There is nothing quite as captivating as the sight of an abnormally giant dish and I am glad there are people out there (a.k.a. people like you who are curious enough to read this) that agree or else I’d have to become a competitive eater in order to justify creating gigantic food. The sense of community in sharing a meal has always been up there in the ranks of bonding activities, so it always made sense to me that sharing one huge dish as a meal would take that idea up a few notches. In light of this, as I reminisced over college days filled with ad hoc quesarito nights and random communal feasts, I decided to combine the guiding forces behind many nostalgic memories into a culinary creation fitting of my current expertise: a giant surf’n turf California quesarito that would feed 14 people.
Making a quesarito large enough for 14 people
Upon making that decision, there were just a couple small details that I had to iron out. Details posing questions such as, “what would a quesarito that feeds 14 be like? If I were to come up with a quesarito to feed 14 people, would it even be possible to roll it? Can I give it enough girth that it would be impossible to take a bite out of, yet have each bite be every bit as amazing as the last? Assuming I was able to make this deliciously “thicc” monstrosity of a quesarito, how would I even serve it?” But before I began to second guess whether this was really a good idea, I reminded myself that A) this isn’t the first time I’ve been in this kind of a situation, and B) I never really know what I am doing until I actually do it anyway.
Now that I was calm and collected, I rushed over to the nearest Mexican grocery to fill in the ever so minor details of what would fill a quesarito large enough to satiate 14 people. And I really do mean it when I say rushed, as the event was taking place that evening. But hey, at least I knew how many people I was going to feed.
I figured this thing was going to be large, so there was no need to worry about whether I could fit everything in it as I let my imagination run wild. Here are the following components I settled on (listed from top to bottom of how the quesarito would be assembled):
- 10 super large quesadillas – 20 super large tortillas with a blend of quesadilla, oaxaca, asadero, and menonita cheese
- A thin layer of green chile queso spread
- Mooyah fries – a mix of sweet potato and Idaho
- Roasted Tri Tip – marinated in spiced honey, aleppo pepper powder, red pepper powder, yuzu, black pepper, and garlic salt
- Queso Oaxaca Pancho
- Shrimp – marinated in sumac, yuzu, black pepper, and salt
- Coconut Guacamole – avocado, dried coconut, coconut oil, garlic salt, lime, dark amber maple syrup, black pepper
- Crema Oaxaquena blended with Chile Morita Seco and garlic powder
- Roasted Chile Pasilla
- Cilantro marinated in lime
- Red onion marinated in lime
- Queso Fresco Pancho
- Queso Cotija Don Francisco
But how did it taste?
There were two things that needed to happen to make this a success, 1) whatever it ended up looking like, it had to be absolutely massive, and 2) each bite had to taste more amazing than it looked. I’d hope you’d agree that the first point was a success after looking through the pictures, so let’s get into why the taste surpassed its gorgeous looks.
The goal was for every bite to be decadent yet balanced; familiar yet unique. Given the girth of the quesarito, there was no way to take a bite of every component, so everything had to stand out while also being able to maintain a sense of cohesion. With each bite, the firm chew of the tortillas are met with the depth of flavor in the four cheese blend. This formed the foundation to compliment any combination of the quesarito’s inner workings: saltiness from the fries, peppery meat flavor from the tri tip, a citric shrimp to accent the meat and cut all the fattiness, coconut guacamole to bring a mildly sweet richness that would cement the marriage between the shrimp and tri tip, blended sour cream to bring a creamy heat, a myriad of cheeses throughout to ensure a strong Mexican cheese shines throughout the bites with the variety keeping everything interesting, herbal familiarity from the citrus forward marinated cilantro, a slightly bitter roasted spice from the chile pasilla, and some fresh crunch from the lime marinated red onion.
And if you are wondering how this all came together:
As I stared at the dwindling remains of the behemoth quesarito wondering how much it could have weighed (in case you’re wondering, like many other legends, I don’t actually know), I truly felt that I had accomplished something special. I had revisited the format that marked my early beginnings while attaining a level of quality I could really be proud of. But more than anything, I realized I had come full circle and I couldn’t think of a more genuine way for me to begin my newest chapter in my never ending pursuit for a more thought-provoking epicurean experience.
Epicurean Experience 