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Cebollas en Escabeche con Chile de Agua
Created by
Oaxaca's pickled red onions cut with chile de agua and pineapple vinegar, the bright acidic crunch that finishes tlayudas, tortas, and any plate of grilled meat from the Valles Centrales.
Sauces & Condiments
Mexican
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
20 min
Active Time
5 min cook•25 min total
YieldAbout 1 quart
This is a Oaxacan condiment. Specifically from the Valles Centrales, the cluster of valleys around the city of Oaxaca where chile de agua grows and where the markets, Central de Abastos, 20 de Noviembre, Sanchez Pascuas, sell it by the kilo from June through September. Outside that season and outside that geography, you will not find this chile easily. That is the truth of it.
Chile de agua is not a substitute for anything and nothing is a real substitute for it. Light green, thin-walled, shaped like a small horn, it carries a clean grassy heat that lives somewhere between a guero and a young serrano, with a brightness the others do not have. It is the chile of the Valles Centrales the way poblano is the chile of Puebla. Use what is in season. If your market does not have chile de agua right now, the encurtido waits.
The vinegar is the other half of the dish. Vinagre de piña, made from pineapple peels fermented with piloncillo and water, has a fruity edge that white distilled vinegar will never match. The senoras at 20 de Noviembre keep crocks of it going year-round and ladle from it as needed. If you cannot make your own, find a Mexican brand at a tienda. Apple cider vinegar cut with a spoon of pineapple juice is a compromise, not an upgrade.
My mother kept a jar of cebollas en escabeche in the refrigerator at all times. Hers was a Jalisciense version with carrot and jalapeño. The Oaxacan version is leaner, sharper, and built around chile de agua specifically. I learned this version from a woman who runs a memelas stall at Mercado Sanchez Pascuas. She watched me write it down and told me, in that flat tone Oaxacan cooks have, to use real pineapple vinegar or not bother. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
The technique of escabeche, vegetables and meats preserved in vinegar with toasted spices, arrived in Mexico through the Spanish, who in turn inherited it from the Persian and Arab sikbaj tradition by way of Andalusian cooking. In Oaxaca, the method merged with pre-Columbian fermentation traditions and indigenous chiles, including chile de agua, which is grown almost exclusively in the Valles Centrales and has no commercial cultivation outside that region. The use of vinagre de piña rather than European wine vinegar reflects an 18th and 19th-century Mexican adaptation: pineapple peels, a market byproduct, were fermented with piloncillo and water to produce a cheap, fruity household vinegar that became the workhorse acid in regional encurtidos and adobos.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
red onions
Quantity
2 large (about 1 pound)
sliced into thin half-moons
fresh chile de agua
Quantity
3
stemmed and sliced into thin rings
vinagre de piña (Mexican pineapple vinegar)
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
cold water
Quantity
1/2 cup
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
peeled and lightly smashed
bay leaves
Quantity
2
dried Mexican oregano (oregano oaxaqueño preferred)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
whole black peppercorns
Quantity
1 teaspoon
whole cumin seed
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lightly toasted
whole allspice berries
Quantity
4
whole cloves
Quantity
2
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/2 tablespoons
piloncillo or dark brown sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
grated if using piloncillo
olive oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| red onionssliced into thin half-moons | 2 large (about 1 pound) |
| fresh chile de aguastemmed and sliced into thin rings | 3 |
| vinagre de piña (Mexican pineapple vinegar) | 1 1/2 cups |
| cold water | 1/2 cup |
| garlic clovespeeled and lightly smashed | 4 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| dried Mexican oregano (oregano oaxaqueño preferred) | 1 tablespoon |
| whole black peppercorns | 1 teaspoon |
| whole cumin seedlightly toasted | 1 teaspoon |
| whole allspice berries | 4 |
| whole cloves | 2 |
| kosher salt | 1 1/2 tablespoons |
| piloncillo or dark brown sugargrated if using piloncillo | 1 tablespoon |
| olive oil | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Sharp slicing knife for thin cuts
- •Small cast iron comal or skillet for toasting spices
- •Heatproof colander
- •1-quart glass jar with lid, or a ceramic bowl with a plate to weight the onions
- •Non-reactive (stainless or enameled) small saucepan
Instructions
- 1
Slice the onions and chiles
Slice the red onions into thin half-moons, no thicker than a coin. Stem the chile de agua and slice them into thin rings. Leave the seeds in. The seeds are part of the heat and the chile de agua is not a punishing chile to begin with. If you remove them, you have made a polite encurtido and that is not what this is.
