Chiles en Vinagre con Verduras Oaxaqueños

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide stainless steel or enameled cast iron pan (no aluminum)
• •Two 1-quart glass canning jars with lids
• •Slotted spoon
• •Sharp paring knife for cleaning nopales
• •Small saucepan for blanching nopales

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean and dice the nopales

   Hold each nopal flat on a cutting board and shave the spines off with a sharp paring knife, working from the base toward the tip. Trim the thick edge and the base. Dice into half-inch squares. Rinse them under cold water and set aside. The nopales are what make this jar Oaxacan. Most market jars in other states skip them. Do not skip them.

   If your nopales feel slimy after dicing, toss them with a tablespoon of salt, let them sit fifteen minutes, then rinse. The salt pulls out the baba. The senoras at the Mercado de Abastos in Oaxaca do this every morning.
2. 2

   Blanch the nopales

   Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add the diced nopales and cook for five to seven minutes, until they turn from bright green to dull olive and most of the baba has cooked out. Drain and rinse under cold water. Pat dry. Skip this step and the brine will turn slick and unpleasant by the second day.

3. 3

   Prepare the vegetables

   Trim and slice the jalapeños. If you want a hotter jar, slice into thick rounds with the seeds. If you want milder heat, leave them whole and cut a single slit down the side so the brine penetrates. Peel and slice the carrots on the bias. Break the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Slice the onion. Peel the garlic cloves and leave them whole. The vegetables should be roughly the same size so they pickle at the same rate.

4. 4

   Sear the aromatics in lard

   Heat the manteca in a wide stainless or enameled cast iron pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic cloves and the onion. Cook, stirring, for two minutes, until the edges of the onion start to brown and the garlic turns golden. Add the carrots and the jalapeños. Cook for three more minutes, stirring, just enough to wake up the chiles and soften the carrots at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Oil-only versions taste flat next to this one.

   The pan must be stainless or enameled. Aluminum reacts with vinegar and turns the brine metallic. No me vengas con atajos.
5. 5

   Add the cauliflower and nopales

   Add the cauliflower florets and the blanched nopales to the pan. Stir for one minute to coat them in the lard and the chile-scented oil. The vegetables should be hot to the touch but still firm. Pickled vegetables that go into the brine cooked through will turn to mush within a week.

6. 6

   Build the brine

   Pour in the vinegar and water. Add the salt, the grated piloncillo, the bay leaves, the Oaxacan oregano crumbled between your palms, the peppercorns, the cumin, the cloves, and the thyme and marjoram sprigs. Bring to a boil, then immediately drop the heat to a low simmer. Cook for five minutes, no more. The brine should taste sharp, salty, and herbaceous. The piloncillo is not there to make the jar sweet. It is there to round the edge of the vinegar so it does not scrape your tongue.

7. 7

   Pack the jars

   While the brine simmers, sterilize two clean 1-quart glass jars with boiling water and dry them. Use a slotted spoon to pack the vegetables into the jars, distributing the chiles, carrots, cauliflower, nopales, onion, and garlic evenly. Tuck a bay leaf and a sprig of herbs into each jar so they sit visible against the glass. Pour the hot brine over the vegetables until they are completely submerged. Tap the jars on the counter to release air bubbles. Top off if needed.

8. 8

   Cool and refrigerate

   Let the jars cool on the counter, uncovered, for thirty minutes. Then seal with their lids and refrigerate. The chiles need at least 48 hours in the brine before the flavor settles. They are at their best between one week and three months. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Use Oaxacan oregano if you can find it. It is wilder, more citric, and more resinous than Mediterranean oregano. Most Mexican groceries in the United States carry it as 'Mexican oregano' from Rancho Gordo or similar producers. If you only have Mediterranean oregano, the jar will still be good, but you are missing the regional accent.
• •The vinegar must be 5% acidity. Lower-acid vinegars will not preserve the vegetables safely and the brine will go cloudy. Plain white distilled is what the senoras use. Apple cider vinegar changes the flavor entirely and is not traditional for this jar.
• •If you cannot find fresh nopales, do not substitute jarred. Jarred nopales are already pickled and they will turn to mush in the brine. Skip them and call the jar what it is, an encurtido without nopales, and try again when you find fresh ones.
• •Use the brine. After the chiles are gone, the leftover vinegar is gold. Splash it over black beans, into a pot of caldo, over carnitas. Throwing it out is a sin against the household economy.

Advance Preparation

• •The jars need a minimum of 48 hours in the refrigerator before the flavor settles. They peak between one and four weeks and hold well up to three months refrigerated.
• •Make this in batches every few weeks rather than one large batch. Smaller jars stay crisp longer and you always have a fresh one on the table.
• •Save the brine after the vegetables are eaten. It will keep for weeks in the refrigerator and is excellent splashed over beans, into a pot of caldo, or used to dress shredded chicken for tostadas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 120g)