Antojitos Yucatecos Specialist

Responsibilities

• Specialize in Yucatecan antojitos — salbutes, panuchos, tamales colados, papadzules, and other regional small food formats
• Produce masa-based preparations — salbutes (fried puffed tortillas), panuchos (tortillas stuffed with black bean paste and fried)
• Execute papadzules — the ancient Yucatecan dish of tortillas in pumpkin seed sauce topped with hard-boiled eggs
• Make Yucatecan tamales colados — steamed in banana leaf with a smoother, almost liquid masa texture distinct from national tamales
• Manage morning and midday production — antojiterías operate peak service at breakfast and lunch

Requirements

• 3–5 years Yucatecan kitchen experience with antojito specialization
• Mastery of salbute and panucho technique — frying, stuffing, and topping sequence
• Papadzul sauce preparation from fresh pepita (pumpkin seed) — the sauce is made fresh and does not keep
• Yucatecan tamale technique — distinct from all other regional Mexican tamale styles

Benefits

• IMSS, Aguinaldo, vacation + premium
• Staff meals

Work environment

Yucatecan antojitería in Mérida mercado or restaurant. Antojiterías in Mérida operate from early morning — salbutes and panuchos are a breakfast and lunch food. The mercados of Mérida (Lucas de Gálvez, San Benito) house some of the most authentic Yucatecan antojito traditions in existence.

About the role

Yucatán's daily bread. The salbute and panucho fed Yucatán through the 19th century and the henequen era. Today, eating them at a Mérida mercado stall is eating the same food the hacienda workers ate. That continuity is the antojitero's connection to culinary history.