Caldo de Mariscos Campechano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 6-quart clay cazuela or enameled Dutch oven
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for charring
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Sharp knife for cleaning seafood
• •Slotted spoon for lifting the seafood at the table

Instructions

1. 1

   Tenderize the octopus

   Place the cleaned octopus in a pot of cold water with one bay leaf and half the charred onion. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Cook for 45 minutes to one hour, until a paring knife slides into the thickest part of the tentacle with no resistance. Pull the pot off the heat and let the octopus cool in the broth for 20 minutes. The slow cool is part of the tenderizing. Pulled out hot, it tightens up. Lift it out, slice the tentacles into 1-inch pieces, and reserve the cooking liquid.

   The Campeche fishermen will tell you to scare the octopus into the boiling water three times before letting it sink. It curls the tentacles and keeps the skin on. No me vengas con atajos.
2. 2

   Build the shrimp stock

   In a separate pot, toast the reserved shrimp shells and heads in 1 tablespoon of manteca over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until they turn deep coral and the kitchen smells of the Gulf. Add 8 cups of fish stock or water, the bay leaf, and a pinch of salt. Simmer for 20 minutes. Strain and combine with the octopus cooking liquid. This is your broth. Without it, the soup tastes flat.

3. 3

   Char the aromatics on a comal

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-high. Char the tomatoes, the remaining half onion, and the unpeeled garlic cloves directly on the comal. Turn them as the skins blister and blacken in patches, about 8 to 10 minutes total. The tomatoes should collapse and the garlic should soften inside the papery skin. Peel the garlic. Do not peel the tomatoes. The charred skin is the flavor.

4. 4

   Toast the chiles

   On the same comal, toast the guajillo and xkatik chiles for 20 to 30 seconds per side. They should puff slightly and turn fragrant, never blacken. Burned chile is bitter chile and there is no fixing it. Tear them into pieces and place them in a small bowl with hot tap water. Soak for 15 minutes.

5. 5

   Blend the recado base

   Drain the soaked chiles. In a blender, combine the charred tomatoes, charred onion, peeled charred garlic, soaked chiles, the achiote paste, the oregano, and 1 cup of the seafood broth. Blend until completely smooth. The puree should be deep brick red, the color the recado rojo gives it. The achiote is not decoration, it is the soul of the broth.

6. 6

   Fry the recado

   In a wide clay cazuela or heavy 6-quart pot, melt the remaining tablespoon of manteca over medium heat. Add the minced raw garlic and the finely chopped raw onion. Cook for 3 minutes until soft and translucent. Pour in the blended recado base. It will sputter and stain the pot. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often, until the puree darkens and the lard separates at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This is the step most cooks rush. Do not rush it. The chile and tomato need to lose their raw edge.

7. 7

   Build the broth

   Pour the strained seafood broth into the cazuela with the fried recado. Add the branch of epazote, the sprigs of hierbabuena, and the whole pierced habanero. The habanero stays whole. It is there to perfume the broth, not to set it on fire. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Taste and salt assertively. The seafood will dilute the seasoning when it goes in.

8. 8

   Add the seafood in order

   Drop in the octopus pieces first, since they are already cooked and only need to warm through. Two minutes later, add the fish chunks and the clams. The clams will open in about 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they open, add the squid rings and the shrimp. The shrimp cook in 2 minutes, the squid in 90 seconds. Pull the pot off the heat the moment the shrimp turn pink and curl loosely. Overcooked shrimp turns to rubber and overcooked squid is worse. Discard any clam that refused to open.

9. 9

   Finish with lima agria

   Squeeze the lima agria halves over the pot just before serving. If you cannot find lima agria, a small naranja agria does the work. Regular Persian lime is the last resort and you will taste the difference. The acid wakes up the recado and brightens the broth. Fish out the whole habanero before serving unless you want one lucky guest to get the full lesson.

10. 10

    Serve from the cazuela

    Bring the clay cazuela to the table. Ladle into deep bowls so each guest gets some of every seafood. Set the cilantro, diced onion, sliced habanero, lima halves, salsa xnipec, and warm corn tortillas in small dishes around the pot. Each person dresses their own bowl. That ritual is part of the dish. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your seafood from a fishmonger you trust, not a supermarket counter. The fish should smell like clean ocean and nothing else. If it smells fishy, walk away. The whole dish depends on the freshness of what goes in. Pregúntale a las senoras del mercado.
• •Lima agria and naranja agria are the citrus signatures of the Yucatan Peninsula and they are not interchangeable with regular lime. If your Mexican grocer does not carry them, look at a Cuban or Puerto Rican market. Some carry naranja agria year-round. As a last resort, mix two parts regular orange juice with one part lime juice and a pinch of grapefruit zest. It is a compromise.
• •Make your own recado rojo if you can. Toasted achiote seeds, garlic, oregano, cumin, clove, allspice, black pepper, salt, and naranja agria, ground to a paste. The jarred achiote paste from the Yucatan brands is acceptable. The American supermarket version stained with red food coloring is not recado. No me vengas con atajos.
• •Epazote has no substitute. Some markets carry it fresh. Some carry it dried. Fresh is better, but dried will work if you tie it in a sachet so the leaves do not break apart in the broth. Do not skip it. Without epazote, this is not a Gulf coast caldo.

Advance Preparation

• •The broth base, recado fried into the strained seafood stock, can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. The flavor deepens overnight as the chile and achiote settle into the broth.
• •The octopus can be cooked and sliced one day ahead and held in a little of its cooking liquid in the refrigerator.
• •The seafood itself must be added at serving time. Caldo de mariscos cannot be made fully ahead. Reheating cooked seafood is the end of a good caldo. Build the broth, hold it, and finish the seafood the moment your guests sit down.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)