Caldo Michi de Pátzcuaro

Michoacán, the ribera of Lake Pátzcuaro, is where this version of caldo michi belongs. Not Chapala. Chapala has its own pot, often with bagre, and I won't steal its name or its fish. Pátzcuaro's broth is made with pescado blanco, kurucha urapiti, when the lake and the law allow it, or with charal from the lago. The fish is delicate, clean, and quick to surrender in the cazuela.

The base is jitomate guaje, chile perón verde, white onion, cilantro, and nurite from the Meseta P'urhépecha. Nurite is not mint, not oregano, not epazote. It is its own medicinal herb. Substitute nothing for it. If you cannot find it, say you are missing it and cook anyway, but don't pretend another herb is the same.

I learned this version from cocineras tradicionales around Tzintzuntzan and San Andrés Tziróndaro, women who make the broth before the household is fully awake, with a Capula cazuela on the fire and tortillas folded in a servilleta. They do not boil the fish into rags. They build the tomato, keep the broth clear, and let the fish finish gently. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.

Do not bring Chapala habits here. No bagre. No heavy cabbage pot. No flour tortillas. This is a ribereño Cuaresma soup from Michoacán, set on the table in barro vidriado with lime and warm corn tortillas. Cada estado, su propia cocina.