Salbutes are lighter, unfilled cousins of panuchos: puffed and fried corn tortillas topped with shredded turkey, lettuce, tomato, avocado and pickled red onion.
Salbutes share roots with panuchos in early-1900s Yucatán market cookery. Where panuchos hide refried beans inside the fried tortilla pocket, salbutes are open-faced and lighter, sold as a quick breakfast or street snack at peninsula markets. The masa is patted thicker than a tortilla and fried until it puffs slightly; toppings are turkey or shredded chicken, pickled red onion, avocado, lettuce and tomato. Mercado de Santa Ana morning puestos and Lonchería El Recreo on Calle 62 are the canonical street counters in Mérida centro, selling salbutes from 7am until they run out by mid-morning. La Chaya Maya runs the reference sit-down version.
