April Grunspan wrote:
> Many years ago there was a small chain of restaurants in Guadalajara
> called Gemma. Their most popular item was tortas (ahogadas) sitting in a
> type of tomato-based sauce.

Hehe.

Most of the mystery of cocina mexicana is in the language used to
describe it. (1)

"Ahogar" means "to drown" or "to smother". Anything covered with a
gravy or sauce could be said to be "ahogada".

The hot roast beef sandwich served at an American lunch counter could
be called a "torta de res ahogada" even if no chile peppers were in the
gravy...

I could start calling my tamales, "tamales ahogadas" if I covered them
with a mole sauce. OTOH, is the phrase "mole sauce" redundant in
anybody else's mind except mine?

I could call my enchiladas, "enchiladas ahogadas" if I used a lot of
enchilada sauce. But, how much excess enchildada sauce would I need to
use, if I really wanted to *drown* my enchiladas?

(1) If my cat disappears, dare I order the sopa de gato in the
neighborhood ristorante mexicano?