Mexico is known for its food, and stating that the country has a variety of food to offer is an understatement. In the crowd of dishes and their sub-variations Mexican cuisine has to offer, some are likely to shine through, and quite a few could go under the radar. The machete quesadilla is one such dish that not many people know about outside of Mexico.
A machete is a quesadilla, but extraordinarily long compared to a traditional quesadilla. Thanks to its length, a machete packs in a lot more ingredients than a regular quesadilla can. The relatively large variety of fillings also means a lot more flavor-rich, spicy, and scrumptious quesadilla.
Making a machete is not that straightforward, especially if you’re attempting to make a relatively long one and do not have assistance handy.
If you have the right tools, equipment, and human power, all you need to know is how to make a machete.
Read on to find out.
What Is a Machete Quesadilla?
A machete is a relatively thin, elongated corn-tortilla quesadilla. Its length can be anywhere between 18 inches (45.8 cm) and 2 feet (60.97 cm).
The extraordinary size gives the (edible) machete a machete-like (a piece of blade/knife) appearance and the name.
The dish is usually referred to as “machete quesadilla” so that it’s not confused with its namesake tool.
Due to its unusual shape and size, the tortilla used has to be handmade.
A custom tortilla press is typically used to make the corn tortilla, and due to the quesadilla’s sheer size, a machete quesadilla generally is not made at home. It’s, therefore, considered a “street food” in Mexico.
Not to mention, a full-sized machete shall easily feed two to four people.
Restaurants typically have the large, flat stove to fry multiples of these huge quesadillas and serve many more than two to four customers in short spans.
What Goes Into a Machete Quesadilla?
Besides being the drawn-out version of a quesadilla, the food item has a few more unique things going for it.
Traditional quesadillas are typically filled with flor de calabaza (or squash blossoms) and huitlacoche (or corn smut). A machete packs them in and lots more.
The various items inside a machete are not merged or blended but juxtaposed.
Peppers, onions, cheese, jalapenos, potatoes, chicken, meat, bacon, etc., are par for the course.
Thanks to the isolated positioning of the ingredients, a machete quesadilla tastes different with each bite.
If you’re not a fan of some of the ingredients that typically go in a machete quesadilla, or you’d like to throw in a few items of your own, remove or add items accordingly.
A machete has no standard set of ingredients, and based on the restaurant, the extra-long quesadilla can change in taste and flavors.
Most restaurants serve multiple varieties of the dish.
If you’re trying to make one at home, you could experiment further or take the Frankenstein approach altogether.
Irrespective of how long the machete is and its ingredients, there is an unsaid rule to how the ingredients are positioned inside the long tortilla.
- The meat is invariably placed in the middle.
- The potatoes, jalapeños, and other vegetables are placed more towards the sides.
- If you love your meat, you would invariably have to bite your way through to get a taste of the chicken, beef, and/or bacon in your machete.
- You can also stuff the entire machete with meat and drizzle some sauce over them if you despise veggies.
Like most Mexican dishes, a machete is spicy and juicy. If you’re a fan of the Mexican spice and would like your machete to be a bit hotter, line it with some salsa.
You can pack in a machete with pretty much any ingredient of your choice.
Just make sure to not go overboard with the swapping of elements and adhere to the “Mexican’ness” of the dish.
Making a Machete Quesadilla
If you know how to make a quesadilla, you should not have a problem preparing a machete.
The process and the ingredients needed for the dish are quite similar.
The challenge lies in finding the right equipment and tools.
Ingredients
As mentioned before, a machete is a more fun version of a quesadilla.
Therefore, there’s more room to experiment with the ingredients than there is with a traditional quesadilla.
If it’s your first time, consider incorporating the following ingredients:
- Tortilla
- Shredded cheese (Chihuahua or Oaxaca are ideal)
- Corn mushroom
- Potatoes
- Bananas
- Plantains and a host of other veggies
- Salsa sauces
Cooking Directions
Once you have the necessary ingredients handy, follow these steps:
- Make your stretched tortilla.
- Add the cheese strategically or along the length of the tortilla. If you like cheese or want a wholesome cheese bite, put a sumptuous amount of cheese in the opening portion of the machete.
- Place some corn mushrooms, potatoes, and other veggies.
- Fold the tortilla from its side.
- Place or slide the large tortilla into the hot oil resting on the stove for some shallow fry action.
- Since there is no glue holding the folded tortilla together, ensure the tortilla does not unfold itself during the frying. Seek assistance from people around you to prevent the tortilla from opening up.
- After successfully toasting one side of the tortilla, roll the tortilla slightly over to fry its non-fried portion.
- The machete is supposedly done when you can make it stand on its side and slide it off the stove’s center, without, of course, letting it disintegrate.
Except for the cheese, which adds to the dish’s aroma and texture, every other item that goes into a machete should be put in specific areas of the tortilla or adjacent to each other.
They shouldn’t be spread across the length of the bread.
Technically, the various ingredients should not mix and disrupt a machete quesadilla’s ethos.
Like most Mexican dishes, a machete is not possible without a tortilla.
If you don’t know how to make the Mexican flatbread, here is a video explaining how to make flour tortillas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lao7wJvdqI4
However, for the machete quesadilla, you’ll need a pressing machine that lets you make long tortillas.
How to Eat a Machete Quesadilla
A machete can be cut right in the center or near its edges. You could even bite through the machete from either end.
If you don’t have a large appetite or have had some light food before the machete treat, you may want to share it with a friend.
In that case, tearing it right in the middle would get you two equal portions.
Due to the frying, the exterior of a machete quesadilla is hard and crunchy.
Therefore, with each crunchy bite, you risk letting some of the fillings fall out.
If you’ve never eaten a machete before and have no one to guide you through the process, be slightly extra-cautious of not letting the fillings slip out of the tortilla.
Not to mention, a machete can be greasy—thanks to the fried preparation—and it could, therefore, drip some oil with each bite you take.
The various sauces you may have put in as layers could have caused the machete to become drippier than average.
Be wary of that, so you do not soil your clothes or the meal table.
Conclusion
Mexico is known for its feisty food culture, and machete is a representation of that.
Though the dish is not unique or is a more extended version of the quesadilla, the extra real estate it offers lets you stuff in a rich assortment of items, which a regular quesadilla may not permit.
That makes a machete more than just a longer quesadilla, and certainly worth trying to make one.
Sources
- Texas Monthly: Gather Your Friends and Try a Two-Foot-Long Machete Quesadilla at These Four Austin Trailers
- Star Tribune: A nearly 2-foot-long quesadilla called the machete is slicing through the suburbs
- YouTube: MASSIVE MACHETE QUESADILLAS & BEST Fried Tacos! Mexico City Street Food Tour
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.