Caldo de Siete Mares Mazatleco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot or wide clay cazuela
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and charring vegetables
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •High-powered blender
• •Sturdy slotted spoon or kitchen spider

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the seafood broth

   Rinse the shrimp shells and heads and the fish frames under cold water. Place them in a large 8-quart stockpot with the cold water, halved onion, halved garlic, bay leaves, cilantro stems, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first ten minutes. The broth is the dish. Use cold water and a slow simmer or you will end up with cloudy, bitter stock. Cook for 45 minutes, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the solids. You should have about 10 cups of golden, briny caldo. This is the foundation. No me vengas con atajos.

   Ask your fishmonger for the heads and shells when you buy the seafood. The heads of the shrimp carry most of the flavor. Without them you have water and salt.
2. 2

   Cook the octopus

   While the broth simmers, bring a separate pot of salted water to a boil. Lower the cleaned octopus in by the head, then lift it out, then lower it again. Do this three times. The Mediterranean cooks who taught Mazatlan's marisquerias call this scaring the octopus. It tightens the skin and keeps the tentacles from curling into knots. Then submerge it fully and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes to an hour, until a knife slides easily into the thickest part of a tentacle. Drain, let it cool slightly, and slice the tentacles into 1-inch pieces. The body can be cut into rings.

3. 3

   Toast and soak the chiles

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the guajillo and ancho chiles separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. They should puff and turn fragrant, never blacken. Move them to a heatproof bowl and cover with hot tap water. Hot, not boiling. Let them soften for 20 minutes. Boiling water cooks the skin and the salsa turns bitter. Asi se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Char the tomatoes and aromatics

   On the same comal, char the Roma tomatoes, the half onion, and the three garlic cloves. The tomato skins should blister and blacken in patches. The onion should darken on its cut side. The garlic stays in its skin and turns golden through the paper. This takes about ten minutes. Turn everything as it darkens. The char is what gives the broth its smoky depth.

5. 5

   Blend the chile-tomato base

   Drain the soaked chiles, reserving a half cup of the soaking liquid. Peel the charred garlic. Place the chiles, charred tomatoes, charred onion, peeled garlic, oregano, cumin, and the reserved soaking liquid in a blender. Blend on high until completely smooth, about two minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon. Discard what stays in the sieve. You want a clean, deep red puree with no grit.

6. 6

   Fry the chile base

   Heat the olive oil in the rinsed-out stockpot over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Pour in the strained chile puree all at once. It will sputter and seize for a moment. Stir constantly for five to seven minutes, until the puree darkens by a shade and the oil starts to bead at the edges. This step cooks the raw chile flavor out and concentrates the sauce. Skip it and your caldo will taste like watered-down salsa.

7. 7

   Combine the caldo

   Pour the strained seafood broth into the pot with the chile base. Add the cooked octopus pieces and the halved crabs. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes so the broth and the chile fully marry and the crab gives up its sweetness. Taste for salt now. The seafood that follows is delicate and will not season the broth. The broth has to be right before anything else goes in.

8. 8

   Add the seafood in order

   Drop the clams in first and cover the pot. After three minutes, add the fish chunks. Two minutes later, add the squid and the scallops. One minute after that, add the shrimp. Tuck the epazote sprig into the broth. Cover and cook just until the shrimp curl and turn pink, about two more minutes, and the clams have all opened. From clams to finish should take no more than eight or nine minutes total. Pull the pot off the heat the second the shrimp are done. Overcooked seafood is rubber and there is no fixing it.

   Discard any clams that refuse to open after five minutes. They were dead before they hit the pot and they will ruin the caldo if you let them through.
9. 9

   Serve at the table

   Ladle into wide deep bowls, making sure each one gets a piece of every sea: a few clams, a piece of crab, octopus, fish, squid, scallops, and shrimp. That is the whole point of caldo de siete mares. Set the lime wedges, cilantro, white onion, sliced serrano, salsa huichol, and saltines in small dishes around the table. Each guest builds their own bowl. Squeeze of lime first. Always lime first. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the seafood the day you cook it. This is non-negotiable. A caldo de siete mares made from frozen mixed seafood medley is a sad imitation. Go to the fish counter, look at the eyes of the fish, smell the shrimp, and ask when the boats came in. If the fishmonger does not know, find a different fishmonger.
• •The shrimp shells and fish frames are the broth. Most American recipes will tell you to use clam juice or fish stock from a carton. That is a compromise and not an upgrade. Half an hour of simmering shells gives you something no carton can match.
• •Salsa huichol or salsa Tamazula on the table is not a suggestion. In Sinaloa it is a law. Both are red, vinegary, and built for seafood. A few drops finish each bowl.
• •Epazote does not have a substitute. If you cannot find it fresh at a Latin market, omit it rather than swap in cilantro or parsley. The flavor it gives is specific and unmistakable. Cilantro is already in the garnish.

Advance Preparation

• •The seafood broth and the chile base can both be made one day ahead. Keep them refrigerated separately and combine on serving day.
• •The octopus can be cooked one day ahead and refrigerated in a little of its cooking liquid.
• •Do not cook the rest of the seafood ahead. The clams, fish, squid, scallops, and shrimp must go into a hot caldo at the moment of serving. Reheated seafood is rubber, and a rubbery siete mares is a dishonor to a dish that asked you to wake up early and go to the market.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 570g)