Empanadas have a dough problem and a filling problem and a sealing problem, and all three have to be solved in the same twenty minutes. Aaron Rivera, who was cooking at Tapas 51 in Charlotte at the time of S8E8 and was subsequently profiled by Charlotte Magazine for the win, solved all three with the composure of someone who had not arrived unprepared.
Rivera's dough runs lard — not butter, not shortening, not the vegetable oil compromise that produces a dough that tears rather than folds — at a ratio of one part fat to three parts flour, worked cold and rested for fifteen minutes before rolling. The filling is cooked dry before it goes into the dough: every drop of liquid has to evaporate or the steam will open the seal during frying. He crimps with a repulgue — the traditional twist fold that creates eighteen to twenty-two contact points per edge — which holds through a 375°F oil bath that butter dough would not survive.
Tapas 51 closed in early 2017 and Rivera moved to Colorado to build a restaurant group, so the Charlotte chapter of this story has ended. The empanada chapter has not.
More from Mexican & Latin →