Caldo Largo Sinaloense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 8-quart cazuela or heavy stockpot for the final caldo
• •Second 6-quart pot for building the marlin stock in parallel
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and charring tomatoes
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer and cheesecloth
• •Sturdy wooden spoon for pressing the shrimp shells

Instructions

1. 1

   Separate the shrimp

   Peel the shrimp, keeping heads and shells in one bowl and the bodies, deveined, in another. Refrigerate the bodies. The heads and shells are not garbage. They are the spine of this caldo. Without them you have fish soup, not caldo largo.

   Press the heads gently with the back of a spoon as you set them aside. The orange paste inside is where the deepest flavor lives.
2. 2

   Build the shrimp stock

   Heat 1 tablespoon of the manteca in a wide pot over medium-high. Add the shrimp heads and shells and cook, pressing and stirring, for 6 to 8 minutes until they turn deep coral and the kitchen smells like the Mazatlan dock at five in the morning. Add 6 cups of the cold water, half the halved onion, the head of garlic, the peppercorns, and 1 bay leaf. Bring to a low simmer, never a boil, and cook for 25 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing hard on the solids. Discard them. Reserve the stock.

3. 3

   Build the marlin stock

   In a separate pot, combine the marlin head and bones, the dried botete, the remaining halved onion, the second bay leaf, and the rest of the cold water. Bring to a gentle simmer. Skim the gray foam patiently for the first 10 minutes. Cook 45 minutes at the lowest possible bubble. A hard boil clouds the broth and turns the fish bitter. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth. You should have a clear amber stock with a clean ocean smell.

4. 4

   Toast and soak the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo, ancho, and chiltepin separately for 20 to 30 seconds per side until they puff and turn fragrant. The chiltepin is tiny and burns in a heartbeat, so watch it. Place all the toasted chiles in a heatproof bowl with the charred tomatoes and cover with hot stock from the marlin pot. Soak 15 minutes.

5. 5

   Blend the chile base

   Transfer the soaked chiles, charred tomatoes, 4 raw garlic cloves, the dried-shrimp powder, and one cup of the soaking liquid to a blender. Blend on high until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing hard. Discard the skins. The puree should be deep brick red and smell like toasted chile and the sea at once.

6. 6

   Fry the chile base

   Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of manteca in a wide cazuela or heavy stockpot over medium heat. Add the strained chile puree. It will sputter. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until the puree darkens, the fat separates, and a slick of chile-stained oil rims the cazuela. La manteca es el sabor. Skip this step and the broth tastes raw.

7. 7

   Marry the two stocks

   Pour the shrimp stock and the marlin stock into the cazuela with the fried chile base. Add the dried oregano, crushed between your palms to release its oil. Bring to a low simmer. Taste for salt. The broth should be assertive, marine-deep, and quietly hot from the chiltepin. If it tastes shy, your salt is wrong, not your chiles. Adjust.

8. 8

   Cook the vegetables

   Add the carrot, potatoes, and chayote to the broth. Simmer 12 to 15 minutes until the potatoes are just tender at the center. The vegetables anchor the caldo. They are not garnish. The fishermen of Mazatlan eat this for dinner and walk to the boats at four in the morning, so the broth carries weight.

9. 9

   Add the seafood in order

   Lower the manta ray wing into the simmering broth and cook 6 minutes. Add the sea snail and the marlin chunks and cook 4 more minutes. Finally add the reserved shrimp bodies and the bunch of cilantro tied with string. Cook just until the shrimp curl and turn opaque, 2 to 3 minutes more. Pull the cazuela off the heat the second the shrimp are done. Overcooked shrimp in a caldo this serious is a small tragedy.

   If you cannot find manta ray, use additional firm white fish like cabrilla or grouper. Substitution is a compromise. Tell your fishmonger what you are making and ask what came in this week.
10. 10

    Serve at the table

    Pull out and discard the cilantro bundle. Ladle into deep bowls, making sure each one gets a piece of every kind of seafood. Set the diced raw onion, chopped cilantro, lime halves, chiltepin salsa, and warm flour tortillas sobaqueras around the table. Each person finishes their own bowl. The Pacifico goes ice-cold beside it. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy whole head-on shrimp. The orange paste in the head is where this caldo gets its depth. Pre-peeled supermarket shrimp will give you a thin, apologetic broth. If your fishmonger does not stock head-on shrimp, ask them to order it. They will.
• •Dried botete is sold at Sinaloa-style fish markets and Mexican mercados across the noroeste. Outside Mexico it is harder to find. Tell your fishmonger you want dried pufferfish. If they cannot help you, double the marlin steak and add a tablespoon more dried-shrimp powder to compensate. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Make the two stocks the day before. They keep beautifully overnight in the refrigerator and the flavor settles. The next day you only have to fry the chile base, marry the stocks, and add the seafood. This is how the senoras in Mazatlan do it when they are feeding a Sunday table of twelve.
• •Flour tortillas sobaqueras, the thin, plate-sized flour tortillas of Sonora and Sinaloa, are correct here. Corn tortillas are a southern habit. In the noroeste, harina is the bread of the table. No me vengas con atajos.

Advance Preparation

• •Both stocks can be made one day ahead and refrigerated separately. Skim any solidified fat off the top before reheating.
• •The chile base can be fried and refrigerated up to two days ahead. Bring it back to a simmer before adding the stocks.
• •Caldo largo does not freeze well. The seafood texture suffers and the broth loses its brightness. Make it the day you serve it, with stocks built ahead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 550g)