Griddle-Cooked or Deep-Fried Quesadillas
Quesadilla, one reading and you would easily notice the root word: Queso. Yes, cheese!
The highlight of the Quesadilla is another staple of Mexican cuisine, cheese. In this case, Oaxacan cheese. Lots of it. Melted and gooey lots of it stuffed into a pocket of tortilla and then cooked on a griddle or deep-fried into a golden brown, crispy delight. This is popular with the locals, and it is easy to imagine why it is also popular with tourists.
Of course, a cheese-filled tortilla is just the basic version. There is no stopping a cook from getting creative and adding carne asada (grilled sliced beef), or chicken, or chorizo (a kind of sausage), or potatoes, or… well, just combine as many of them as you wish (yes, people do that sometimes). Complete the fiesta of flavors with a drizzle of sour cream, and dip it in some salsa… oolalala!
One variation of the Quesadilla is the Gringa. It starts with the basic cheese in the tortilla pocket, and adds Al Pastor meat and pineapple. The pineapple gives the savory meat a sweet twist, which goes well with the mildly salty cheese and the crunchy tortilla, alongside a spicy salsa, of course.