Mexican Molletes

Molletes are a Mexican antojito or snack, often eaten during breakfast hours. They’re a form of melt, made with bolillo rolls, refried beans, and cheese. They’re served in Mexico at cafes, cafeterias, even McDonalds. Here in Chicago, they’re available at Latinicity, a fancy new food hall in the Loop, at Rick Bayless’ Tortas Frontera, and at various neighborhood Mexican restaurants. The thing about a mollete, though, is that it’s the kind of thing that is easy to throw together at home.

An interesting aside: the word “mollete” gets translated to English most often as “muffin.” I assumed this was likely due to the Spanish bread product, similar to an English Muffin, that shares the name mollete, but I asked my linguist son Damian to help me check the etymology of the word. He traced it back to a Latin root “mollis” which means soft, weak, or tender, also the root of the English word “mollify” and also possibly “mild.” We surmise it’s descriptive of the softness of the bread’s crumb.

So as I said, they’re easy enough to make at home. All you really need are some bread rolls, refried beans, and white cheese. Of course as I always say, anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Molletes are often topped with meats like chorizo, and condiments like pico de gallo and crema. While recipes call for any kind of cheese from chihuahua to cotija, Oaxacan cheese seemed to fit the requirements better than any other. And why use regular refried beans when you can try refried black beans as well?

Of course that list of ingredients leaves out the base–the bollilo rolls. I’ve also read that these can be made with telera rolls or even regular French bread, but I happen to like bolillo rolls.

Buttered split bolillos

Another thing I’ve read is that only by making these at home can you make sure the bread gets toasted to a level of crispness you appreciate. Of course, under the broiler the stuff in the middle tends to get dark more quickly than those on the edges.

Toasted buttered bolillos

Generally speaking, these are likely made with refried pinto beans for the most part. I happen to like refried black beans quite a bit though, so I made some of each.

With beans

As for the cheese… Oaxacan cheese is a marvel. It pulls apart like those little sticks of string cheese you can buy as a kid’s snack. Slightly salty but with a mild flavor, it tastes like a monterey jack but melts like a mozzarella.

Oaxacan cheese is the perfect thing for topping a broiler melt.

Broiled molletes

Just eating them like this would probably be pretty good. Heck, it’d probably be great. But I’ve got all this browned chorizo that would go to waste if I did.

Mollete topped with chorizo

Not to mention the pico de gallo and crema. A note on the pico de gallo: the tomatoes and serrano peppers I used to make it came from my garden. Next year, hopefully I’ll get my act together and grow onions and cilantro as well. Sadly, I don’t think lime trees would thrive in my back yard.

Mollete topped with chorizo, pico de gallo, and crema

So how was it? Bolillo bread is nice and soft, the kind of thing you might just slit open and stuff a hot dog into. Its time under the broiler gave it a nice crisp texture on the cut surface though, and while I’m more used to refried beans and melted cheese being supported by something more like a tortilla, the bolillo was substantial without being overbearing. Beans and melted cheese are a good combination, not showstoppers, but I’m always happy to eat them. However, the chorizo, pico de gallo, and crema put this over the top.

Mollete topped with chorizo, pico de gallo, and crema

It was outstanding. Mindy said she’d order this in a restaurant. I would too. Though it’s probably true that making them at home allows you to get every detail just the way you want, I will definitely be looking for them on menus in the future.

Jim Behymer

I like sandwiches.

I like a lot of other things too but sandwiches are pretty great