Cebollas Tatemadas para el Comal

This is a Oaxacan dish. Specifically from the Valles Centrales, where the comal is the center of the kitchen and tatemado, charred over direct heat, is not a cooking method, it is a seasoning. You see these onions on the comales at Tlacolula market on Sunday morning, blackening alongside the chiles, the tomatillos, and the strips of tasajo waiting for a customer to point.

Tatemar means to char until the surface blackens and the inside turns sweet. The skin protects the flesh, the heat caramelizes the sugars, and what comes off the comal is an onion you cannot get any other way. Boil it, and it goes flat. Saute it, and it browns but never deepens. Roast it in an oven, and you lose the smoke. The comal is the recipe.

My mother used to do this when meat was thin on the table. A pile of charred onions, fresh tortillas, sea salt, lime, and beans was a meal in Jalisco too. She told me a Oaxacan compadre showed her how to do it on the comal instead of on the stove burner directly, and she never went back. Saber cocinar es saber vivir, and knowing how to make a side dish from one ingredient and a hot piece of iron is the kind of knowledge a cook never loses.