Arroz con Huitlacoche

Estado de Mexico, the central highlands around Toluca and the milpas that feed Ciudad de Mexico, is where this rice makes sense. Huitlacoche belongs to corn country. When the rainy season swells the ears and the fungus blooms black and silver between the kernels, market women know exactly what to do with it.

This is not dirty rice and it is not mushroom rice wearing a Mexican costume. Huitlacoche has its own flavor: damp corn, earth, smoke without fire. The rice is fried first in manteca de cerdo so each grain seals and stays separate. Then the onion, garlic, chile serrano, and epazote carry the perfume of the central highlands. Epazote is not decoration. It is the herb that makes huitlacoche taste like itself.

I learned this version from a señora near the Mercado 16 de Septiembre in Toluca, who served it from a clay cazuela with queso fresco crumbled over the top and warm tortillas at the side. She told me, 'No lo ahogues.' Do not drown it. Rice needs enough broth to cook, not enough to become soup. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, but only if you respect the grain.