Caldo de Oso Pénjamense (Pénjamo Catfish Broth)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch clay cazuela or heavy wide pot
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and charring tomatoes
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the fish

   Lay the catfish steaks in a shallow dish. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and the juice of 1 lime. Turn the pieces once, cover, and keep them cold while you build the broth. This is not ceviche. Ten to fifteen minutes is enough to clean up the river aroma without tightening the fish.

2. 2

   Start the stock

   Put the catfish head, tail, and bones in a pot with 8 cups cold water, 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, the bay leaf, cilantro stems, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 25 minutes, skimming the gray foam from the top. Do not boil it hard. A violent boil makes fish broth taste muddy. Strain and reserve 6 cups of stock. If you have no bones, simmer the aromatics alone for 15 minutes and accept a lighter broth.

   Fresh bagre should smell clean, like river water and fat, never sour. If the vendor cannot tell you when it was cleaned, ask another vendor. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho one at a time for about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skin softens, darkens, and smells raisiny. Toast the chile guajillo for less time because it is thinner and burns faster. Cover the toasted chiles with hot water and let them soak 15 minutes. Hot water, not boiling. Boiling wakes up bitterness.

4. 4

   Char the vegetables

   On the same comal, char the tomatoes, the 1/4 onion for the sauce, and the remaining 3 garlic cloves. Turn them until the tomatoes collapse at the edges, the onion has blackened spots, and the garlic is soft under its skin. Peel the garlic. This char is not decoration. It gives the tomato base the cooked depth that a raw blender salsa cannot give you.

5. 5

   Blend the base

   Drain the soaked chiles. Blend the chile ancho, chile guajillo, charred tomatoes, charred onion, peeled garlic, dried oregano, and 1 cup of the fish stock until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing with a spoon. The skins stay behind. The sauce should be brick red, smooth, and thick enough to coat the spoon.

6. 6

   Fry in butter

   Melt the butter in a wide clay cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. Add the thinly sliced onion and cook until it softens without browning, about 4 minutes. Pour in the strained tomato-chile base. It will sputter, so stand like you mean it. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until the color deepens and a red-orange butter sheen appears around the edges. This caldo asks for butter, not vegetable oil. Así se hace y punto.

7. 7

   Simmer the vegetables

   Add the reserved fish stock, potatoes, carrots, xoconostle if using, and 1 sprig epazote. Bring to a steady simmer and cook 15 to 18 minutes, until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Taste for salt now. The broth should taste like tomato, butter, and chile ancho first, with the guajillo only brightening the color. This is not a pot built on heat. It is built on balance.

8. 8

   Cook the catfish

   Lower the seasoned catfish pieces into the broth in one layer. Spoon a little broth over the top, cover partially, and simmer gently for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on thickness. Do not stir the pot like beans. Shake the cazuela by its handles if you need to move the fish. The bagre is ready when the flesh is opaque and separates in large flakes from the bone.

9. 9

   Finish and serve

   Remove the cooked epazote sprig. Add the second fresh epazote sprig for 1 minute, then remove it too. Ladle the caldo into deep barro bowls with one piece of catfish, potatoes, carrots, and enough red broth to cover. Scatter chopped cilantro over the top and serve with lime wedges and warm corn tortillas wrapped in a cloth-lined chiquihuite. Warn people about the bones. That is respect, not fussiness. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy bagre bone-in. Fillets make a weak pot and they break apart before the vegetables are ready. At Mercado Hidalgo in Pénjamo or in the fish stalls around Irapuato, ask for steaks cut thick and keep the head for stock.
• •The fat here is butter. La manteca es el sabor when the dish asks for manteca de cerdo, but this Pénjamo caldo belongs to the dairy side of the Bajío. Use real butter, not margarine, not neutral oil.
• •Chile ancho is the base. Chile guajillo is a helper for color. Do not turn this into a chile de arbol broth and then complain it does not taste like Pénjamo.
• •Xoconostle is optional, but regional. If the market has firm xoconostles with bright magenta centers, use one for acidity. If they are tired and dry, leave them there. Cook what the market is selling today.
• •Chilcuague belongs to Sierra Gorda sauces and some Bajío moles. Cacahuazintle belongs to pozole. Not every named regional ingredient goes into every pot. The women of Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, León, and Aguascalientes know this because they cook from place, not from lists.
• •Add the fish at the end. Catfish needs a gentle simmer, not a long punishment. Once it flakes from the bone, serve.

Advance Preparation

• •The fish stock can be made 1 day ahead. Chill it quickly and refrigerate. Skim any solidified fat or scum before using.
• •The strained tomato-chile base can be blended 1 day ahead. Fry it in butter on serving day so the flavor tastes alive.
• •Do not add the catfish until 10 minutes before serving. Leftovers can be reheated once over low heat, but the fish will be softer the second time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 630g)