Sopa de Médula CDMX (Magdalena Atlitic)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and roasting tomatoes
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Deep barro cazuelitas (one per diner) for serving
• •Small spoons for scooping marrow from the bones at the table

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak and rinse the bones

   Place the marrow bones in a large bowl, cover with cold water, and add a heavy pinch of salt. Let them sit for 30 minutes while you prep the rest. This pulls the blood out so your broth runs clean, not muddy. The marrow itself stays inside the bone. Drain and rinse the bones under cold running water before they go into the pot.

   Ask the butcher for tuetano, the long center-cut marrow bones, mixed with shank cross-cuts. The mix gives you marrow to scoop and meat to chew. Both belong in the bowl.
2. 2

   Build the caldo base

   Place the rinsed bones and the cubed shank meat in a heavy 8-quart stockpot. Cover with cold water by three inches. Add the halved onion, the halved garlic head, the bay leaves, and the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a slow simmer over medium heat. As the gray foam rises in the first 20 minutes, skim it off with a spoon. Cold water and a slow start are how you get a clean broth. A hard boil clouds everything and toughens the meat.

3. 3

   Simmer low for the long haul

   Once the foam stops rising, lower the heat until the broth shows lazy bubbles every few seconds. Partially cover and cook for 90 minutes. The meat should be tender enough to bite through cleanly, and the marrow should be soft inside the bone, no longer pink. Do not rush this. The bones release their gelatin slowly, and that body is what makes the broth feel like medicine in your hands.

4. 4

   Toast the chiles and roast the tomatoes

   While the caldo simmers, heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chipotle morita and the guajillo separately, about 20 seconds per side. The morita burns fast, watch it. The guajillo should puff and turn fragrant. Set the chiles aside in a heatproof bowl and cover with hot tap water for 15 minutes. On the same comal, roast the Roma tomatoes whole, turning them until the skins blister black in patches and the flesh softens. Roast the 2 garlic cloves for the salsa alongside them until the skins darken. No me vengas con atajos. Skip the toasting and the broth tastes flat.

   Hot tap water, not boiling. Boiling water cooks the chile skins and turns the broth bitter. Hot water softens the flesh and lets the smoke of the morita come through clean.
5. 5

   Blend and fry the chile-tomato base

   Drain the soaked chiles. Combine them in a blender with the roasted tomatoes, the 2 roasted garlic cloves, and one cup of the simmering broth lifted from the pot. Blend until completely smooth, about a minute. Melt the manteca in a small skillet over medium heat. Strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve directly into the hot lard. It will sputter. Cook the strained puree for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until it darkens, the fat separates at the edges, and it stops smelling raw. La manteca es el sabor. Without this step, the broth tastes like tomato water with chile floating in it.

6. 6

   Prep and purge the nopales

   Bring a separate pot of salted water to a boil. Drop the diced nopales in along with a quarter onion if you have one. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until they turn from bright green to a duller olive. Drain in a colander, rinse under cold water until the slime is gone, and shake them dry. This step is non-negotiable. Skip the purging and the babita, that slippery liquid, ends up in your soup.

7. 7

   Combine and finish

   Lift the spent onion halves, garlic head, and bay leaves out of the caldo and discard. Stir the fried chile-tomato base into the broth. Add the purged nopales and the whole sprig of epazote, stems and all. Simmer for 15 more minutes, partially covered. Taste for salt now. The broth should be assertive: smoky from the morita, deep from the bones, herbaceous from the epazote. If it tastes shy, more salt. If it tastes flat, more morita next time. Así se hace y punto.

8. 8

   Serve in barro, build at the table

   Ladle the broth into deep clay cazuelitas. Make sure each bowl gets at least one marrow bone, a generous portion of meat, and a heap of nopales. Set the finely diced raw onion, chopped serrano, cilantro, lime halves, salsa de chile de árbol, and a stack of warm tortillas in small platitos around the table. Each diner scoops the marrow out of the bone with a small spoon, spreads it on a warm tortilla with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime, and alternates bites of taco and spoons of broth. That is the chilanga ritual. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •The bones are the recipe. Ask your carnicero for huesos de tuétano cut into 2-inch sections so the marrow stays inside but is easy to scoop out at the table. Add a few cross-cut shank pieces for meat. If your butcher does not know what tuétano is, find a different butcher.
• •Epazote is non-negotiable. It is not parsley, not cilantro, not oregano. It is its own thing, and it is what makes this soup taste like CDMX. Dried epazote is a compromise, not an upgrade, but it will work in a pinch. Use half as much and add it earlier.
• •Chile chipotle morita is the smaller, smokier, darker chipotle. Do not substitute chile chipotle meco (the larger, tan-colored one) here. The morita's depth is what carries the broth. Buy from a vendor who can tell you the difference.
• •Nopales must be purged. The babita, that slimy liquid they release, has no place in a clear broth. Boil them separately, rinse them, and only then add them to the pot. This is how it is done in Mexico City.

Advance Preparation

• •The caldo base, bones, meat, and broth, can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. The flavor only deepens overnight. Reheat gently and add the chile-tomato base, nopales, and epazote on serving day.
• •Do not add the nopales or epazote until the day you serve. The nopales lose their bite if they sit in the broth overnight, and epazote turns bitter after long storage.
• •Sopa de médula keeps refrigerated for three days. Reheat gently. Do not freeze. The marrow texture suffers and the nopales turn to mush.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 350g)