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FijiFlavors · Campeche
Layers of corn tortillas with black beans and shredded cazón, cooked with epazote, topped with tomato sauce and habanero chile. Despite the name, it does not contain wheat bread. It is considered a symbol of Campeche cuisine.
Traditional dish from Campeche, Campeche
Also known as: pan de cazon, pan de cazón campechano
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Pan de cazón — Campeche, Mexico
Pan de cazón is assembled like a layered cake: corn tortillas dipped in the sauce, shredded cazón and black beans, repeated two or three times, all covered with tomato sauce and served with habanero chile. The name misleads newcomers: the "pan" is the stack of tortillas itself, not wheat bread.
Cazón is a small shark caught off the Gulf of Mexico coast. In the traditional recipe it is cooked, shredded and sautéed with onion, epazote, tomato and salt, and the sauce is prepared the day before. The next day, the tortillas are moistened in the sauce and stacked with the cazón and the beans.
An article in the magazine Ecofronteras, from the Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), lists pan de cazón among the three dishes that support much of Campeche’s regional identity, alongside puchero and frijol con puerco. Ethnohistory also notes that the dish combines ingredients of pre-Hispanic origin, such as corn, beans and fish, with others brought by Europeans, like pork lard.
Already at the beginning of the 20th century, cookbooks from the peninsula recorded the recipe as pan de cazón campechano, linking the name to the city, according to a study published by INAH. In Campeche, the dish appears at family lunches, during year-end celebrations and in regional cuisine restaurants.
Campeche , Campeche
Dish considered a symbol of Campeche cuisine; it already appeared in early 20th-century cookbooks as pan de cazón campechano.
Corn tortillas; cazón (small shark) cooked and shredded; black beans; tomato, onion and epazote; habanero chile; lard or oil. Some versions include avocado.
Served in slices cut from the stack, like a cake, with tomato sauce on top and habanero chile on the side. It is eaten at lunch, with fork and knife.
Year-round, especially at lunch. It is common at family gatherings and during year-end celebrations in Campeche.
Your questions
No. The "pan" is the stack of corn tortillas layered with shredded cazón and black beans, covered with tomato sauce.
A small shark caught off the Gulf of Mexico coast. In Campeche cuisine it is cooked, shredded and seasoned with epazote and tomato.
The tomato sauce is mild; the heat comes from the habanero chile, served on the side for those who want it.
Flavors of Mexico
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