Chile de agua is a Valles Centrales chile. It is light green, thin-skinned, and shaped like a small horn. If you cannot find it, chile guero or a mix of jalapeño and a thin Anaheim is a compromise. Do not use poblano. The flavor is wrong. - 2
Blanch the onions
Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Place the sliced onions in a heatproof colander set in the sink and pour the boiling water slowly over them. Thirty seconds, no more. Shake the colander dry. This step takes the raw bite out of the onion without cooking it. Skip it and the encurtido will taste sharp for the first three days. Asi se hace y punto.
- 3
Toast the spices
Heat a small dry comal or skillet over medium. Add the cumin, peppercorns, allspice, and cloves. Toast for about 90 seconds, swirling the pan, until the cumin darkens a shade and the kitchen smells warm and resinous. Tip them onto a plate to stop the toasting. Cold spices give you a flat brine.
- 4
Build the brine
In a non-reactive saucepan, combine the pineapple vinegar, water, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, the toasted spices, salt, and piloncillo. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat. As soon as the salt and piloncillo dissolve, pull the pan off the burner. Do not boil it. Boiling pineapple vinegar drives off the fruity edge that is the whole point of using it. Vinagre de piña casero is not white vinegar with sugar. It is a living vinegar with body and a faint sweetness from the pineapple skins it was made from.
- 5
Combine and rest
Pack the blanched onions and the sliced chile de agua into a clean glass jar or ceramic bowl. Pour the warm brine over them, making sure the spices distribute. Drizzle the olive oil across the top. The oil seals the surface and softens the bite. Press the onions down so the brine covers everything. Let it sit at room temperature for one hour, uncovered.
- 6
Refrigerate and wait
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Twenty-four hours is better. Three days is when it really settles. The onions turn a deep magenta, the chile de agua softens just enough, and the brine takes on the warm color of the toasted spices. Recetas probadas y garantizadas. Spoon over tlayudas, pile on tortas de cochinita or carne enchilada, scatter over grilled meats. The encurtido does the work the meat cannot do alone.
Chef Tips
- •Chile de agua is seasonal and regional. June through September in the Valles Centrales. Outside that window, even Oaxaqueños wait. If you are reading this in February in another country, make a different encurtido or wait until the chile arrives at a Mexican market. Cooking with what the mercado is selling today is how this has always been done.
- •Vinagre de piña casero is the right vinegar. White distilled vinegar is too sharp and one-note. Apple cider vinegar with a spoon of pineapple juice is closer but still flat. Find a real Mexican pineapple vinegar at a tienda mexicana, or make your own with pineapple peels, piloncillo, and water fermented for two weeks.
- •The encurtido gets better for the first week and holds its quality for about three weeks in the refrigerator. After that the chile de agua softens too much and the onion turns flabby. Make small batches, eat them, make more.
- •Use this on tlayudas, tortas de cochinita pibil, tacos de carne enchilada, grilled meats, and on top of beans with a spoon of crema. It does not belong on everything, but where it belongs, nothing else will do.
Advance Preparation
- •Make at least 4 hours before serving. Twenty-four hours is the minimum for the flavor to settle and the onions to take on their deep magenta color.
- •Keeps refrigerated for up to three weeks. The flavor peaks between days three and ten.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 67g)
Calories
30 calories
Total Fat
1 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
375 mg
Total Carbohydrates
5 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
1 g
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