Let’s discuss preparing corn tortillas for chilaquiles. The traditional breakfast or brunch Mexican Chilaquiles consists of lightly fried corn tortillas that are simmered in a flavorful salsa of either red or green tomatoes. The dish is topped with crumbled cheese (queso fresco) and Mexican crema. Sometimes people add either fried eggs or pulled chicken strands. Other additions can be chilies, marron, corn niblets, pickled purple onions, avocado, or pico de gallo. Chilaquiles are known to be a hangover cure and are popular on weekend mornings.
Recently, everyone is rushing to do more in less time, and many cooks take shortcuts, ruining traditional dishes. Chilaquiles have changed drastically, and it is almost impossible to find a restaurant that knows how to prepare the dish properly. The most significant error is in the tortillas, which are the base for the dish. Today, the cooks soak the tortillas in excessive grease and fry them until they become overly crispy, resulting in extremely crunchy tortillas.
Then they cut the round tortilla into eight slices and break each slice to make 16 rather large pieces. Traditionally, the tortilla was cut into 12 sections and each broken into two pieces, making 24 smaller pieces. Needless to say, when broken into 24 smaller pieces, the individual sections are small enough to be placed in the mouth without having to cut them in the dish and splatter the salsa onto the table and your clothing.
Traditionally, the lightly fried tortilla pieces were simmered in the salsa until they were softened. Today, they cook the salsa and add the tortillas to the dish just before serving.
~Señora Abuela
