Salsa de Gusanos de Maguey

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Volcanic-stone molcajete and tejolote, well seasoned
• •Cast iron comal or heavy dry skillet
• •Small spoon for serving
• •Copitas (small clay or glass mezcal cups)

Instructions

1. 1

   Char the aromatics on the comal

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Place the unpeeled garlic and the onion quarters directly on the hot iron. Let them blacken in spots, turning every couple of minutes, until the garlic skins are dark and the cloves inside have gone soft and the onion edges are charred and sweet. About eight to ten minutes. The char is the seasoning. Pull them off, peel the garlic, and set everything aside.

   Charred, not burned. There is a difference. Burned garlic turns the salsa bitter and there is no fixing it later.
2. 2

   Toast the chile pasilla oaxaqueño

   On the same comal, toast the chile pasilla oaxaqueño for about 20 to 30 seconds per side. This chile is thin and smoke-cured already, so it darkens fast. You are waking up the oils, not cooking the chile. The kitchen will smell like a fire pit and dried fruit. That smoke is what makes pasilla mixe what it is. If you are using chile de árbol, toast those for ten seconds a side and pull them off. They scorch in a blink.

   Pasilla oaxaqueño, also called pasilla mixe, is not the pasilla you find in most US markets. The pasilla mexicano is a long dried chilaca and tastes like raisins. Pasilla mixe comes from the Mixe sierra and is smoke-dried over wood. If your vendor cannot tell you which one they are selling you, find a different vendor.
3. 3

   Toast the gusanos

   Lower the heat on the comal to medium-low. Spread the dried gusanos in a single layer and toast them for two to three minutes, shaking the comal so they do not stick or scorch. They will turn a deeper red, crisp up between your fingers, and release a smell that is somewhere between toasted nuts, cured chorizo, and the agave plant they fed on. That smell is the entire reason this salsa exists. Pull them off the moment they are crisp.

4. 4

   Start the molcajete with salt and garlic

   In a seasoned volcanic-stone molcajete, pound the salt and the charred garlic into a coarse paste. The salt is your abrasive. The garlic surrenders fast against the rough basalt. This is the foundation. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo, and a molcajete salsa is not a blender salsa. The stone bruises the ingredients instead of slicing them, and the texture you get is one a blade cannot give you.

5. 5

   Grind in the chiles

   Tear the toasted pasilla oaxaqueño into pieces and add them to the molcajete with the chile de árbol if using. Grind in a circular motion, working the chile into the garlic paste. The pasilla mixe will release its smoky oils and the salsa will start to take on its dark color. Keep going until the chile is broken down into a coarse paste. You will feel it shift under the tejolote.

6. 6

   Add the gusanos

   Drop the toasted gusanos into the molcajete and grind them into the chile paste. They break down quickly and turn the mixture a deeper, almost black-red. The flavor at this point is what people are trying to describe when they say umami. Earthy, smoky, slightly funky, with the sweetness of agave underneath. Reserve a small pinch of toasted gusanos whole if you want to scatter them on top at the end.

7. 7

   Finish with onion and lime

   Chop the charred onion fine and stir it into the salsa with a spoon. Do not grind the onion. You want its texture to stand out against the smooth chile and gusano paste. Add the lime juice and stir. If the salsa feels too tight, add a tablespoon of water at a time until it loosens to a spoonable consistency. Taste for salt. Pasilla mixe carries a lot of flavor on its own, so the salt should support, not lead.

   No me vengas con atajos. The molcajete is the recipe. A blender will give you a smooth paste with no texture and the flavors will not bloom the same way. If you do not have a molcajete, this is the dish that finally tells you to buy one.
8. 8

   Serve with mezcal

   Bring the molcajete to the table. Set a copita of mezcal joven beside it, an orange slice rimmed in sal de gusano, and warm hand-pressed corn tortillas. The salsa is eaten in small spoonfuls on tortilla, between sips of mezcal. The smoke in the chile, the smoke in the mezcal, and the agave the worms fed on are the same conversation. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Source the gusanos from a reputable Oaxacan vendor or specialty importer. The good ones are dry, bright red, and smell faintly of agave when you put your nose to the bag. Pale, soft, or musty worms are old and will taste like nothing.
• •Pasilla oaxaqueño is not the pasilla in your average US market. Look for it labeled pasilla mixe, chile pasilla de Oaxaca, or simply Oaxacan pasilla. If you cannot find it, chile morita gives you smoke but not the same depth, and chile chipotle is a bigger compromise. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Sal de gusano on the orange slice is not a gimmick. It is part of the architecture of how mezcal is drunk in Oaxaca. If you have made the salsa, you have most of what you need. Toast extra gusanos, grind them with sea salt and a little chile pasilla powder, and you have sal de gusano for the table.
• •This salsa is intense. A small bowl serves a long evening. It is meant to be eaten in spoonfuls between sips of mezcal, not as a dip with tortilla chips. Do not treat it like guacamole.

Advance Preparation

• •The salsa keeps refrigerated in a sealed jar for up to one week, and the flavors deepen after the first day as the smoke from the chile and the gusano marry. Bring it back to room temperature before serving so the flavors open up.
• •Toast a larger batch of gusanos at once and store the extra in an airtight jar. They keep for months and you can grind them into salt for sal de gusano whenever you want.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 27g)