Any dish that comes with plastic gloves should give you a hint that what’s coming is good. The torta ahogada—drowned torta—is a sandwich that you need protection from: the sauce poured over the sandwich is ready to set your lips and mouth on fire. A native of Guadalajara, and Jalisco state in general, the torta itself needs protection from the tomato and spicy pepper sauces that try to soak it through. For that, it is traditionally made on a birote salado, which is a salted crusty roll, more like a baguette than a telera. The crispiness of the outside holds the bread together, cuddling the carnitas (shredded pork) within. The sauce soaks through, though, getting its spicy hands on the flavorful meat, tying the sandwich up into a rather messy package of meat, bread, and sauce all melding together.
“The torta ahogada should be more popular,” says Tellez, touting the sandwich’s reputation as a hangover cure. “Maybe people are put off by the fact that it’s a sandwich drenched in insanely hot salsa, but it works.” For those looking to tame the heat on the sandwich, it can usually be ordered with a higher ratio (media will get you half) of tomato sauce to spicy pepper sauce.
