Tortas - Mexican sandwiches

I”ve read somewhere recently that tortas are the next big sandwich trend.  I guess I’ve had about a half dozen of them around town.  Most of the taco trucks offer tortas but I’ve never tried them there, just tacos.  I found this one on a local blog at a place called Taqueria D.F. 100% Chilango:



Torta Huerfano (Orphan Torta) - wieners, milanesa, ham, chorizo, chicken, refritos, 2 cheeses, avocado, egg, lettuce, and tomato.  This is a specialty off Mexico City.  I’ve got to get over to this place and try one of these.

Another one that one of the local newspaper reviewers and several other people are seeking is the Torta Ahogado or Drunken Sandwich of Guadalujara which is carnitas on a bolillo dipped in chile de arbol sauce and served wet.  I’ve had one served at Papparucho’s but they used a very mild chile sauce instead of arbol and it was just stewed pork, not carnitas.

I think refritos, cheese of some sort, and avocado are pretty standard ingredients.  Some have rather sparse ingredients but most are very substantial sandwiches.  Usually the roll is a telera which is what is pictured.  Several places offer Tortas Hamburguesas

I haven’t figured out if there are standard names or is naming pretty much up to the local shop?       
Anybody else tried any of these?

Love the fact that you can come to this website and learn something new almost everyday! Nice report there..

Last Spring, I had two men from Mexico visit my company.  It was partly my responsibility to help entertain them for two weeks.  When we went to the most authentic Mexican restaurant in Pittsburgh, I was very surprised that they both ordered tortas.  Thanks for the info!

I was getting tortas at the local mexican place - haven't seen any since I moved. Good stuff though.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=372520&high=

You can see some of the different types (and names) they sell by checking out the menu.

Have yet to see them offered in any of our local (not chain) Mexican restaurants. They look amazingly good.

Every truck and taqueria here in Oregon seems to offer them. Full fledged restaurants not so much. The standard taco fillings plus ham and beef ones, usually. Very good.

I had something very similar in the NW Dallas area a couple of months ago except it was (falsely) listed as a Cuban Sandwich. It was great and so big that I couldn't finish it. I thought that the hot dogs were a strange ingredient but the restaurant staff was Mexican so I ran with it.

Wow, I have a bottle of that sangria senorial in the pantry. Thought I'd mix it with something...

Most torta places around here sell torta cubana. It's not really false, it's just the Mexican version of a Cuban sandwich. I like tortas quite a bit. The better places serve their tortas with pickled jalepenos and carrots. My favorite is a milanesa. Thin, breaded and fried beef, with avocado, onions, refried beans, tomatoes, lettuce, queso fresco, adobo mayonnaise and a grilled telera. Carnitas or pastor come in as close seconds.

"Torta" is basically a generic term for a sandwich.  Tortas are most often made using either a standard bolillo, which is basically a french roll or hoagie type of bread about six inches long, whereas the type of bread used in the picture of the torta in dexmat's post is referred to as a "telera" roll, which is a flatter and wider, and when done right, softer too.

You can make tortas just out of just about anything, ranging from chorizo and egg for breakfast, ham and eggs, ham, turkey or roast beef sandwiches or if you want the more "Mexican" type, you can throw in the carne asada, carnitas, lengua (beef tongue) or whatever you feel like putting in there.

Make up is pretty standard in no particular order: mayo, refried beans, lettuce, tomato avocado slices or guacamole, onion, your choice of meat, and if you want it, pickled jalapenos or salsa of your choice.

 

RibRater - thanks.  I had used search but didn't come up with that thread for some reason.  Here's a Wiki article listing common types so I guess there are some established types and it's like learning the difference between a BLT and a Club sandwich.  I had seen the Cubano before.

There's a place locally that does the Pambazo, another dunked sandwich; there's a picture on a local board but people commented it wasn't a very good one.

Juanito, around here the teleras seem to be firmer and crustier than the bollilos.  Someone posted they're the same except the telera is crimped down with dowels to flatten it.

Tasty stuff and they usually are very large.  The blogger says the waitress at the Taqueria said no one had ever finished a Torta Huerfana by themselves.

There are several shops specializing in tortas including one small chain with 4 or 5 locations.

The small, family owned Mexican places here have tortas - the types of places that also have barbacoa, lengua, menudo on weekends, and all the other Mexican foods that Anglos tend to avoid because they don't think it sounds appetizing.

I especially like the ones that Armando makes at Tacos el Mexicano on California Street.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish also has tortas along with the tacos, enchiladas, & burritos at their Fiesta every summer.

On the bread selection for tortas:

The telera started being used when the Mexican government stopped subsidizing bolillos as a basic foodstuff. (Waaay back in the day, when the peso was worth exactly $.08 ['cause it was indexed to the US dollar], a dozen bolillos could be had for that princely amount....) Torta makers spent a fair amount of their time stripping out the bolillo's interior to make room for fillings. The telera, being flatter, was both easier to split open, and didn't require this stripping step - and without the subsidy, was now priced approximately the same as the bolillo.

About "cubanos":

Yes, the hot dog [sometimes noted as a 'salchicha'] is a curious addition seemingly universal in the realm of tortas - I've found them in Texas as well as in my native California. It's not a deal-breaker for me - I just ask for it without - but I try to save my indulging for something closer to the real thing whenever I'm near a Cuban restaurant....

Buen provecho,
RBA
(Now in Austin!)

Wow, richard! Back from the dead!!  cool!

They are on the menu at the local taco restaurant, but I haven't gotten around to trying one.

well, get with the program, Don :)
actually, machaca is pretty rare out this way. I'd go
for the Machaca/egg sandwich in a second.

Last week's Time Out New York highlighted a place in the Ditmas Park section of Brooklyn that specializes in Tortas. It's now on my Things to Do List:

(2nd restaurant listed in the article)

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/79730/best-food-in-ditmas-park-brooklyn

bill voss


well, get with the program, Don :)
actually, machaca is pretty rare out this way. I'd go
for the Machaca/egg sandwich in a second.

Will do!