Chef Lupita
Arroz Amarillo Yucateco con Achiote
Yucatán's everyday yellow rice, toasted in achiote-stained lard with onion and garlic, perfumed by a whole habanero on top. The bright plate that lives beside every cochinita on the Mérida table.
Culinary Explorer
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Bistec en Chiltomate Yucateco
Created by
Yucatán's weeknight beef, sliced thin and simmered in chiltomate, the charred tomato and habanero salsa that ties peninsular cooking together, finished with sour orange and a sprig of epazote.
Main Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
35 min cook•55 min total
Yield4 servings
This is from Yucatán. Not from a generic Mexican kitchen, from the kitchens of Mérida and the towns around it, Izamal, Motul, Valladolid, where chiltomate is the salsa that runs through everything. Huevos motuleños sit on chiltomate. Panuchos get a spoonful of it. Pollo pibil rests on a pool of it. And on a weeknight, when a Yucatecan home cook has thin beef and a comal that is already hot, this is what she makes.
Chiltomate is two ingredients: tomato and habanero. The technique is in the char. You burn the tomatoes black on a dry comal, you burn the habanero with them, you burn the onion and the garlic. Then you blend it all rough, skins and seeds included, with the smoky bits scraped off the comal. That charred bitterness is the dish. Take it away and you have tomato sauce. Keep it and you have chiltomate.
The habanero goes in whole. This is not a salsa picante. The habanero perfumes the tomato; it does not dominate it. Yucatán knows habanero better than any state in Mexico, and the peninsular cook understands that this chile, the one Yucatán claims as its own, is a floral chile before it is a hot one. If a guest wants real heat, you set a separate tamulado of habanero crushed with sour orange at the table and let them ruin their own bowl.
I learned this version from a señora in Mérida who cooked it for me at her kitchen table while her parakeet screamed from the next room. She used naranja agria from the tree in her patio, manteca from a tub her neighbor rendered, and Yucatecan oregano that smells like nothing else in Mexico. She told me, you want my recipe, write this down: char the tomato, fry the salsa, finish with the sour orange. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Chiltomate descends directly from pre-Hispanic Mayan cooking, where the technique of charring tomatoes (in Yucatec Maya, p'ak) on a hot stone surface predates the arrival of Europeans by centuries; the salsa appears in colonial-era Yucatecan documents under the Maya name 'chiltomate,' a compound of 'chile' and the Nahuatl-derived 'tomate.' The habanero chile, despite the misleading Spanish name implying Havana origins, is endemic to the Yucatán peninsula and was carried out to the Caribbean by colonial trade rather than the other way around; in 2010 it received Denominación de Origen status, legally protecting the Yucatecan habanero as a product of the peninsula. Bistec en chiltomate emerged as a 19th-century home dish once cattle ranching took hold in the peninsula's interior, marrying the Mayan salsa with European beef in the kind of weeknight cooking that defines the Yucatecan table outside the better-known feast dishes of cochinita pibil and relleno negro.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
beef sirloin or top round
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
sliced 1/4-inch thick against the grain
ripe Roma tomatoes
Quantity
2 pounds
chile habanero
Quantity
1 to 2, whole
white onion (for charring)
Quantity
1/2 medium
white onion (for the meat)
Quantity
1/2 medium
sliced thin
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
unpeeled
manteca de cerdo (pork lard)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
dried Mexican oregano
Quantity
1 teaspoon
preferably Yucatecan
fresh epazote
Quantity
1 small sprig
sour orange juice (naranja agria)
Quantity
1/4 cup
or 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice mixed with 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
kosher salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warmed
pickled red onions (cebollas en escabeche) (optional)
Quantity
for serving
lime halves (optional)
Quantity
for serving
cooked white rice (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| beef sirloin or top roundsliced 1/4-inch thick against the grain | 1 1/2 pounds |
| ripe Roma tomatoes | 2 pounds |
| chile habanero | 1 to 2, whole |
| white onion (for charring) | 1/2 medium |
| white onion (for the meat)sliced thin | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 4 |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard) | 3 tablespoons |
| dried Mexican oreganopreferably Yucatecan | 1 teaspoon |
| fresh epazote | 1 small sprig |
| sour orange juice (naranja agria)or 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice mixed with 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice | 1/4 cup |
| kosher salt | to taste |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)warmed | for serving |
| pickled red onions (cebollas en escabeche) (optional) | for serving |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
| cooked white rice (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy cast iron comal or skillet for charring
- •Blender
- •Wide heavy skillet or clay cazuela for the simmer
- •Tongs for turning the chiles and tomatoes on the comal
Instructions
- 1
Char the tomatoes and aromatics
Heat a heavy comal or cast iron skillet over high heat until it smokes lightly. Place the whole tomatoes, the unpeeled garlic, the half onion (skin on), and the whole habanero directly on the dry surface. Do not move them for the first two or three minutes. You want black blistered patches, not even browning. Turn each as the skin chars and continue until every side is mottled black and the tomatoes are collapsing under their own weight, about 10 to 12 minutes. This is chiltomate. The charring is the recipe. If your tomatoes do not look burnt, go back and burn them more.
