Atole Blanco Oaxaqueño

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 3-quart pot with a thick base
• •Wire whisk
• •Wooden spoon for stirring
• •Fine-mesh sieve (if working with fresh masa)
• •Clay jarritos or thick-walled mugs for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Dissolve the masa

   Place the masa harina in a medium bowl. Pour in 2 cups of cold water, a little at a time, whisking constantly until you have a smooth slurry with no lumps. Cold water is important. Hot water will seize the masa and you will spend the next twenty minutes fishing out clumps. If you are working with fresh masa from a tortilleria, blend it with the 2 cups of cold water in a blender until smooth, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve.

   The slurry should look like thin cream and pour easily off the whisk. If it sits in clumps, whisk longer or pass it through a sieve before it goes in the pot. Atole with lumps is not atole, it is masa soup.
2. 2

   Heat the water

   Pour the remaining 6 cups of water into a heavy 3-quart pot. Add the canela stick and the salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Let the canela steep for five minutes so the water carries the perfume of the bark before the masa goes in. If you are skipping the canela, still bring the water to a simmer with the salt. The salt is not optional. A pinch of salt is what makes the corn taste like corn.

3. 3

   Stream in the slurry

   Whisk the masa slurry one more time to bring back anything that settled. With one hand whisking the simmering water in a steady circle, pour the slurry in a thin stream with the other hand. Do not dump it in. Pouring slowly while whisking is the difference between a smooth atole and a pot of dumplings. Keep whisking for the first two minutes after the slurry goes in, until the liquid begins to tighten.

4. 4

   Cook out the raw corn

   Lower the heat to medium-low. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom and the corners of the pot so nothing sticks. The atole will thicken to the consistency of heavy cream and turn from chalky white to a soft, glossy ivory. That color change is the signal. Raw masa tastes flat and powdery. Cooked masa tastes sweet and nutty, even before any sugar goes in. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo. This step is the work.

5. 5

   Sweeten if you wish

   If you want it sweet, add the chopped piloncillo now and stir until it dissolves completely. Taste and adjust. Some Oaxacan cooks take their atole blanco unsweetened, served alongside tamales or pan de yema, where the bread carries the sugar. Others sweeten it lightly with piloncillo so the cane and the corn meet halfway. Both are correct. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and within Oaxaca, cada casa, su propia mesa.

   Use piloncillo, not white sugar. Piloncillo is unrefined cane that carries molasses and minerality. White sugar gives you sweetness with no character. There is a reason every mercado in Oaxaca sells the dark cones by the kilo.
6. 6

   Serve in clay

   Fish out the canela stick. Ladle the atole into clay jarritos or thick-walled mugs. The clay holds the heat and gives the atole a faint earthy note that ceramic and glass cannot. Drink it the way it is drunk in Oaxaca: with a tamal de mole in the morning, with pan dulce at merienda, or on its own when the night is cold and you need something to hold in your hands. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •If you can find fresh masa from a Mexican tortilleria, use it. Blend one cup of fresh masa with two cups of cold water in a blender until smooth, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve before it goes into the pot. Fresh masa makes an atole with deeper corn flavor than masa harina. Masa harina is a compromise, not an upgrade, but a good one will get you eighty percent of the way there.
• •Use a heavy pot, not a thin one. Atole burns at the bottom faster than you think and a scorched layer ruins the entire pot. Stainless steel with a thick base, enameled cast iron, or a clay olla all work. Stir often, not constantly, scraping the bottom each time.
• •Atole thickens as it cools. If you reheat leftovers the next morning, add a splash of water to loosen it back to the right consistency. The texture should coat the back of a spoon but still pour easily. If it sits up like pudding, it is too thick.
• •Do not skip the salt because the atole is sweet. Even sweetened atole needs the pinch of salt to bring the corn forward. This is a principle, not a preference. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.

Advance Preparation

• •Atole blanco is best the moment it is made, but it keeps refrigerated for two days. Reheat over low heat with a splash of water, whisking to loosen, until it returns to the right consistency.
• •The masa slurry can be mixed up to two hours ahead and held in the refrigerator. Whisk it again before streaming it into the simmering water, since the masa will settle to the bottom of the bowl.
• •Do not freeze atole. The masa breaks and turns grainy when it thaws. There is no recovering from it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 315g)