Caldo Michi de Pátzcuaro

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •5-quart clay cazuela de barro vidriado from Capula or Tzintzuntzan, or a heavy Dutch oven
• •Cast iron comal for blistering jitomates and chile perón
• •Volcanic stone molcajete
• •Fine-mesh strainer

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the fish

   Rinse the pescado blanco quickly under cold water and pat it dry. Sprinkle the flesh with 1 teaspoon salt and keep it cold while you make the broth. If using charales, rinse them briefly and leave them whole. They are small fish, not garnish. Treat them with respect.

2. 2

   Make the broth

   Place the reserved fish head and bones in a pot with the cold water, quartered onion half, crushed garlic cloves, cilantro stems, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 20 minutes, skimming away the gray froth that rises. Fish broth gets muddy if you bully it. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and keep the broth warm. If using charales with no bones, make this light broth without bones and do not add bagre to make it stronger.

   The broth should move with small, lazy bubbles. If the surface jumps, lower the heat. Clear broth matters here.
3. 3

   Blister the recaudo

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Set the jitomates and chiles perón on it and turn them until the tomato skins blister and the chiles pick up dark freckles. Do not blacken the chiles. Crush the jitomates, peeled garlic, and one blistered chile in a molcajete until rough and juicy. Leave the remaining chile slit whole for the broth.

   Chile perón has a fruity heat and black seeds. Serrano works outside Michoacán, but it is a compromise, not the same chile.
4. 4

   Fry the tomato

   Warm the aceite de maíz in a 5-quart cazuela over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Cook until the onion turns translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the molcajete tomato mixture and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the color deepens and tiny beads of oil show at the edge. This takes the raw edge off the jitomate. No me vengas con atajos.

5. 5

   Simmer the vegetables

   Pour in the strained fish broth and bring it back to a gentle simmer. Add the carrots and potatoes. Cook 12 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are almost tender but not falling apart. Add the calabacita and the whole slit chile and cook 5 minutes more. Taste for salt now, before the fish goes in.

6. 6

   Cook the fish

   Lower the pescado blanco pieces into the broth in a single layer. Keep the simmer gentle and cook 6 to 8 minutes, until the flesh turns opaque and separates cleanly at the edge of a spoon. If using charales, cook them 4 to 5 minutes. Do not stir hard. Move the cazuela by the handles if you need to settle the fish. The pieces should arrive at the table whole, not shredded.

   A rolling boil ruins delicate lake fish. The broth can wait for the fish. The fish will not wait for you.
7. 7

   Finish with herbs

   Add the chopped cilantro and the nurite during the last 2 minutes of cooking. If using a fresh sprig, press it under the surface once and then remove the woody stem before serving. Nurite should announce itself like a clean mountain herb at the back of the broth. It should not dominate the fish.

   Dried nurite is still nurite, so use it if that is what the Michoacán vendor has. Mint, oregano, and epazote are not nurite. Substitute nothing for it.
8. 8

   Serve in barro

   Ladle the caldo into green-glazed clay bowls from Capula or Tzintzuntzan, making sure each bowl gets fish, vegetables, and enough broth to drink from the spoon. Put lime halves and warm hand-pressed corn tortillas on the table. This is not a heavy stew. It is a lake broth, clean and direct. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Caldo michi belongs to Pátzcuaro and to Chapala, but they are not the same broth. If your fish vendor hands you bagre, you are walking toward the Chapala version. This Pátzcuaro pot takes pescado blanco or charal from the lago.
• •Pescado blanco de Pátzcuaro is scarce. Buy it only from a legal, responsible source. If the lake cannot give it to you, use charales del lago. If you use supermarket tilapia, you can learn the technique, but do not call it Pátzcuaro caldo michi.
• •Nurite is the medicinal herb of the Meseta P'urhépecha. Ask Michoacán vendors, especially around Pátzcuaro, Uruapan, and the mercados where cocineras tradicionales shop. Dried nurite is acceptable. Another herb is not.
• •This is one of the Mexican pots where I do not use manteca de cerdo. Cuaresma and lake fish set the rule. A spoonful of aceite de maíz is enough to cook the jitomate, and the broth stays clean.
• •Make the broth and tomato base ahead if you need to, but add the fish and nurite at the last moment. Reheated fish tightens. A careful cook knows when to stop.

Advance Preparation

• •The strained fish broth can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it back to a gentle simmer before adding it to the tomato base.
• •The tomato base and vegetables can be cooked up to the point before adding fish, then chilled overnight. Reheat gently and add the fish, cilantro, and nurite right before serving.
• •Finished caldo is best the day it is made. Leftovers keep one day, but reheat them slowly and do not let the broth boil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 650g)