The habanero stays whole. You are infusing the salsa with its perfume, not blowing the dish apart with raw heat. If your guests want fire, set a tamulado of habanero on the table separately. - 2
Build the chiltomate
Peel the garlic and slip the blackened skin off the onion. Pull the stem off the habanero. Tip everything, tomatoes, garlic, onion, habanero, and all the charred bits clinging to the comal, into a blender. Pulse in short bursts. You want a rustic salsa with visible flecks of skin and seed, not a smoothie. Yucatecan chiltomate is textured, not refined. Season with a teaspoon of salt. Taste. It should be smoky, slightly sweet from the tomato, and carry the floral warmth of the habanero without burning your tongue.
- 3
Season and sear the beef
Pat the beef slices dry with a towel. Wet meat does not brown. Season generously on both sides with salt and black pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the manteca in a wide, heavy skillet or cazuela over high heat until it shimmers. Working in two batches so you do not crowd the pan, sear the slices for about 45 seconds per side, just until they take color. They will finish cooking in the salsa. Transfer to a plate as they come out of the pan.
- 4
Fry the sliced onion
Lower the heat to medium. Add the remaining tablespoon of manteca and the thinly sliced onion. Cook for three to four minutes, scraping up the brown fond left by the beef. The onion should soften and pick up the meat's color. La manteca es el sabor and this fond is half the dish.
- 5
Simmer the meat in chiltomate
Pour the chiltomate into the pan with the onions. It will sputter against the hot fat. Stir and let the salsa fry for two minutes, deepening in color. Return the seared beef and any juices to the pan. Add the oregano, crushed between your fingers, and tuck in the sprig of epazote. Lower the heat to a slow simmer. Cover partially and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until the beef is fork-tender and the salsa has tightened around it.
- 6
Finish with sour orange
Pour the naranja agria over the top in the last two minutes of cooking. Stir once. The acid lifts the smoke and ties the dish to the peninsula. Taste for salt one more time. If the salsa has reduced too much, splash in a little water. You want it loose enough to spoon over rice, thick enough to hold the meat. Pull off the sprig of epazote before serving.
- 7
Serve at the Mérida table
Spoon the bistec and its salsa into a wide clay platter. Set the pickled red onions, warm tortillas, lime halves, and white rice around the table. Each diner builds their plate. The whole habanero stays in the pan as a warning and a trophy. Whoever wants more fire can mash a piece into their own portion. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •The char is not optional. Your kitchen will fill with smoke. Open a window, turn on the hood, and do not pull the tomatoes off the comal until they look ruined. That is the point.
- •Naranja agria is the sour orange that grows across the peninsula and it has no real substitute. If you cannot find it, three parts sweet orange juice to one part lime juice will get you close. Bottled naranja agria from a Yucatecan brand is also acceptable. Plain orange juice is not.
- •Yucatecan oregano is a different plant from Mediterranean oregano, more citrusy and resinous. If your Mexican grocer carries it, buy a bag and keep it sealed. If not, use Mexican oregano, never Mediterranean. The flavor profile is wrong.
- •Pickled red onions, cebollas en escabeche, are not a garnish in Yucatán. They are part of the dish. Slice a red onion thin, blanch it briefly, and pickle in sour orange juice with salt, oregano, and a bay leaf. Make a jar on Sunday and use it all week.
Advance Preparation
- •Chiltomate can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor deepens overnight. Make a double batch and use the rest for huevos motuleños or as a sauce for poached eggs.
- •The pickled red onions should be made at least four hours ahead and keep in the refrigerator for two weeks.
- •The beef can be sliced and seasoned the morning of, covered, and refrigerated until you are ready to sear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 520g)
Calories
675 calories
Total Fat
20 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
135 mg
Sodium
625 mg
Total Carbohydrates
71 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
53 g
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