Cecina Enchilada Oaxaqueña

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy griddle
• •High-powered blender
• •Long, very sharp carving knife
• •Wooden dowel or wire rack for hanging
• •Sheet pan for catching drips

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chiles and garlic

   Heat a dry comal or cast iron skillet over medium. Toast the guajillo and ancho chiles one or two at a time, pressing them flat against the surface with a spatula for about 20 seconds per side. They should puff, blister lightly, and release that deep toasted-earth smell that tells you the oils are moving. Do not blacken them. A blackened chile turns bitter and your paste is ruined before you start. Drop the toasted chiles into a bowl and cover with hot tap water. Not boiling. Hot. Let them soak for 15 minutes. While they soak, toss the unpeeled garlic cloves onto the same comal and let them char on all sides, about 8 minutes total, turning with tongs. The skins will blacken and the flesh inside will turn soft and sweet. Peel when cool enough to handle.

   The ancho is thicker and more forgiving. The guajillo is thinner and burns faster. Toast them separately and watch the guajilloclosely. You will know the difference the moment you smell it turn acrid.
2. 2

   Build the chile paste

   Drain the chiles, reserving about a quarter cup of the soaking liquid. In a dry skillet, toast the cumin seeds and black peppercorns over medium heat for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Combine the drained chiles, roasted garlic, toasted cumin and peppercorns, vinegar, salt, oregano, and asiento in a blender. Add just enough soaking liquid to get the blades moving, two tablespoons at a time. Blend into a thick, smooth paste. You want the consistency of tomato paste, not salsa. If it pours easily, it is too thin and will slide off the meat. Taste it. It should be assertive: salty, deeply chile-forward, with a vinegar edge that will mellow overnight. Adjust the salt now. Asi se hace y punto.

   Asiento is the dark sediment left at the bottom of the pot when manteca de cerdo is rendered. In Oaxaca, it is sold in the markets by the spoonful. It adds a smoky, porky depth that clean lard does not have. If you cannot find asiento, use manteca de cerdo. It is a compromise, not an upgrade.
3. 3

   Cut the pork into sheets

   This is the step that separates the cooks from the people who read about cooking. Place the pork leg on a cutting board with the grain running left to right. With a long, very sharp knife, begin slicing from one end in a continuous lateral cut, working across the grain, keeping the thickness even at about an eighth of an inch. You are unrolling the meat like a scroll, opening it into one large thin sheet. If it tears, do not panic. Patch it with the paste. The goal is a sheet roughly the size of a large baking sheet, thin enough that you can almost see your hand through it. If you cannot manage the spiral cut, slice the pork into individual sheets a quarter inch thick. It will still work, but the traditional single-sheet method gives you the best surface-to-cure ratio and the most dramatic presentation on the comal.

   Freeze the pork for 30 to 45 minutes before cutting. It firms the meat enough that your knife glides through without tearing. The señoras in the market do not need this trick because they have been cutting cecina since they were fourteen. You are not them yet.
4. 4

   Rub and coat the meat

   Lay the pork sheet flat on a clean work surface. Using your hands, spread the chile paste across the entire surface in a thin, even layer. Do not be timid. You want full coverage, every square inch coated. Flip the sheet and coat the other side. The paste should cling to the meat without dripping. If you sliced individual sheets, coat each one on both sides. The smell at this point will be extraordinary: toasted guajillo, roasted garlic, pork fat, vinegar. That is the smell of a Oaxacan kitchen getting ready for tomorrow's breakfast.

5. 5

   Hang and cure overnight

   Drape the coated pork sheet over a clean wooden dowel, a clothesline, or a wire rack set inside a sheet pan if you do not have a place to hang it. The meat needs air circulation on all sides. If hanging, place a sheet pan underneath to catch any drips. Leave it uncovered in a cool, dry place overnight, at least 10 hours and up to 14. A cool kitchen, a covered porch, a garage in winter. If your kitchen is warm or humid, use the refrigerator with the meat on a rack set over a pan, uncovered. The air dries the surface and concentrates the chile and salt into a crust. By morning, the outside should feel tacky and slightly stiff, not wet. That is the cure working.

   In Oaxaca, the cecina hangs in the open air of the market or the backyard. The dry climate of the Valles Centrales is ideal. If you live somewhere humid, the refrigerator method is not a shortcut. It is a necessity.
6. 6

   Grill on the comal

   Heat a large comal, cast iron griddle, or heavy skillet over high heat until a drop of water evaporates on contact. If you have a charcoal grill, even better. Lay the cecina flat on the hot surface. Do not move it. Let it cook for two to three minutes on the first side. The chile paste will darken, the edges will char and curl, and the fat in the meat will start to render and sizzle against the comal. Flip once. Cook for another two minutes on the second side. The meat is thin. It cooks fast. Overcooking is the only way to ruin it now. You want char at the edges and a slight chew at the center, not jerky.

   If you cut individual sheets instead of one large piece, cook them in batches. Do not crowd the comal. Crowding drops the temperature and the meat steams instead of searing. Steamed cecina is sad cecina.
7. 7

   Cut and serve

   Transfer the cecina to a cutting board and slice it into strips with kitchen shears or a sharp knife. Pile it onto a warm plate alongside memelas or hand-pressed corn tortillas, a scoop of black beans, strips of quesillo, grilled nopales, and a bowl of salsa de pasilla oaxaqueño. Set the lime wedges and radishes on the side. This is a Oaxacan breakfast plate: generous, direct, and complete. Everything on the plate belongs together because the same region produced all of it. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the pork leg from a carniceria, not a supermarket. Ask for a solid piece with some exterior fat still on it. The fat renders on the comal and bastes the meat as it cooks. A trimmed, vacuum-sealed pork loin from a chain store will give you a dry, disappointing cecina. The cut matters.
• •The chile paste should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon without running. If your blender made it too thin, cook it down in a skillet with a little asiento for three or four minutes, stirring constantly, until it tightens. This is not a salsa. It is a rub.
• •If you cannot find asiento, ask at a Mexican market for the dark sediment at the bottom of the manteca container. They know what you mean. If that fails, use fresh manteca de cerdo. La manteca es el sabor. Do not use vegetable oil. The pork fat is part of the flavor architecture of this dish.
• •Cecina enchilada keeps for three to four days in the refrigerator after curing, wrapped loosely in butcher paper. It actually improves for the first two days as the chile penetrates deeper into the meat. This is a make-ahead food by design. The señoras in the market cure it in batches and grill it to order all week.

Advance Preparation

• •The chile paste can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated in a sealed container. It thickens as it sits, which is fine. Bring it to room temperature before rubbing the meat.
• •The cured, uncooked cecina keeps in the refrigerator for up to four days wrapped loosely in butcher paper. It does not freeze well because the texture of the thin-cut pork suffers and the chile crust becomes soggy on thawing.
• •Grill only what you plan to eat. The comal step takes three minutes per batch. Cook it fresh each morning and the rest of the week's supply stays in the refrigerator, curing further.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 115g)