Sopa de Albóndigas al Epazote

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart olla de barro or Dutch oven
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and charring tomatoes
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Slotted spoon for lowering and lifting the albóndigas

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the meatball masa

   In a wide bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, raw rice, beaten egg, finely diced half onion, chopped mint, oregano, salt, pepper, and cumin. Mix with your hands until everything is evenly distributed. Do not overwork it. Overworked meat turns rubbery in the broth. The raw rice is not a mistake. It cooks inside the meatball and absorbs the broth from within, which is what gives sopa de albóndigas its texture. This is the central Mexican way. Así se hace y punto.

   Hierbabuena is the herb that defines this dish in the central highlands. Not parsley, not cilantro. Mint. If you cannot find fresh mint, leave it out before you substitute.
2. 2

   Form the albóndigas around the egg

   With wet hands, take a scoop of meat about the size of a small lime. Flatten it on your palm. Place a wedge of hard-boiled egg in the center. Close the meat around the egg and roll into a smooth ball. The egg should be completely sealed inside. You should get about 18 albóndigas. Set them on a tray. The hidden egg is the surprise inside, the abuela's trick that makes a child remember this soup for the rest of their life.

3. 3

   Toast the chiles and char the tomatoes

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo and ancho chiles for about 20 seconds per side, until they puff and turn fragrant. Watch them. Burned chile turns the caldo bitter. Transfer to a bowl and cover with hot tap water to soften for 15 minutes. On the same comal, char the whole tomatoes, the quarter onion, and the two garlic cloves until the tomato skins blister and split and the onion picks up dark spots. The char is the flavor. Skip it and your caldo will taste like canned tomato soup.

4. 4

   Blend the caldo base

   Drain the chiles. Transfer them to a blender along with the charred tomatoes (skins on, they belong here), the charred onion, the garlic, and 1 cup of the warm broth. Blend until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on the solids. Discard what is left in the strainer. You want a clean, deep red puree, not a chunky pulp.

5. 5

   Fry the caldo base in lard

   In a heavy 6-quart olla or cazuela, melt the manteca over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, pour in the strained tomato-chile puree. It will sputter, stand back. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until the puree darkens by a shade and the fat begins to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This step is the difference between a caldo that tastes alive and one that tastes thin. No me vengas con atajos.

   You will know the puree is ready when a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan leaves a clean trail for a second before the sauce slides back.
6. 6

   Build the broth

   Pour in the remaining 7 cups of warm broth. Add the carrot and potato pieces. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Taste for salt now. The broth should taste assertive on its own because the meatballs will pull flavor from it as they cook.

7. 7

   Add the albóndigas

   When the caldo is at a steady simmer, lower the albóndigas in one by one with a slotted spoon. Do not stir. Stirring breaks them open and the egg falls out. Let them settle. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle bubble, never a hard boil. Cover partially and cook for 20 minutes.

8. 8

   Add the soft vegetables and epazote

   Add the chayote, zucchini, and the epazote sprigs. Push them down into the broth around the meatballs. Cook 15 to 20 minutes more, until the meatballs are firm and cooked through, the rice inside has swelled, and the vegetables are tender but not falling apart. The epazote is the point of this soup. It carries a pungent, almost medicinal note that the central highlands cooks have used for centuries to balance the richness of the meat and the sweetness of the tomato. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado what they would do without it. They would tell you they would not bother making the soup.

   Cut one meatball open at the 35-minute mark to check. The rice should be fully cooked, the egg yolk should be intact, and the meat should be uniformly gray-brown with no pink at the center.
9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Pull the pot off the heat. Let it rest 5 minutes, uncovered. The broth settles, the flavors marry, and the meatballs firm up just enough to lift cleanly. Ladle three albóndigas into each bowl with plenty of broth and vegetables. Serve with lime wedges, warm corn tortillas, and a small dish of chile de árbol salsa for those who want heat. The lime at the table is not optional. A squeeze cuts through the richness and wakes the epazote up. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh epazote at a Mexican mercado. The dried version is a shadow of the fresh herb. If your only option is dried, use a tablespoon and add it ten minutes before serving, but understand that you are working with a compromise.
• •Use 80/20 ground beef and add the pork. Lean beef will give you dry, sad albóndigas. The fat from the pork and the marbling in the beef are what keep the meatballs tender after 35 minutes in the broth.
• •Do not skip the step of charring the tomatoes on a dry comal. Boiled tomatoes give you a thin, sweet, raw-tasting broth. Charred tomatoes give you depth. This is how every cook from Toluca to Pachuca starts a caldo de jitomate.
• •The raw rice inside the meatball is the central Mexican signature. Cooked rice will turn to mush. Bread crumbs will make a different soup. Use the raw rice and trust it. It cooks inside the albóndiga and gives it the slightly grainy bite that defines this dish.

Advance Preparation

• •The meatballs can be formed up to one day ahead and held on a tray in the refrigerator, covered. Lower them directly from cold into the simmering broth.
• •The tomato-chile caldo base can be made up to two days ahead through the lard-frying step and refrigerated. Reheat with the broth and proceed.
• •The finished soup keeps refrigerated for three days. The flavor improves overnight as the epazote settles into the broth, but add a fresh squeeze of lime at the table when reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 760g)