Pulling some bread from the top buns helps make a slightly more compact (though still gloriously overstuffed) sandwich.
Pulling the cheese into hair-thin strands creates a texture in each bite that can’t be beat.
Cemitas are a Mexican sandwich that originally hails from the State of Puebla and gets its name from the bun itself, also known as a cemita. This recipe shows you how to make a Pueblan-style cemita with a fried milanesa beef, chicken, or pork cutlet filling. Loaded with fine strands of shredded Oaxacan cheese, plenty of ripe avocado, chipotles or pickled jalapeños, and papalo, a fragrant Mexican herb with a flavor all its own, it’s a masterpiece of sandwich construction.

There are quite a few similar recipes out there. Many call for cooking pasta directly in milk, a technique that works okay, but can lead to scorching if you’re not super careful with stirring. I prefer the evaporated-milk route because it ensures a clean pan with no burnt bits on the bottom.

This creamy, homemade macaroni and cheese has fewer ingredients than the boxed version, and comes together in the same amount of time. Cooking macaroni in a small volume of water concentrates the starch from the pasta, helping the cheese form a creamy emulsion.
Similar recipes call for cooking pasta in milk, which can scorch. Cooking in water and adding evaporated milk toward the end fixes this problem.
Evaporated milk contains protein micelles, which help keep an emulsified sauce smooth and creamy.
This macaroni and cheese—this pot of creamy, gooey, cheesy, glorious macaroni and cheese—was made with three ingredients in about 10 minutes. Seriously. That’s one fewer ingredient than you need to add to the pot to make a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese. Is this going to replace my Ultra-Gooey Stovetop Mac and Cheese as my favorite stovetop mac and cheese recipe? I don’t think so, but as far as work-to-results ratios go, this new one is one of the best around.

This idea came from working on my cacio e pepe recipe, the Roman dish with pasta, pecorino, and black pepper. In that recipe, I cook spaghetti in a small volume of water, using the starchy pasta water to emulsify the cheese into a creamy sauce. I wondered if the same thing would work for an American-style macaroni and cheese, using more cheese and cheddar in place of pecorino.

The first key was reducing the amount of water to a bare minimum, just enough cold water to cover the macaroni in its pot.

Less water yields more concentrated starch. As the pasta cooks, it sheds starch. You want that starch to stay in the pot, as it plays a crucial role in helping the sauce stay creamy and emulsified. Without it, the cheese turns tough and greasy.

The second key was using evaporated milk as the base liquid. Evaporated milk is a highly concentrated source of milk protein micelles—bundles of proteins that can act as powerful emulsifying agents—which help to keep the sauce creamy and smooth.

Mexican food confused me when I first moved to Texas. What I considered to be quintessential Tex-Mex, like sizzling fajita platters and enchiladas smothered in yellow cheese, were on the same menu as “traditional” Mexican favorites, like tacos al pastor and chiles en nogada. I even encountered a restaurant serving the Lone Star state’s famous queso dip next to cochinita pibil (a specialty from the Yucatán Peninsula) wrapped in flour tortillas. I didn’t know what to make of it. But after talking to several chefs, I learned that the distinction between Mexican and Tex-Mex food has actually been evolving for years, and has even recently started to blur. The cuisine we now call Tex-Mex is rooted in the state’s Tejano culture (Texans of Spanish or Mexican heritage who lived in Texas before it became a republic) and also Mexican immigrants who hailed largely from Northern Mexico. Until the 1970s, though, most people referred to it simply as Mexican food. In The Tex-Mex Cookbook, Texas food expert Robb Walsh credits Diana Kennedy with removing Tex-Mex from the discussion of traditional Mexican cuisine.

Rick Bayless, however, recently told me at the Austin Food and Wine Festival that when he wrote the draft of his first cookbook, Authentic Mexican, he featured seven culinary regions of Mexico, including the Southwestern United States. “You could even break that down further into the cuisines of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and even the ranchos of California,” he added. Perhaps his view differs from Kennedy’s because he grew up in Oklahoma eating Tex-Mex two or three times a week. Although Carlos Rivero, owner of El Chile Cafe y Cantina and several other Mexican restaurants in Austin, ate traditional Mexican mole and other dishes while growing up in San Antonio, he and Bayless both spoke nostalgically about cheese enchiladas in chili gravy. “They were probably one of my favorite dishes my mom made when my sister and I we were young,” Rivero recalled. But Iliana de la Vega, the chef and owner of the Mexican restaurant El Naranjo in Austin, never ate cheese enchiladas while growing up in Mexico City. She recalls eating foods like chiles rellenos and salads composed of chayote or nopales.

