Charales del Lerma Fritos

Guanajuato, the Lerma basin, Lake Yuriria, the river towns near Salamanca and Acambaro: this is where charales belong. People say the Bajio is landlocked as if that means fishless. No. The Lerma and its lagoons have fed families with tiny freshwater fish for generations, especially when meat was expensive and the market still had baskets of silver fish from the morning catch.

Charales are not fillets. They are small lake fish, eaten whole, bones and all, after they are dried well and fried hard enough to turn crisp from head to tail. The women who sell them near the markets know the work: rinse gently, spread them on cloth, let the surface dry, fry in small batches, season while hot. If you crowd the pot or leave water on the fish, they go limp. No me vengas con atajos.

The flavor here is lake, corn, lime, and chile piquin. The salsa verde is tomatillo and chile serrano roasted on the comal, not a sweet green sauce from a jar. Serve the charales on a Guanajuato talavera platter or a barro plate from Apaseo el Alto, with tortillas in a chiquihuite and lime halves on the table. Cada estado, su propia cocina. This is the Bajio telling you it knows its own water.