Gorditas
WHEN OUR EXECUTIVE food editor, Bryan Roof, returned from a trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico, he spoke enthusiastically about the gorditas he had eaten at Saenz Gorditas (see “Family Style”). There, the gorditas (Spanish for “little fat ones”) are plump corn cakes with crisp exteriors and tender interiors that are split open like pitas and stuffed with ground beef picadillo. They bear almost no resemblance to the fast-food item that shares their name.
The dough rounds—made with corn flour (masa harina), water, and sometimes cheese—are often fried in a