If you’re looking to identify the distinguishing characteristics of Tex-Mex, enchiladas are a good case study. In the classic Tex-Mex version of cheese enchiladas, grated yellow cheese is wrapped in tortillas, and then covered in a dark red chili sauce mixed with ground beef. You’ll also find other typical Tex-Mex ingredients like pinto beans and rice served on the side. But Iliana de la Vega, the chef and owner of the Mexican restaurant El Naranjo in Austin, never ate cheese enchiladas while growing up in Mexico City. She recalls eating foods like chiles rellenos and salads composed of chayote or nopales. Beef was a bit of a rarity. “In traditional Mexican cooking, we eat a lot of chicken and a lot of pork,” she explained. If they had enchiladas, they were usually smothered in a green tomatillo sauce or mole, and sprinkled with a white cheese. “My mother was from Oaxaca, so we had mole maybe twice or three times a month,” she said.

Another difference is the abundant use of cumin in Tex-Mex cuisine. “We use it a lot in the north, but it’s not a spice we use much in the southern part of Mexico,” says de la Vega. Robb Walsh links the heavy use of cumin to the first wave of Canary Islanders who emigrated to San Antonio in the 1700s. Today it’s still a key ingredient in chili con carne, along with chili powder, which, according to Walsh, is a uniquely Texan invention developed by a German immigrant in New Braunfels in the late 1890s. In the late 1800’s, chili con carne was regularly ladled out at bargain prices in the streets of San Antonio at its famed chili stands. “Tex-Mex was never the cuisine of the upper echelon of society,” Bayless observes. “It’s a peasant, working class cuisine.”

The Tex-Mex that most of us think of, full of Velveeta cheese and pre-made taco shells, was shaped by the development of convenience foods in the 1950s. That time period left Tex-Mex, and even Mexican food in general, with a reputation as “just a cheap cuisine, full of sour cream and processed cheese, and that everything is greasy,” says de la Vega.

Fortunately, that perception has changed. “Tex-Mex has now evolved to a different stage,” says Bayless. “It was once a very simple cuisine, but now there are a variety of dishes on the menus.” Another difference is the abundant use of cumin in Tex-Mex cuisine. “We use it a lot in the north, but it’s not a spice we use much in the southern part of Mexico,” says de la Vega.

Carlos Rivero agrees. “‘Mexican’ is a very broad term because that profile encompasses so many different flavors and ingredients,” explains Rivero. “When you come to El Chile, you can have a modern take on Mexican or you can have the die-hard fajita platter. It’s up to you.”

As the line between traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex continues to evolve, it may become harder to separate the two. As Iliana de la Vega notes, “Either Tex-Mex or traditional Mexican, we can all live together. As long as it’s well-executed food, then, why not?”

4 (6-ounce) pieces beef, pork, or chicken cutlets, very thinly pounded
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup bread crumbs
Canola or vegetable oil, for frying
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ripe medium Hass avocados, halved, pitted, and sliced
4 homemade or store-bought cemita buns (see note), sesame-seed buns, or brioche buns, halved
2 cups shredded Queso Oaxaca from 1 (14-ounce) ball of cheese (see note), or fresh mozzarella or string cheese, divided
12 raw onion rings (about 1/4 inch thick)
4 chioptle chiles from 1 (7-ounce) can whole chipotle chiles in adobo, or pickled jalapeños from 1 (12-ounce) can
20 leaves papalo (see note), or fresh cilantro leaves
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Set wire rack on a sheet pan. Place milk in a shallow dish. Place flour in another shallow dish. Place bread crumbs in third shallow dish. Working one at a time, dip cutlets in milk, then dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Return to milk, then dredge in bread crumbs, pressing to adhere. Place breaded cutlets on a baking sheet.

Heat about 1/2 inch oil in a cast-iron skillet to 375°F. Working in batches and adding oil as needed to maintain level, fry cutlets, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a clean paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper when still hot.

Spread avocado on bottom bun halves. Top with fried cutlets. Mound half of the cheese on the cutlets.

Arrange onion rings on top of cheese. If using chipotles, tear into pieces and arrange on onion rings; alternatively, arrange pickled jalapeños on top of onion rings. Top with papalo and mound the remaining cheese on top. Drizzle with olive oil.

Scoop some bread from each of the top buns and discard. Close sandwiches and serve right away.

Special equipment
1 large cast iron skillet; 2 baking sheets

Notes
Cemita buns, papalo, and Queso Oaxaca can be found at well-stocked Mexican and Latin American bakeries and grocers. Queso Oaxaca should be shredded by hand into very thin strands, just like string cheese.

