Chicharron burritos

When I first moved to Santa Fe in 2001, I was delighted to learn New Mexicans had an affinity for fried pork skin and fat. Sure, they called it chicharron instead of cracklin, but that was hardly a problem.


I first encountered it at Fiesta, which I guess would be Santa Fe's equivalent to Mardi Gras. People get a day or a half-day off work, there's food booths set up in the Plaza and people get trashed. But Zozobra, the centerpiece, is a radical departure from Mardi Gras' Catholic roots. No, instead of celebrating one last time before Lent, Santa Feans burn a six-story-tall puppet in effigy.

I was told it's the oldest pagan celebration in New Mexico. Which is kind of bizarre because Fiesta celebrates the Spanish reconquering Santa Fe in 1692. And by "reconquering" I mean, running the Indians out of town. They say it was "peaceful," but I'm not too sure about that.

But anyway. It's a big party and there's lots of food and there it was: my first chicharron burrito.

Growing up, we'd eat cracklin out of hand as a tasty snack. Didn't want to eat too much, because there'd be, you know... consequences. But the burrito makes it a meal. Encased in your flour tortilla are refried pintos, green chile, cheddar cheese and chicharrons.

You can make these at home with cracklin. Sure, unless you have a wicked good source for chile, it will probably be out of a tin. And unless you can make tortillas or pintos like an abuelita, they'll probably be store-bought too. But cheese is cheese, so you can't screw that up, right?

I don't really measure any of this stuff when I make them. I just make sure I have some good, meaty cracklin.

Heat up the beans, toss the green chile into it so it'll disperse. Don't stir the cracklin into the beans. That'll just make them chewy and unpleasant. Instead, layer the cracklin across a warmed tortilla. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the cracklin. Spoon beans over it. Don't worry: The heat from the beans will warm the cracklin and melt the cheese. Fold it up and you're all set.
If you don't want to use tinned chile (and really, why would you?), roast one, peel it and chop it up. The chiles I buy here - they're labeled Anaheim peppers at our stores - are usually very mild and that's a disappointment, but I haven't figured out how to do better.