Gorditas de queso, a traditional food from Celaya

Published August 29th, 2021

Cheese and crumbs gorditas are one of the typical foods of this city, in addition to cajeta, so there are traditional cooks who for several generations have preserved the family legacy, cooking this delicious delicacy.

Alejandra Rodríguez Ramírez is one of the cooks who has continued with the legacy of her grandmother Ignacia Yerena, who passed away at 104 years of age, and was her mentor in this culinary art since she was very young; now she has been making gorditas de queso for 55 years, which she loves and enjoys making.

“Since I arrived here at Mercadito Cañitos, approximately 40 years ago, I have dedicated every day of the year to sell my cheese gorditas, which I must mention I really enjoy making, and of course for me, it is of vital importance to serve my customers kindly, offer them great taste, cleanliness and hygiene,” she said.

“We are proud to be one of the pioneer families in the creation of cheese gorditas, my grandmother was the first one who came to the little market to sell, she used to sell in Aztecas street, where people complimented her for her flavor and seasoning”, she added.

“I remember when I was 6 years old, my grandmother would bring me a little jar with cheese and dough, and I began to make my first gorditas, I made them small and people would ask for them because they were attracted by them, what I sold I gave to her and for me, it was very satisfying to make them”, she said.

Mrs. Alejandra has taught her daughter Paulina to cook these gorditas, asking her to continue with this beautiful tradition when she is no longer alive, and that together with the other children of her six sisters, continue this great and important legacy.

Alejandra is the oldest of her six sisters, all of them have been dedicated to the trade and sale of gorditas, for her, it has been vital to continue with this tradition, doing it in one of the premises of the “Mercado Cañitos” in the mornings.

“In spite of the sanitary contingency and the fact that it has affected us in sales, we have also suffered the high prices of the supplies we use, however, we have been getting ahead little by little, continuing with great energy and love in this trade proudly as an inhabitant of the Barrio de Tierras Negras”.

It is worth mentioning that the cheese gorditas are the traditional ones in Celaya, as well as the milk atole with lemon and orange peel, followed by the bean and crumb gorditas, as well as the pacharelas.

Alejandra explained that “the corn or nixtamal as it is known, is cooked and left to cool one day before, the next day early in the morning it is taken to the mill together with the chile cascabel, masa of the day is acquired and all the ingredients are ready, the fresh cheese is received and mixed with the ground chile cascabel, creating a kind of dough”.

It is important to point out that the true traditional gorditas of Celaya were the cheese ones and with a small and wide size, however with the passing of the years and the competition they opted to make them bigger.

Alejandra Rodriguez, with her business “Gorditas y pacharelas Alex”, is visited not only by Celayenses but also by inhabitants from different states of the Mexican Republic and even from abroad, for example from Los Angeles, California, who have been taking advantage of their arrival in Celaya for several years to acquire these rich foods preferring them for their flavor and seasoning.

ORIGIN

The origin of the gorditas de queso comes from 155 years ago. When, with the inauguration of the temple that was built in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe, in the Barrio de Tierras Negras, the inhabitants of this place did not know what to offer to eat to the guests and parishioners. Legend has it that a young girl in the company of an older woman taught some women the recipe to create the cheese gorditas, which were tasted by all the attendees.

It is said that these women who shared the recipe for the gorditas, were never seen again and later they noticed the enormous resemblance they had with the images of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Santa Ana, which are next to each other, on the main altar of the temple, dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

It is worth mentioning that after this event, the cheese gorditas are attributed a divine origin that you should definitely try when you are visiting the famous Barrio de Tierras Negras.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 piece of ranchero cheese
• A piece of Oaxaca or asadero cheese, as it is known in Celaya.
• 5 rattlesnake chiles
• Crumbs
• Salt
• Corn dough (you can buy it at the tortilla store or take the nixtamal to the mill).

PREPARATION

1. Knead the dough until it is smooth.
2. Soak the rattlesnake chiles in hot water and when they are soft, grind them in the blender with a clove of garlic.
3. Shred the Oaxaca cheese, shred the ranch cheese, and integrate both.
4. Stir the ground chili with the cheeses, add a little oil or lard to form a kind of paste.
5. With the dough make a small ball, spread it between your hands until you get a not very thin tortilla, put the filling, either the cheese or the crumbs, close it and make the tortilla again to put it on the griddle until it is cooked.