These stuffed sweet potatoes are an adaption of the classic ones we shared a few years ago, and after lots of request for a sweet potato version we made these beauties! crispy sweet potato skins stuffed with mashed sweet potato, black beans, cherry tomatoes, chipotle, miso and coriander, topped with a dollop of tahini coconut yoghurt and homemade guacamole.

ingredients
For the potatoes
2 medium sweet potatoes
14 cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
200g of black beans, drained
pinch of fresh coriander, chopped
½ a teaspoon of chipotle powder
1 teaspoon of brown miso paste
olive oil
salt and pepper
For the sour cream
200g natural yogurt (i use coconut yogurt)
1 tablespoon of tahini
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
For the guacamole
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
juice of half a lime
handful of fresh coriander
1/2 a red chilli
10 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
method
preheat the oven to 200c, fan setting.
wash the sweet potatoes, pierce the skin with a fork a few times and then bake for 60-70 minutes until cooked through.
while the potatoes cook, peel and finely chop the garlic, quarter the cherry tomatoes and heat both in a pan with a glug of olive oil. add the beans, chipotle, apple cider vinegar, miso and salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes on a gentle heat. roughly chop and stir in the coriander, then take off the heat.
to make the sour cream, simply mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until smooth.
for the guacamole, scoop the flesh out the avocados and mash it with a fork. finely chop the chilli and coriander then mix into the avocado flesh along with the lime and salt and pepper and sun-dried tomatoes.
when the sweet potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and cut them in half. scoop out the middle and mix 2/3 of it into the beans and tomatoes, then scoop spoonfuls back into the potato skins.
serve the loaded sweet potato skins with big spoonfuls of cool guacamole and sour cream on top.

These stuffed sweet potatoes are an adaption of the classic ones we shared a few years ago, and after lots of request for a sweet potato version we made these beauties! crispy sweet potato skins stuffed with mashed sweet potato, black beans, cherry tomatoes, chipotle, miso and coriander, topped with a dollop of tahini coconut yoghurt and homemade guacamole.

ingredients
For the potatoes
2 medium sweet potatoes
14 cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
200g of black beans, drained
pinch of fresh coriander, chopped
½ a teaspoon of chipotle powder
1 teaspoon of brown miso paste
olive oil
salt and pepper
For the sour cream
200g natural yogurt (i use coconut yogurt)
1 tablespoon of tahini
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
For the guacamole
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
juice of half a lime
handful of fresh coriander
1/2 a red chilli
10 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
method
preheat the oven to 200c, fan setting.
wash the sweet potatoes, pierce the skin with a fork a few times and then bake for 60-70 minutes until cooked through.
while the potatoes cook, peel and finely chop the garlic, quarter the cherry tomatoes and heat both in a pan with a glug of olive oil. add the beans, chipotle, apple cider vinegar, miso and salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes on a gentle heat. roughly chop and stir in the coriander, then take off the heat.
to make the sour cream, simply mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until smooth.
for the guacamole, scoop the flesh out the avocados and mash it with a fork. finely chop the chilli and coriander then mix into the avocado flesh along with the lime and salt and pepper and sun-dried tomatoes.
when the sweet potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and cut them in half. scoop out the middle and mix 2/3 of it into the beans and tomatoes, then scoop spoonfuls back into the potato skins.
serve the loaded sweet potato skins with big spoonfuls of cool guacamole and sour cream on top.

These stuffed sweet potatoes are an adaption of the classic ones we shared a few years ago, and after lots of request for a sweet potato version we made these beauties! crispy sweet potato skins stuffed with mashed sweet potato, black beans, cherry tomatoes, chipotle, miso and coriander, topped with a dollop of tahini coconut yoghurt and homemade guacamole.

ingredients
For the potatoes
2 medium sweet potatoes
14 cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
200g of black beans, drained
pinch of fresh coriander, chopped
½ a teaspoon of chipotle powder
1 teaspoon of brown miso paste
olive oil
salt and pepper
For the sour cream
200g natural yogurt (i use coconut yogurt)
1 tablespoon of tahini
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
For the guacamole
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
juice of half a lime
handful of fresh coriander
1/2 a red chilli
10 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
method
preheat the oven to 200c, fan setting.
wash the sweet potatoes, pierce the skin with a fork a few times and then bake for 60-70 minutes until cooked through.
while the potatoes cook, peel and finely chop the garlic, quarter the cherry tomatoes and heat both in a pan with a glug of olive oil. add the beans, chipotle, apple cider vinegar, miso and salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes on a gentle heat. roughly chop and stir in the coriander, then take off the heat.
to make the sour cream, simply mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until smooth.
for the guacamole, scoop the flesh out the avocados and mash it with a fork. finely chop the chilli and coriander then mix into the avocado flesh along with the lime and salt and pepper and sun-dried tomatoes.
when the sweet potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and cut them in half. scoop out the middle and mix 2/3 of it into the beans and tomatoes, then scoop spoonfuls back into the potato skins.
serve the loaded sweet potato skins with big spoonfuls of cool guacamole and sour cream on top.