Guatemalan Cuisine: Tortillas con Carne

Tortillas con carne could be the Guatemalan equivalent of the Mexican taco. Tortilla con carne is basically a piece of charbroiled steak of beef, adobo marinated pork steak, chicken, chorizo (Guatemalan red sausage) or longaniza (Guatemalan white sausage), served over two or three grill-heated corn tortillas and top with chirmol (Guatemalan tomato-based salsa), guacamol (Guatemalan style avocado sauce) and cebollines (baby onions or chives). I use the term carne, meat, as umbrella term for all the different cuts that are charbroiled.

I say that tortillas con carne could be the equivalent of the taco because they are omnipresent in every little corner of Guatemala. There are tortillas con carne at every town fair and market. There is at least one booth charbroiling meats in every street food stand plazas. Chuparrascos, the weekend and holiday get-togethers, are organized around tortillas con carne. There restaurant chains based on tortillas con carne as their main menu. All Guatemalas, from the Maya to Ladinos, from the less fortunate to the wealthy, enjoy tortillas con carne.

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