Adobo para Pescado a la Talla de la Costa

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and garlic
• •Volcanic stone molcajete or spice grinder for the dry spices
• •High-powered blender
• •Hinged grill basket for whole fish
• •Charcoal grill with hardwood lump charcoal
• •Wide clay platter from Atzompa or San Bartolo Coyotepec for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chile costeño

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile costeño rojo a few at a time, pressing them flat with a spatula for about 15 seconds per side. They are thin-skinned and they burn faster than guajillo or ancho. The moment they puff and turn fragrant, pull them off. The kitchen should smell sharp and slightly smoky, like a chile vendor's stall in the Pinotepa market. Burned costeño turns the adobo bitter and there is no fixing it.

   Chile costeño rojo is not the chile costeño amarillo and it is not guajillo. It is a smaller, leathery chile from Oaxaca's coast, sharper and brighter than guajillo. If your vendor sells you guajillo and calls it costeño, find a different vendor.
2. 2

   Soak the chiles

   Transfer the toasted chiles to a heatproof bowl. Cover with hot tap water, not boiling. Boiling water cooks the skin and pulls the bitterness out. Hot water softens the flesh clean. Weigh them down with a small plate so they stay submerged. Let them soak for 15 minutes until pliable. Drain and reserve a quarter cup of the soaking liquid in case the paste needs loosening later.

3. 3

   Toast the garlic and spices

   On the same comal, toast the unpeeled garlic cloves over medium heat, turning every minute, until the skins are blackened in spots and the cloves are soft, about eight minutes. Pull them off and let them cool enough to peel. In a small dry skillet, toast the cumin, peppercorns, and cloves over low heat for about 90 seconds, swirling the pan, until fragrant. Grind them to a fine powder in a spice grinder or molcajete with the dried oregano. This step is the spine of the adobo.

4. 4

   Build the paste

   Combine the drained chiles, peeled toasted garlic, ground spices, vinegar, orange juice, lime juice, salt, and achiote paste if using in a blender. Blend on high for two full minutes until completely smooth. The paste should be the color of red brick, glossy, and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If it is too thick to move in the blender, add reserved chile soaking liquid one tablespoon at a time. No more than two tablespoons total. The adobo needs to cling to the fish, not run off it.

   Strain the paste through a medium-mesh sieve only if your blender is weak. A high-powered blender will give you a smooth adobo without straining. The slight texture of the chile skins is part of how this dish reads on the coast.
5. 5

   Bloom the adobo in lard

   Warm the melted lard in a small skillet over medium heat. Pour in the chile paste. It will sputter. Cook for five to seven minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the paste darkens by a shade and the fat starts to bead at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This step is what separates a raw chile slurry from a real adobo. Skip it and the fish will taste of vinegar and not of toasted chile. Taste for salt now and adjust. Cool to room temperature before using.

6. 6

   Coat the fish

   Lay the butterflied snapper flesh-side up on a sheet pan. Spread the cooled adobo generously over the flesh side first, working it into every fold of the fillet, then flip and coat the skin side. Use all of it. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to four hours. Longer than four hours and the vinegar starts to firm up the flesh in a way you do not want. The fish should be marinated, not pickled.

7. 7

   Grill a la talla

   Build a charcoal fire and let it burn down to gray-edged embers, medium-hot. Lay the snapper in a hinged grill basket, flesh side down first. Grill for about six to seven minutes, until the adobo darkens and forms a crust where it touches the metal. Flip the basket and grill skin side down for another six to eight minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. The flesh should flake when pressed near the spine. The skin will char in spots. That is correct. A pescado a la talla without char is a pescado al vapor wearing chile. Asi se hace y punto.

   Hardwood lump charcoal, not briquettes. Briquettes burn with a chemical sweetness that fights the adobo. If you have access to mesquite, use it. The Costa Chica grills over whatever wood is at hand, and the fish carries that smoke into every bite.
8. 8

   Serve at the table

   Slide the whole fish onto a long clay platter. Set lime halves around the rim, a stack of warm corn tortillas in a woven servilleta, sliced raw white onion in a small dish, and a molcajete of salsa de chile costeño on the side. Each diner builds tacos at the table, pulling the flesh away in pieces. This is family-style eating from Puerto Escondido and Pinotepa, not a plated entree. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Chile costeño rojo is the dish. Order it from an Oaxacan importer if your local mercado does not carry it. Substituting guajillo gives you a different sauce, milder and sweeter, and the fish will taste of a generic adobo rather than of the coast. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Vinagre de piña, the homemade pineapple vinegar that sits in clay jars in coastal Oaxacan kitchens, is the right acid for this paste. Unfiltered apple cider vinegar is the closest commercial substitute. Distilled white vinegar is too sharp and one-note. No me vengas con atajos.
• •Whole fish, head and tail on, is non-negotiable for pescado a la talla. The bones and skin protect the flesh on the grill and the head holds flavor that fillets cannot. If you cannot get whole snapper, do not make a fillet version and call it pescado a la talla. Make something else.
• •The achiote paste is optional and slightly heretical. Some Costa Chica cooks use a small amount for color, others reject it as a Yucatecan import. I include it because Doña Carmen did. If you leave it out, the adobo will be a shade lighter and that is fine.

Advance Preparation

• •The adobo can be made up to five days ahead and refrigerated in a clean glass jar. The flavor deepens and the rough edges of the vinegar soften. Bring to room temperature before coating the fish.
• •The adobo also freezes well for up to three months in a tightly sealed container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and stir to re-emulsify before using.
• •The fish should not be marinated more than four hours. Past that, the vinegar starts to denature the proteins and the texture turns chalky.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 315g)