Pork Carnitas Drowned Sandwich / Torta Ahogada
This is recipe and photos are from my Dear fellow blogger Pily from “La Cocina de Pily”. Pily lives in Guadalajara, Jalisco., and from there she shares her love of cooking with a variety of easy to make dishes and blogging about it while also homeschooling two teenager boys. Those are just two of the many things we have in common.
But let’s go to the recipe: “Tortas Ahogadas” (salsa-drowned sandwiches) are typical of Guadalajara city in the State of Jalisco. They are made with a roll called “salted Birote”, which is different from the traditional Mexican bread “bolillo”. Birote has a sour taste and a very hard crust slightly similar to a crusty baguette or a mild sourdough.
That’s why it’s so good for this smothered sandwich since it doesn’t get soft as easily as other pieces of bread. Of course, that it will soften, but not so fast, this sandwich is smeared with refried beans filled with pork carnitas and topped with a tasty tomato sauce and the brave ones also top it with a spicy Arbol sauce. Personally, I do not like to add the spicy sauce because I like to enjoy it, when it is too hot then you do not taste the food, add … your lemon, salt and very importantly, a cold Coke … wow!
“Torta Ahogada”.
People who come from other states, in my experience, do not like this sandwich very much because it is “softened with the sauce”, but I love it!
Well, too much blah, blah … Here goes the recipe
Pork Carnitas Drowned Sandwich / Torta Ahogada
Instructions:
- Cook the tomatoes in a pot with water, drain and blend in blender with garlic, vinegar, oregano and salt. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- In a large pot put the sauce to a boil 1 / 2 hour, adding water, depending on how liquid you would like it taste the salt, if you feel that it needs more oregano, add more, or a little more vinegar, it should be a little acid, but rich.
- For the Hot sauce, cook the 15 Arbol Chiles in water for a bout 15 minutes or until tender, place them in a blender or food processor with a little of the cooking water, 1/2 clove of garlic, salt and puree until smooth. Strain and it is ready.
- Now to assembly the sandwich, spread some refried beans on each side of the rolls, top bottom half with a portion of the Pork Carnitas, served on a plate and top with the tomato salsa, serve with marinated onions alongside, a wedge of lemon and … dig in! If you like to spice your sandwich add the árbol sauce.
PORK CARNITAS DROWNED SANDWICH JALISCO STYLE
Ingredients
- 4 hard rolls halved horizontally
- 1 Lb Pork Carnitas
- ¾ cup of Refried Beans
- 2 Lbs. ripe tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon of vinegar
- ½ teaspoon of dry Mexican oregano
- Salt to taste
- 1 / 4 of a large thinly sliced onion and marinated in lemon juice
Hot sauce:
- 15 árbol peppers
- ½ garlic clove
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook the tomatoes in a pot with water, drain and blend in blender with garlic, vinegar, oregano and salt.
- In a large pot put the sauce to a boil 1 / 2 hour, adding water, depending on how liquid you would like it (in many places it is thick in others don’t, depending on your taste) taste the salt, if you feel that it needs more oregano, add more, or a little more vinegar, it should be a little acid, but rich … I know that this recipe is quite a personal taste, sorry, but it will depend a lot on your taste for spices and vinegar, this is the basis, ok?
- For the Hot sauce, cook the 15 Arbol Chiles in water for about 15 minutes or until tender, place them in a blender or food processor with a little of the cooking water, 1/2 clove of garlic, salt and puree until smooth. Strain and it is ready …be careful with this sauce is very spicy!
- Now to assembly the sandwich, spread some refried beans on each side of the rolls, top bottom half with a portion of the Pork Carnitas, served on a plate and top with the tomato salsa, serve with marinated onions alongside, a wedge of lemon and … dig in! If you like to spice your sandwich add the árbol sauce.
Torta Ahogada.
My friend Nora also has her own version in Spanish HERE.
Enjoy!
More recipes:
Pork in Tomato Sauce
Mexican Pork Carnitas Torta
If you like our recipes follow us on Instagram @mexicoinmykitchen
Al Dente Gourmet
June 25, 2011 at 7:27 amMely, I just wanted to stop in and say Hello 🙂 Hope everything is Ok with you–Loving these carnitas. Se ven deliciosas!
Abrazotes,
Aldy.
La Dama
June 25, 2011 at 8:37 pmAy, Mely, que delicios son las tortas.
me recuerda a un restaurant in California llamado "Tortas Sinaloa"
aver cuando se la hago a mi Buddy.
