Destination
Puerto Vallarta
The story
The pambazo is one of the strangest and most photogenic sandwiches in the Mexican street canon: a soft bread roll dipped in a bright red guajillo-chile sauce, stained through, then stuffed with potato and chorizo, pan-fried until the outside crisps into a red-brown crust and the filling is molten, then split at the counter, topped with lettuce, crema, queso fresco and salsa verde, and handed over on a paper plate. The red-stained outside is the marker — a pambazo that isn't red isn't a pambazo. Sold from carts and stands in Mexico City's central neighbourhoods (Roma, Doctores, Centro) from mid-afternoon to late night, the pambazo is a working-class sandwich, made cheap and eaten fast.
Method
Toast the guajillos on a dry hot pan 20 seconds per side. Soak in hot water 20 minutes. Drain.
Blend the softened guajillos with garlic, oregano, salt, vinegar and stock to a smooth sauce. Strain through a sieve into a wide shallow dish (a plate with a lip works). The sauce should be the consistency of tomato juice.
Warm the oil in a pan. Cook the onion 4 minutes; add garlic. Add the chorizo and break up; cook 5 minutes. Add the diced potato and salt. Cover and cook 15 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the potato is tender and coated in chorizo fat.
Slice each roll almost in half lengthways, leaving a hinge at the back so the two halves stay attached.
Working one roll at a time, dip both cut sides and the outside of the bread into the guajillo sauce for 3 to 4 seconds. Do not soak. The bread should be stained red but not soggy.
Spoon 3 heaped tbsp of the papa con chorizo into the middle of each dipped roll. Press the top down over the filling.
Warm 3 tbsp oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Lay the stuffed rolls in the pan and press down with a spatula. Fry 2 minutes per side, adding more oil if needed, until the outside is crisped and deep red-brown.
Lift the fried pambazo onto a plate. Open at the seam. Add a heavy handful of shredded lettuce, a drizzle of crema, a scatter of crumbled queso fresco and a spoon of salsa verde. Serve immediately with pickled jalapeños on the side. Eat with hands.
Tips
- Pambazo bread if you can find it. Mexican pambazo rolls are slightly stale, soft, and specifically shaped to hold up to dipping. Any soft white sandwich roll (bolillo, telera, ciabatta) works as a substitute; day-old bread is better than fresh.
- Dip fast. Three to four seconds each side. Longer and the bread disintegrates when you fry it.
- The fry is the finish. Pan-frying the dipped, stuffed roll is what turns a wet stuffed sandwich into a pambazo. Skip the fry and you have a mess.
- Heavy on the toppings. A pambazo without a fistful of lettuce is unbalanced. The crema and lettuce are what cut through the fat and heat.
- Serve immediately. This is a hot-and-immediate sandwich. Making pambazos in advance and reheating them gives you sad, soggy bread.
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