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Tabasco's chanchamitos are small round banana-leaf tamales, achiote-colored and filled with pork guiso, the kind sold warm in Villahermosa markets for breakfast, meriendas, and potluck tables.
Tabasco, in the lowlands of La Chontalpa and Centro around Villahermosa, Nacajuca, and Jalpa de Méndez, is where chanchamitos live. They are small round tamales, tied in hoja de plátano, sold in mercados as a botana or a quick breakfast. Not corn husk. Not a long northern tamal. A little green packet, heavy in the hand, stained orange inside from achiote.
The geography is in the ingredients. Banana leaves grow in that humid Tabasco heat, so they became the wrap. Achiote grows in the tropical south, so it colors the masa. Pork is cooked into a guiso with tomato, onion, garlic, naranja agria, and manteca de cerdo. La manteca es el sabor. The chile amashito, that tiny Tabasco chile people confuse with piquín, stays in the salsa on the table. It does not belong inside the chanchamito.
I learned this shape from a señora in the Villahermosa market who tied them faster than I could count. She did not flatten them into little rectangles. She cupped the masa around the pork, made a tight ball, folded the banana leaf, and tied it like she had been doing since childhood. The lesson was clear: the wrap is not decoration. It controls the cooking. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.
Chanchamitos belong to the wider Mesoamerican tamal tradition documented in 16th-century sources such as Sahagún's Florentine Codex, but their banana-leaf wrapping and achiote-stained masa place them firmly in the humid Maya south. In Tabasco, especially among Yokot'an or Chontal Maya communities, cooks distinguish chanchamitos from larger tamales such as maneas by their small round shape and tied packet form. Achiote, from the tropical American Bixa orellana plant, was used in Maya cooking before the conquest and remains one of the ingredients that marks the food of Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and Chiapas as its own southern conversation.
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
Quantity
6 cups
Quantity
1 medium
half for the broth, half finely chopped for the guiso
Quantity
5
3 whole for the broth, 2 finely chopped for the guiso
Quantity
1
Quantity
2 1/2 teaspoons, divided, plus more to taste
Quantity
5 tablespoons
divided
Quantity
2
finely chopped
Quantity
3 tablespoons
divided
Quantity
1/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon
divided
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
Quantity
2 pounds
for tamales or tortillas
Quantity
1 to 1 1/4 cups
divided
Quantity
4 large
wiped clean, softened over flame or comal, cut into 8-inch squares, with strips for tying
Quantity
12 to 16
stems removed, for salsa
Quantity
2
roasted, for salsa
Quantity
1 small
roasted, for salsa
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for salsa
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
for salsa
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| pork shouldercut into 1 1/2-inch chunks | 1 1/2 pounds |
| water | 6 cups |
| white onionhalf for the broth, half finely chopped for the guiso | 1 medium |
| garlic cloves3 whole for the broth, 2 finely chopped for the guiso | 5 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| kosher salt | 2 1/2 teaspoons, divided, plus more to taste |
| manteca de cerdodivided | 5 tablespoons |
| ripe Roma tomatoesfinely chopped | 2 |
| achiote pastedivided | 3 tablespoons |
| fresh naranja agria juicedivided | 1/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon |
| dried Mexican oregano | 1/2 teaspoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/4 teaspoon |
| fresh nixtamal masafor tamales or tortillas | 2 pounds |
| warm reserved pork brothdivided | 1 to 1 1/4 cups |
| hojas de plátanowiped clean, softened over flame or comal, cut into 8-inch squares, with strips for tying | 4 large |
| fresh chile amashitostems removed, for salsa | 12 to 16 |
| ripe Roma tomatoesroasted, for salsa | 2 |
| garlic cloveroasted, for salsa | 1 small |
| fresh naranja agria juicefor salsa | 2 tablespoons |
| kosher saltfor salsa | 1/2 teaspoon |
Put the pork shoulder in a heavy pot with the water, half the onion, 3 garlic cloves, bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and cook gently for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the pork pulls apart with a fork. Skim the first gray foam that rises. Save the broth. That broth is going into the masa, so do not throw flavor down the sink.
Lift the pork from the broth and shred it into small pieces. In a skillet, melt 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until soft, then add the chopped garlic and chopped Roma tomatoes. Cook until the tomato collapses and the fat turns orange-red. Dissolve 1 tablespoon achiote paste in 1/4 cup naranja agria juice and stir it into the skillet with 1/2 cup pork broth, the oregano, black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the shredded pork and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until juicy but not wet. A runny filling breaks the tamal open.
Wipe the hojas de plátano with a damp cloth. Pass each leaf quickly over a gas flame or hot comal until it turns deeper green, glossy, and flexible. Cut into 8-inch squares and tear narrow strips for tying. Hoja de plátano is the correct wrap here. Corn husk makes a different tamal. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
In a wide bowl, beat 3 tablespoons manteca de cerdo with your hand or a sturdy spoon until smooth. Work in the fresh nixtamal masa. Dissolve 2 tablespoons achiote paste in 1 tablespoon naranja agria juice and 1/2 cup warm pork broth, then knead it into the masa with 1 teaspoon salt. Add more warm pork broth a little at a time until the masa is soft, orange, and pliable, like wet clay that holds its shape. Achiote stains the masa. It is not there to make the tamal hot.
Lay one softened banana leaf square shiny side down. Put 2 heaping tablespoons masa in the center and pat it into a thick round. Make a shallow hollow with your fingers, add 1 tablespoon pork guiso, then close the masa around the filling so it becomes a small round ball. Fold the banana leaf around it snugly and tie with a strip of leaf. The shape should be small and round, not long like a northern tamal.
Set a tamalera or deep pot with a rack over simmering water. Line the rack with scraps of banana leaf. Arrange the tied chanchamitos in the pot, seam side down, leaving room for circulation. Cover with another banana leaf and the lid. Cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, checking the water level and adding hot water if needed. They are done when the masa pulls cleanly from the leaf and tastes fully cooked, not chalky.
While the chanchamitos cook, make the salsa. Crush the chile amashito with the salt in a molcajete. Add the roasted garlic and work it into a paste. Add the roasted tomatoes and crush until rough, then stir in the naranja agria juice. The chile amashito belongs here, in the salsa, not hidden inside the masa. It is tiny and serious. Respect it.
Turn off the heat and let the chanchamitos rest in the covered pot for 10 minutes. Open them at the table so the achiote-stained masa and pork filling show against the green leaf. Serve with the salsa de chile amashito on the side. No cheese. No sour cream. This is Tabasco, not a costume. Así se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 90g)
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