6
Dip each rimmed pinto briefly into the hot simmering salsa, then set on a warm plate. Spoon additional salsa into the centre, scatter with chopped onion, and finish with grated cheese.
7
Serve at once.
III
Sensory Tests
◇Press the rim of the shaped vessel gently with a fingertip: it should hold its shallow wall without cracking or collapsing, indicating the masa was worked at the correct hydration and temperature — too dry and it splits, too wet and it slumps flat.
◇The underside of the pinto should show irregular dark-brown to near-black char spots from direct comal contact, not a uniform pale tan; uniform pallor means the comal was under-temperature and the masa has steamed rather than sealed, resulting in a gummy interior.
◇Bite through the wall of the vessel: you should encounter the intact skin and yielding interior of a whole black bean distinct from the masa — if the beans have dissolved into the dough, they were overcooked before folding or the masa was worked too aggressively.
◇The jitomate salsa applied to the pinto should smell of cooked tomato with a distinct fried-oil note from being worked in a hot pan with fat; a raw, herbaceous tomato smell indicates the salsa was blended cold and never fried, and will taste thin and acidic rather than round and savoury.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies at the moment the cooked masa round is shaped into its vessel: the window is narrow — roughly 30 to 45 seconds after leaving the comal — when the masa is hot enough to be plastic but not so fragile it tears. Let it cool a minute too long and the rim cracks rather than folds; rush the salsa into a split vessel and you have a wet, structureless mass rather than a contained, sauce-bathed antojito.
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V
What to Pour
The pairing
Beer
From British Columbia
Beer lager
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The working kitchen