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Sonora's mandatory carne asada side: elbow macaroni folded into a smoky orange dressing of chipotle, mayonnaise, and crema, studded with ham, corn, and celery, and chilled until the flavors marry.
This is Sonora. Specifically the carne asada table, the weekend ritual that anchors social life from Hermosillo to Caborca to Nogales. The carne asada is the centerpiece, the flour tortillas are mandatory, and ensalada de coditos is the side dish that nobody questions. If you show up to a Sonoran backyard with no coditos, you have shown up wrong.
Do not let anyone tell you this is American macaroni salad in disguise. The dressing is the giveaway. Mayonnaise, yes, but cut with crema mexicana and stained smoky orange with chipotles en adobo. That color is not decoration. It is the line between coditos and the pale mayonnaise salad served at gringo picnics. The chipotle pulls the dish across the border and plants it firmly in the Noroeste, where smoked dried chiles, dairy, and wheat all live comfortably together. Sonora is cattle country and wheat country. The flour tortilla makes sense here. The crema makes sense here. The coditos make sense here.
The ham is jamon de pierna, the celery is finely diced, the corn comes off a grilled ear when corn is in season and from a thawed bag when it is not. Sonoran grandmothers cook with what is in front of them. I learned this dish from a senora in Hermosillo who told me the secret was the rest in the refrigerator. Four hours, minimum. The pasta needs time to drink the dressing. Make it in the morning. Eat it in the afternoon when the meat comes off the grill. No me vengas con atajos.
Ensalada de coditos belongs to the broader 20th-century absorption of Italian dried pasta into northern Mexican home cooking, a process accelerated by the Sonoran wheat economy and the proximity to United States food distribution networks during and after World War II. The chipotle-and-crema dressing is the regional fingerprint that distinguishes the Sonoran version from both American macaroni salad and the milder mayonnaise-only pasta salads found in other parts of Mexico, and it reflects Sonora's longstanding use of smoked dried chiles in everyday cooking. Within the carne asada tradition, recognized as a defining cultural practice of the Noroeste, ensalada de coditos occupies the same non-negotiable side-dish slot that potato salad holds at an American cookout, but with a flavor profile that no American picnic table would recognize.
Quantity
1 pound
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
Quantity
1 cup
Quantity
3 to 4
finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
8 ounces
cut into small dice
Quantity
1 1/2 cups (from 2 ears, or thawed frozen)
Quantity
3
finely diced
Quantity
1/2 medium
finely diced
Quantity
1 medium
peeled and finely diced
Quantity
1/2 cup
finely diced
Quantity
for finishing
Quantity
for serving with the carne asada
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried elbow macaroni (coditos) | 1 pound |
| kosher salt for the pasta water | 2 tablespoons |
| olive oil | 1 tablespoon |
| Mexican mayonnaise (Mayonesa McCormick con Limon preferred) | 1 1/2 cups |
| crema mexicana | 1 cup |
| chiles chipotles en adobofinely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce | 3 to 4 |
| fresh lime juice | 1 tablespoon |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| good-quality ham (jamon de pierna)cut into small dice | 8 ounces |
| cooked corn kernels | 1 1/2 cups (from 2 ears, or thawed frozen) |
| celery ribsfinely diced | 3 |
| white onionfinely diced | 1/2 medium |
| carrotpeeled and finely diced | 1 medium |
| red bell pepperfinely diced | 1/2 cup |
| ground chiltepin (optional) | for finishing |
| flour tortillas (optional) | for serving with the carne asada |
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the kosher salt. The water should taste like the Sea of Cortez. Add the macaroni and cook one minute past al dente, about nine to ten minutes. This is not Italian pasta. In Sonora, the coditos go a little soft so they drink the dressing. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until the pasta is completely cool. Toss with the olive oil so the elbows do not glue together. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the Mexican mayonnaise, crema mexicana, chopped chipotles, two tablespoons of the adobo sauce, lime juice, salt, and black pepper. The dressing should turn a smoky orange-pink. Taste it. If it does not have a backbone of chipotle heat and a clean lime finish, add another spoon of adobo and a pinch more salt. This color is the signal that you are eating Sonoran ensalada de coditos and not the pale mayonnaise pasta salad served at American picnics.
Dice the ham, celery, white onion, carrot, and red bell pepper into pieces about the size of a pea. The pieces should be smaller than the macaroni so a single forkful carries pasta, dressing, and a bit of everything. If you are using fresh corn, cut the kernels off two grilled or boiled ears. Frozen corn works, but thaw it completely and pat it dry. Wet corn dilutes the dressing.
Add the cooled coditos to the bowl with the dressing. Fold gently with a wide spatula until every elbow is coated in the smoky orange. Add the ham, corn, celery, onion, carrot, and red bell pepper. Fold again until evenly distributed. Taste once more for salt and lime. The salad always wakes up with one more pinch of salt at this stage.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours, ideally four. The pasta absorbs the dressing as it sits, the chipotle deepens, and the flavors marry. A freshly mixed ensalada de coditos is a flat ensalada de coditos. This is not a salad you make and serve. It is a salad you make in the morning so it is ready by the time the carne asada hits the grill.
Stir once before serving. The dressing will have tightened in the refrigerator, so if it looks dry, fold in a tablespoon or two of crema to loosen it. Pile into a wide ceramic bowl or a glass cazuela. Dust the top with ground chiltepin if you want the Sonoran heat signature. Serve cold, alongside the carne asada, the flour tortillas, frijoles puercos, salsa bandera, and guacamole. Asi se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 230g)
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