Consomé de Barbacoa Hidalguense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 12-quart stockpot or vaporera with a tight lid
• •Steamer rack or upturned heavy ceramic plate to lift the meat above the liquid
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and pencas
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Long tongs for handling the hot pencas

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the pencas de maguey

   Pass each penca over an open flame, turning until the green skin chars in patches and the leaf turns pliable. This wakes up the agave sap that perfumes the meat. Scrape off the burned spines with the back of a knife. The penca is the soul of barbacoa hidalguense. Without it, you are making lamb stew. With it, you are making the dish that defines the state.

   If you cannot find fresh pencas, do not pretend a banana leaf will replace them. Banana leaf is for Yucatán. Skip the dish until you can source the right ingredient, or accept that you are making caldo de borrego, not barbacoa hidalguense.
2. 2

   Build the bottom of the pot

   In the bottom of a heavy stockpot or vaporera, place the soaked garbanzos, the rinsed rice, halved onion, halved garlic head, bay leaves, dried oregano, toasted avocado leaves, and the salt. Pour in the ten cups of water. This is the catador, the catcher, that will receive every drop of fat and juice that falls from the lamb. The garbanzos and rice cook in the drippings while the lamb steams above. This is the architecture of consomé hidalguense.

3. 3

   Toast and soak the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo and ancho chiles for about 20 seconds per side, until the skin puffs and the kitchen smells like a chile vendor's stall. Soak them in hot water, not boiling, for 15 minutes. Blend smooth with a half cup of the soaking water and a pinch of salt. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and stir the puree into the water at the bottom of the pot. The chile is what stains the consomé that deep amber-red. Skip the toasting and you will taste the difference.

4. 4

   Line the steamer with maguey

   Fit a steamer rack or upturned cazuelita into the pot, just above the level of the liquid. The drippings need room to fall. Drape the prepared pencas across the rack, overlapping them so they form a green-charred basin that cradles the meat. Let the tips of the leaves hang over the edge of the pot. This is how the cooks in Actopan and Mixquiahuala have built barbacoa for generations.

   In Hidalgo, the real barbacoa goes into a pit dug in the ground, lined with stones and pencas. The home version uses the pot. The penca does the same work either way: it perfumes the lamb and channels the drippings to the consomé below.
5. 5

   Season and arrange the lamb

   Salt the lamb shoulder, shank, and bones generously on all sides. Pile them into the basin of pencas, bones tucked among the larger pieces. Fold the overhanging tips of the leaves back over the meat to seal it in a green package. The lamb should be wrapped, not exposed. The aroma of cooked maguey is half of what makes this dish.

6. 6

   Steam low and slow

   Cover the pot with a tight lid. Seal the rim with a strip of wet masa or aluminum foil if your lid does not sit flush. No steam should escape. Set over low heat and cook for four to five hours. Do not lift the lid. Every time you peek, you lose the steam that is cooking the meat. The lamb is ready when it falls off the bone with no resistance and the kitchen smells of agave and cooked chile. Así se hace y punto.

7. 7

   Separate the meat and the consomé

   Carefully unwrap the pencas. Lift the lamb out onto a deep platter and pull it apart with two forks, discarding any large pieces of fat or gristle. Skim the consomé in the bottom of the pot if there is a heavy layer of fat on top, but leave a shimmer. The shimmer is the flavor. Taste for salt. The garbanzos should be tender, the rice should be soft and almost dissolved into the broth, and the consomé should be amber, fragrant, and full-bodied.

8. 8

   Serve at the table

   Ladle the consomé into deep clay cazuelitas, dividing the garbanzos and rice among the bowls. Set the diced onion, cilantro, oregano, lime, salsa borracha, and warm tortillas on the table in small dishes. Each guest builds their bowl and makes their own tacos de barbacoa with the pulled meat alongside. This is Sunday morning in Hidalgo. The consomé is the welcome, the tacos are the meal, and the salsa borracha is the punctuation. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Source the pencas at a serious Mexican mercado or a specialty produce store that serves a Mexican clientele. In Ciudad de México, the Central de Abastos has them year-round. Outside Mexico, call ahead. A substitute does not exist for this dish.
• •Lamb shoulder and shank give the consomé body because of the connective tissue and the bone. Boneless leg of lamb will give you a thin, sad consomé. The bones are not optional.
• •Salsa borracha is the partner of this dish. Toast pasilla chiles, blend with pulque (or a dark beer and a splash of tequila if pulque is unreachable), garlic, salt, and a little orange juice. Crumble queso añejo on top. Without it, the meal is incomplete.
• •The garbanzos must be soaked overnight. Do not use canned. Canned garbanzos turn to mush in five hours of steam and they do not absorb the chile and the drippings the way dried ones do. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the garbanzos overnight, not for a quick four hours. They need the full soak to cook through evenly in the time the lamb takes.
• •The consomé and the lamb can be made one day ahead. Refrigerate them separately. Skim the solidified fat off the consomé before reheating and the broth will be cleaner without losing flavor.
• •Salsa borracha can be made up to three days ahead and the flavor only deepens. Store covered in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 420g)