Caldo de Mariscos del Pacífico Oaxaqueño

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large 8-quart stockpot for cooking the octopus and building the shrimp stock
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and charring vegetables
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Large clay cazuela from Atzompa or heavy Dutch oven for the finished caldo

Instructions

1. 1

   Tenderize the octopus

   Bring a pot of salted water to a gentle simmer with one quarter of the white onion and two cloves of garlic. Lower the octopus tentacles into the water. Let them cook at a lazy simmer, never a boil, for 40 to 50 minutes. You will know they are ready when a knife slides into the thickest part of a tentacle with no resistance. A hard boil turns octopus into rubber and there is no undoing it. Pull the octopus out and set it aside to cool on a cutting board. Reserve one cup of the cooking liquid. Once cool enough to handle, cut the tentacles into bite-sized pieces about an inch long.

   Some cooks dip the octopus in and out of the water three times before submerging it fully. The thermal shock curls the tentacles and is supposed to help the texture. Dona Celia in Puerto Escondido did it every time. Whether it is science or habit, it costs you nothing. Do it.
2. 2

   Make the shrimp stock

   While the octopus simmers, peel and devein the shrimp. Set the peeled shrimp aside in the refrigerator. Save every shell and every head. In a dry stockpot over medium heat, toast the shells and heads for three to four minutes, stirring constantly, until they turn deep coral pink and the kitchen smells like the sea. That color shift is the signal. Add eight cups of water, one quarter of the onion, two cloves of garlic, the peppercorns, and the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing hard on the solids to extract everything. Discard the shells. You now have a stock that carries the Pacific in it. Set it aside.

3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the chile costeño and the guajillo separately, pressing each flat against the hot surface with a spatula for 20 to 30 seconds per side. The costeño is smaller and thinner than the guajillo. It burns faster. Watch it. When the skin puffs and the kitchen fills with that sharp, roasted pepper smell, they are done. Transfer all the toasted chiles to a heatproof bowl and cover with hot water. Not boiling. Hot water softens the flesh and lets the flavor come through clean. Boiling water cooks the skin and gives you a harsh, bitter note in the broth. Soak for 15 minutes.

   Do not wash the comal between the chiles and the tomatoes. The residual chile oils on the surface will perfume the tomatoes as they char. Same surface, same heat, no cleaning. That is how it is done on the coast.
4. 4

   Char the tomatoes and aromatics

   On the same comal, place the four Roma tomatoes, the remaining half of the onion broken into two pieces, and two cloves of garlic still in their skins. Let them char, turning with tongs as black spots develop on each side. The tomatoes will take eight to ten minutes, softening and splitting as the skin blackens. The garlic will be done in about five minutes. The onion sits somewhere between the two. You want them blistered and yielding, spotted black in places, not burned to ash. Peel the garlic once it cools enough to handle.

5. 5

   Blend the chile base

   Drain the soaked chiles. Combine them in a blender with the charred tomatoes, charred onion, charred garlic, and one cup of the shrimp stock. Blend on high until the puree is completely smooth, with no visible flecks of chile skin. This takes a full minute in most blenders. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pushing hard with a spoon or spatula to force everything through. Discard the fibrous skins left in the strainer. The puree should be a deep brick red with the sharp, direct fragrance of the chile costeño cutting through the tomato. If it smells flat, your chiles were not toasted enough.

6. 6

   Fry the chile base

   Heat the vegetable oil in a large cazuela or heavy pot over medium-high heat. Not every pot in Mexico starts with lard. On the coast, the cooks I watched used oil. The seafood carries its own richness. When the oil shimmers, pour in the strained chile puree all at once. It will spatter, so stand back and keep stirring. Cook for eight to ten minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the puree darkens a shade, thickens noticeably, and the oil begins to separate at the edges of the pot. This step concentrates the chile flavor and removes the raw edge. Skip it and your broth will taste thin and harsh. Asi se hace y punto.

   The puree is ready when you drag the spoon across the bottom of the cazuela and it leaves a trail that takes a second to fill back in. That body is what separates a caldo with character from chile-tinted water.
7. 7

   Build the caldo and add the seafood

   Pour the remaining shrimp stock and the reserved cup of octopus cooking liquid into the cazuela with the fried chile base. Stir well and bring to a gentle simmer. Taste for salt now. The broth should be assertive, nearly too seasoned on its own, because every piece of seafood you add will dilute it slightly. Add the fish pieces first, skin side up, and let them simmer undisturbed for four minutes. The flesh will turn opaque from the outside in. Then add the peeled shrimp and cook for two minutes, just until they curl and turn pink. Do not stir roughly or the fish will break apart. Nestle the clams into the broth hinge-side down, cover the pot, and cook for three to four minutes until the shells open. Discard any that refuse to open. Add the cut octopus pieces and the epazote sprigs. Simmer for two minutes more. The epazote will perfume the broth the way only epazote can: green, mineral, slightly resinous. That is the taste of a coastal Oaxacan kitchen.

8. 8

   Serve at the table

   Ladle into deep bowls, making sure every person gets shrimp, octopus, fish, and clams. The broth should have a faint sheen of chile-stained oil across the surface and the brick-red color of the costeño clinging to each piece of seafood. Place lime wedges, roughly chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, and a stack of warm corn tortillas on the table. Squeeze the lime just before the first spoonful. The acid opens up everything the chile and the sea put into that broth. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Chile costeño rojo is the soul of this broth and it is not the same as guajillo. It is smaller, thinner skinned, and sharper, with a direct heat and a bright acidity that guajillo does not have. If you cannot find it, increase the guajillo to ten and add two chiles de arbol for the missing heat. But know that you are making a compromise, not the same caldo. Mexican grocery stores with Oaxacan inventory carry it, and online vendors from the Isthmus ship it. Search for chile costeño rojo, not just 'dried red chile.'
• •The seafood goes into the pot by stubbornness, not by size. Octopus takes 45 minutes and must be pre-cooked. Fish needs four minutes in the broth. Shrimp needs two. Clams need three to four. If you add everything at once, the shrimp will be rubber by the time the clams open. Respect the sequence. The coast taught me that.
• •Head-on shrimp is not decorative. The heads contain fat and flavor that transform a thin stock into something worth building a caldo around. If your fishmonger sells only headless shrimp, ask for extra shells from behind the counter. Most will give them to you for nothing if you ask nicely. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
• •Fresh epazote is not interchangeable with dried. Dried epazote is a ghost of the real thing. And epazote is not hierba santa, no matter what the internet tells you. They are two completely different plants with two completely different roles. This caldo wants epazote: green, mineral, slightly resinous. If you cannot find it fresh, leave it out entirely rather than using dried. The broth will still be good. It will just be missing its last voice.

Advance Preparation

• •The octopus can be cooked a full day ahead and refrigerated in its cooking liquid. Cut it into pieces only when you are ready to assemble the caldo.
• •The shrimp stock and the fried chile base can each be made one day ahead and stored separately in the refrigerator. Combine them at serving time, bring to a simmer, and then add the seafood.
• •Do not cook the fish, shrimp, or clams ahead. Seafood in a caldo must go from raw to bowl in minutes. The moment you reheat pre-cooked shrimp in hot broth, it tightens and turns chalky. There is no recovering from that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)