Caldo de Tichinda de Chacahua

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large clay pot or heavy enamel pot for the caldo
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles
• •Blender
• •Fine-mesh sieve lined with clean cloth for straining broth
• •Stiff brush for scrubbing mussel shells

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean and purge the tichindas

   Tichindas come from mangrove mud. They need serious cleaning. Scrub the shells under cold running water with a stiff brush, knocking off any barnacles or debris. Discard any with cracked shells or shells that stay open when tapped. Soak the cleaned mussels in a bowl of cold salted water for twenty minutes, then drain and rinse again. The soaking draws out sand and grit. Do not skip this. One gritty mussel will ruin the whole pot.

   If you are working with regular mussels as a substitute, debeard them by pulling the fibrous threads toward the hinge of the shell. Tichindas are too small to debeard, which is one of many reasons cleaning them takes patience.
2. 2

   Cook the mussels open

   Place the cleaned tichindas in a large pot with the six cups of water. Bring to a medium simmer. The shells will begin to open within five to eight minutes. As they open, the mussels release their liquor into the water, and this is your broth. It should taste like the lagoon: saline, mineral, alive. Once the shells are open, remove the pot from the heat. Lift the mussels out with a slotted spoon and set them aside in a bowl. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve lined with a clean cloth or paper towel to catch any sand. Reserve every drop of this broth. It is the foundation of the caldo.

   Discard any mussels that did not open during cooking. A mussel that stays shut was dead before it hit the water and is not safe to eat.
3. 3

   Toast the chile costeño

   Heat a dry comal or cast iron skillet over medium. Toast the chile costeño about 20 seconds per side, pressing each one flat against the comal with a spatula. They are thin and small and they burn fast. You want them to puff, darken slightly, and turn fragrant. The kitchen should smell sharp and warm, with a hit of smoke. The second they start to blacken, pull them off. Burned chile costeño is bitter and there is no coming back from it. Place the toasted chiles in a small bowl, cover with hot tap water, and let them soften for fifteen minutes.

   Chile costeño is hotter than guajillo and thinner than arbol. It is the workhorse chile of Oaxaca's entire Pacific coast. If you cannot source it, a mix of chile de arbol and guajillo in equal parts will approximate the heat and the color, but the flavor will not be the same. The costeño has a fruitier, more acidic bite.
4. 4

   Blend the chile paste

   Drain the soaked chiles and transfer them to a blender with the garlic, chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, and half a cup of the strained tichinda broth. Blend until smooth. Do not strain this. The body of the chile skin is part of the texture of the caldo. You want a red-brown paste that smells sharp and bright.

5. 5

   Dissolve the masa

   In a separate bowl, break the fresh masa into small pieces and dissolve it into one cup of the strained tichinda broth, working it with your fingers until there are no lumps. If you are using masa harina, whisk the powder into one cup of broth until smooth. This slurry will thicken the caldo into something with real body, closer to a chowder than a thin soup. The masa is what makes this a meal, not a starter.

   The consistency of the dissolved masa should be like thin atole before it goes into the pot. If it feels too thick, add a little more broth. Too thin is better than lumpy. You can always add more, but lumps of raw masa floating in the caldo cannot be fixed.
6. 6

   Build the caldo

   In a large clay pot or heavy enamel pot, heat the tablespoon of manteca over medium. When the lard shimmers, pour in the blended chile paste. It will sputter. Fry it for three to four minutes, stirring constantly, until the paste darkens a shade and the fat begins to separate at the edges. This step concentrates the chile flavor. Pour in the remaining strained tichinda broth and bring it to a gentle simmer. Then slowly pour in the dissolved masa, stirring as you go to prevent lumps. The broth will begin to thicken within a few minutes. Let it simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until the caldo has the consistency of a thick soup that coats the back of a spoon.

7. 7

   Return the tichindas and finish with pitiona

   Add the cooked tichindas back to the pot, shells and all. They warm through in two minutes. Add the epazote sprig and the pitiona sprigs. Let them steep in the simmering caldo for no more than three minutes. Pitiona releases its perfume fast. It smells like a cross between oregano and citrus, and it is unmistakable. Leave the herbs in too long and they turn the broth bitter. Pull them out after three minutes. Taste the caldo for salt. The mussel broth brings its own salinity, so add salt carefully, a half teaspoon at a time.

   Pitiona is a wild herb of the Costa Chica. You will not find it in most markets, even in Oaxaca City. If you are outside Mexico, fresh lemon verbena is the closest substitute. It will give you the citrus note but not the earthy depth. Accept the compromise. It is still a good caldo.
8. 8

   Serve in deep bowls

   Ladle the caldo into deep clay bowls or gourd jicaras, making sure each serving gets a generous pile of tichindas with their shells. Set lime halves alongside. The lime goes in at the table, squeezed by the person eating. Serve with a stack of warm corn tortillas. You eat the mussels with your hands, pulling them from the shells, and you use the tortilla to soak up the masa-thickened broth. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Tichindas (Mytella strigata) are harvested from the mangrove roots of Oaxaca's coastal lagoons and are not commercially distributed outside the region. If you live outside the Costa Chica, the closest substitute is the smallest live mussels you can find at a good fishmonger. Prince Edward Island mussels or Mediterranean mussels will work for technique, but the flavor will be milder, less mineral, less wild. You are making a version of the caldo, not the caldo itself. That is the truth.
• •Chile costeño is available from Oaxacan specialty vendors online. Look for the red variety (costeño rojo) dried whole, not ground. If you cannot find it, use three dried chiles de arbol and two dried guajillo together to approximate the heat and color. The flavor will be in the neighborhood but not at the address.
• •La manteca es el sabor. The tablespoon of lard for frying the chile paste is not optional. It carries the chile flavor into the broth in a way that vegetable oil does not. If your only objection to lard is fear, get over it. One tablespoon divided among six bowls of caldo is less fat than the dressing on your salad.
• •Do not make this caldo ahead. Mussels tighten and turn rubbery when reheated. Cook it, serve it, eat it. The broth can sit on a low flame while people come to the table, but it should not see the inside of a refrigerator.

Advance Preparation

• •The chile paste (step 4) can be blended up to one day ahead and refrigerated in a sealed container. Bring it to room temperature before frying.
• •The mussels must be cooked and served the same day they are purchased or harvested. There is no making this dish ahead. The tichindas do not wait.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 370g)