Carmen
June 27, 2011 at 4:27 amAhh, tengo que ir a Guadalajara por unas tortas ahogadas, por unos birotes, por unas jericallas, por tantas cosas ricas que hay por allá.
Me fascinan.
Sobre la duda de Birote o Virote, me acordé de un maestro que me bajó un punto en un cuento por escribirlo con V. Me dió mucho coraje porque mi cuento era buenísimo. Como las tortas ahogadas.
Un beso querida Mely
Nammi
July 2, 2011 at 1:45 pmeven though i dont eat pork , that does look like a delicious looking sandwich :), maybe can try with beef instead of pork.
Karen Chan
July 5, 2011 at 4:11 pmI have always seen this and heard of it but can you believe never had it!? It's been on my i-have-to-try this. It looks like a better version of a french dip sandwich 😉 Now this is going to have to go on my i-have-to-make-this list!
Helga!
July 6, 2011 at 9:33 pmMy mouth is watering so much I can't speak.
DELICIOUS!!!!
🙂
Jay
July 8, 2011 at 10:28 amlooks irresistibly hearty and full of nice texture..
first time here …love your space..
awesome recipe collection with gorgeous clicks..
Am your happy subscriber now..:)
do stop by mine sometime..
La Dama
July 11, 2011 at 6:32 pmSi es cierto Mely, tiene que ser gabacho para salir en la tele. tu crees que van a poner a una Mexicana en su propio show.
La Dama
July 18, 2011 at 8:45 pmMely,
donde andas mujer? reportate, I made some of your Swiss enchiladas, me salieron bien ricas.
La Dama
July 18, 2011 at 9:08 pmMely,
que bueno que estas muy bien,ocupada trabajando.
yo la paso checkiando cada rato aver que recetas nos postea.
saludos
mil abrazos
te me cuidas amorcito
Gabriela, clavo y canela
July 21, 2011 at 10:26 pmMelyy!! donde andas! se te extraña! besitos
rolrodur
July 22, 2011 at 2:00 amHola, buenas noches. muy buena receta de tortas ahogadas, es un platillo bastante picoso pero muy rico también, aquí en la capital es difícil hallarlas pues el virote no puede prepararse aquí por la altura, de todas formas que ricas se ven mucho gusto me da haber encontrado este blog, felicitaciones
Mexico in my kitchen
July 22, 2011 at 1:41 pmHola Gaby,
Aqui ando tomando un tiempo para la familia.
Regreso pronto.
Saludos y disfruta elv erano con tus hermosos crios.
Mely
Mexico in my kitchen
July 22, 2011 at 1:42 pmHola Rolando,
Gracias por tus palabras,
Que tengas un bello dia.
Mely
Katie
November 13, 2012 at 6:04 amThis looks and sounds amazing. I have to admit, living in B.C. I've never had one but if I ever have the chance I'm going to try it or just make it myself! 🙂
Mely
November 23, 2012 at 6:32 pmHello Ketie,
I hope you can make them. I am sure you can buy Carnitas en your area. Enjoy!
Mely
Anonymous
October 17, 2013 at 3:28 amHow long does this take to cook? Also if you can have it in prep time and cooking time, it'd be really helpful!
Mely
October 17, 2013 at 6:01 pmHello ,
This sandwich is usually make of pork meat that was cooked earlier, the day before or bought from the butcher already made.
You can find the recipe for the carnitas here in 2 versions: Pork Carnitas
The salsa will take about 20 minutes to make including cooking time. Both the carnitas and the salsa can be prepare ahead of time until ready to assembly into sandwich – torta.
Thanks for your interest.
Mely
Rachael Almaraz
May 19, 2015 at 1:48 pmMy husband is from Jalisco I make these all the time he loves them.
Anonymous
December 16, 2016 at 11:09 pmIts been about a week since I found your website. Love looking through it for inspiration. Many of your recipes are similar or the same to what I grew up eating and cook myself. I can't believe the amount of recipes you have! What a great resource. I was thrilled to find out, if I understand correctly that you are a homeschooling mama. I am Mexican also, have been homeschooling for many years, and love to cook traditional Mexican dishes, so I feel in some way a connection to you. Do you ever write about homeschooling?
I will definitely try the tortas this weekend.
mmartinez
December 17, 2016 at 3:52 amHello,
Thank you for your kind comments. We did homeschool for many years our son until he finished high school. I usually write about the recipes. I hope you enjoy the recipes! And please, let me know if I can be of any help.
Mely