RECIPES
Potato Gorditas
I found these gorditas--the best I have ever had--in a restaurant called El Rincón del Viejo (The Old Man’s Corner) in the border town of Nuevo Laredo. The masa portion of the dough can be made with either nixtamal (fresh dough for corn tortillas) from a tortilla factory or with MaSeca corn flour for tortillas. It helps if you have a good food scale and a laser thermometer is also useful. Without them you may need just a bit more trial and error to get the recipe right when making it with your particular stove and pans. But either way they are well worth the effort! The recipe makes either about 12 small appetizer gorditas or 6 of the large sandwich-style ones.
Ingredients
14 ounces prepared masa for corn tortillas (either from a tortilla factory or made from MaSeca corn flour)
9 ounces peeled, russet potatoes (weighed after peeling)
Salt for cooking the potatoes
2 teaspoons melted lard
Additional lard
Cooking oil
Directions
1. Prepare the masa (dough). If you are using MaSeca for tortillas put 2 cups in a medium-sized bowl and stir in 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon water with a wooden spoon. Knead the dough lightly for about two minutes then allow it to rest for 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap, so that it will fully hydrate. Weigh out the dough and reserve anything over 14 ounces for another use.
While the masa is resting, place the potatoes in a pot, cover them with several inches of water, add a dash of salt, and bring to a medium simmer. Cook the potatoes until they are easily pierced with a paring knife. Put the potatoes through a potato ricer or thoroughly mash them then stir in the 2 teaspoons lard. Finally, combine the 14 ounces of tortilla masa and the mashed potatoes.
2 a. Make thin appetizer gorditas. Pat out 1 ½ ounce pieces of the dough into circles about 3 inches in diameter and between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat (about 375 degrees if you have a laser thermometer), add just enough lard to film the surface, and cook the dough until it begins to turn golden on both sides and is cooked through, about 4 minues on each side. Top them with guacamole, some grated cotija cheese, (or just about anything else you like) and serve.
2 b. Make larger, sanwich-style gorditas. Pat 3 ounce pieces of dough into circles about 3 3/4 inches in diameter and about 3/8 inch (between thick and cook in the lard-filmed skillet the same as above, about 4 minutes on each side. When they are done, fry the gorditas in about ½ inch of lard, cooking oil or a combination of lard and cooking oil, heated over medium heat to 350 degrees, or until a tiny drop of water sputters immediately on contact. (Be very careful with the latter test. If you use more than just a tiny drop, the oil can spatter and cause burns). Drain the cooked gorditas on paper towels, and when they are cool enough to handle slit them almost in half lengthwise (a thin boning knife works well for this) and fill them, with shredded meat, cheese and guacamole.