Tlayuda or Clayuda (Oaxacan “Mexican pizza”)

Tlayuda (also spelled “clayuda”) is a specialty of Oaxaca, Mexico. Tlayuda/clayuda refers to a large corn tortilla, but it also refers to that same tortilla when topped with beans, cheese, cabbage, meat, and other toppings.
 
Tlayuda/clayuda resembles the Mexican pizza that is served in many Tex-Mex restaurants in the United States.
     
 
Wikipedia: Tlayuda
Tlayudas, sometimes spelled Clayuda, (IPA /kla’ʝuð̞a/) is a part of Mexican Cuisine, consisting of a big crunchy tortilla covered with a spread of refried beans, asiento (unrefined pork lard), cabbage, meat (usually shredded chicken, beef tenderloin and/or pork), Oaxaca cheese or other cheese, and salsa. They are a popular antojito, or snack food, in Oaxaca, particularly around Oaxaca City.
 
The rules for topping a tlayuda are not strict, and restaurants and street vendors in Oaxaca often offer a variety of different toppings. Popular toppings include tasajo (a style of beef), chorizo, and cecina enchilada (thin strips of chili-powder-encrusted pork). The dinner-plate-sized tortilla is baked, not fried, either on a comal, a grill, or directly on the coals. They may be prepared open-faced or folded in half.
 
Oaxaca Times
The tlayuda variety of tortillas is used to make a dish that has the same name. Used as the base, the tlayuda is topped with asiento, beans, cabbage or lettuce, tomatoes, quesillo and meat. Tlayudas are the most popular after-party munchies. Street stands can be found around the city Peak time is normally after 2 am.
 
Google Books
Dust on My Heart:
Petticoat Vagabond in Mexico
by Neill James
New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons
1946
Pg. 201:
Among special foods they ate were tamales, shrimp rolled in tortillas, and clayuda, a wafer-thin cake, and desserts in the form of birds and bizarre human ...
 
28 July 1994, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Clayuda Me” by Jonathan Gold, Pg. H19:
When you show up late in the afternoon, everybody is sipping horchata and eating clayudas, sort of pizza-size Oaxacan tostadas smeared with black beans, ...
   
Google Books
A Cook’s Tour of Mexico:
Authentic Recipes from the Country’s Best Open-Air Markets, City Fondas, and Home Kitchens
by Nancy Zaslavsky
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
1995
Pg. 12:
Sold from tall baskets, clayudas are the classic “plates” to pile with grill-your-own meat, chiles, and onions in Tlacolula’s smoky, cavernous Sunday market building. Never fried in oil, clayuda chips are oven- and comal-roasted.
 
15 March 1995, San Antonio (TX) Express-News:
Tlayudas (corn tortillas).
 
22 October 1995, Nashua (NH) Telegraph, pg. H2:
A lighter meal of chicken tostadas costs $2.50, and tlayudas—a giant fried tortilla topped with black beans, meat, cheese and lettuce—...
 
11 February 1996, Chicago (IL) Sun-Times, pg. 5:
Don’t miss tlayudas, enormous dry corn tortillas made only in Oaxaca.
   
9 November 1997, Los Angeles (CA) Times, magazine section, pg. 32:
A musician plays popular Mexican songs on a portable keyboard while waiters run back and forth from the kitchen carrying what look like pizzas covered with crumbled white cheese. They’re actually clayudas, huge, pale gold disks of masa patted out by hand and cooked on a clay comal (griddle) to give them a slight bell curve. Smeared with black bean paste, they’re garnished with shredded cabbage, lightly salted queso fresco and thin slices of tasajo (salty dried beef), cecino (chile-marinated pork) or, my favorite, stubby little Oaxacan-style chorizo streaked with orange.
 
9 May 1999, New York (NY) Times, “What’s doing in Los Angeles” by Todd S. Purdum, pg. 159:
For a true cross-cultural immersion, try another Koreatown spot, Guelaguetza, 3337 1/2 West Eighth Street, this one offering Mexican specialties from Oaxaca. Try the black mole tamales in banana leaf, and the tlayudas, pizza-like giant flour tortillas smeared with mashed beans, dried meats, tomatoes and cheese.
 
Google Books
The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas 2002
by Bob Sehlinger with Deke Castleman
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
2001      
Pg. 485:
...or the clayuda—a flour tortilla Texas pizza.
 
March 2001, Hispanic magazine, “Oaxaca: A Gourmet Paradise” by Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, pg. 60:
Other popular dishes are tlayudas, large tortillas with toppings of beans, guacamole, and local farmers’ cheese.
 
Google Groups: soc.culture.argentina
Newsgroups: soc.culture.argentina, soc.culture.mexican, soc.culture.latin-america, alt.usage.spanish, soc.culture.spain
From: “Gurriato”