The Greatness of Tortas, Barbacoa, and Cachete

Barbacoa Torta at El Paisa

Tortas are awesome.  At it's most basic, a torta is a Mexican sandwich, prepared using a large, soft bun that's been toasted a bit.  To me, however, tortas are like everything wonderful in a hamburger basket and a great taco, all together in a delicious, hand sized package.  They come with several fillings including Al Pastor (marinated pork), Carne Asada (grilled beef steak), Jamon (ham), Milanesa (breaded, fried beef cutlet), etc.  My two favorites are Barbacoa (pictured) and Lengua (beef tongue).  Hold on a sec!  Stay with me.  Beef tongue is REALLY good.  If you've never had it, please reserve your judgement.  Tongue is like very very tender pot roast.  The flavor is beefy and rich and wonderful.  Please try it.  Now on to the barbacoa.

Barbacoa, for the un-initiated, is a beef dish popular in northern Mexico.  I say beef because the barbacoa in my area is pretty much all beef due to the massive numbers of people from northern Mexico.  In other parts of Mexico they use lamb or pork or goat.  Either way, barbacoa is a method of slow cooking meat that is usually wrapped in something, like a banana leaf.  This cooking method results in an extremely tender finished product...it literally melts in your mouth.  The best barbacoa, in my humble opinion, comes from the cabeza (the head) of the cow, and I'm specifically referring to cachete (the cheek).

Cachete is wonderful for several reasons:  it has a dense, rich flavor; it's cheap as hell; it gets better if it sits for a while.  All of those qualities together make cachete barbacoa the end all taqueria food as far as I'm concerned.  For about $7, I procured the torta and fries pictured above from El Paisa in Carrollton.  If you live in Dallas, give El Paisa a try for lunch.  Their food is very good, and incredibly cheap.  The Carrollton location is new, and has a drive through.  The Walnut Hill location is older, and has a different menu featuring a little more variety of Mexican dishes.  This place is MEXICAN, not Tex-Mex.  If you've never done authentic Mexican, you should.  Tex-Mex is fantastic, but Mex-Mex has its place in my rotation as well.

Let me know if you find a great torta in your neck of the woods!