Charicorundas con Chile Perón

Michoacán, the Meseta P'urhépecha above Uruapan and the lake towns around Pátzcuaro, is where charicorundas con chile perón live. Not in a generic tamal basket. In a cocina de humo, with hojas de maíz fresh from the plant, a comal de barro darkened by leña, and a clay plate from Capula or Patamban waiting on the table.

Charicorunda is the smaller, hotter cousin of the corunda. Corunda is triangular and plain, or sometimes with cheese. Charicorunda takes chile perón into the masa itself. Jahuácata is layered masa and bean for Candelaria. Chápata is the sweet piloncillo and bean tamal. Tsïkanarhikata belongs to the Meseta and too many outsiders forgot its name. Nacatamal is the Day of the Dead offering in Angahuan. Toquera works with maíz nuevo. The tamal family is not one dish. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and inside Michoacán, cada pueblo también.

The chile perón is the authority here. In some markets they call it chile manzano. Look for the black seeds. That is how you know you have the right chile, thick-fleshed, fruity, hot, stubborn. You roast it, chop it, fold it into masa nixtamalizada beaten with manteca de cerdo. Never shortening. La manteca es el sabor. The wrapper must be hoja de maíz fresca de la planta, not dried corn husk. The fresh leaf gives the packet its green smell and its tight triangular fold.

My mother did not write this one in her Jalisco notebook. I learned it from cocineras tradicionales in Uruapan and near Pátzcuaro, women who work faster with one hand than most cooks work with two. They serve these with crema, queso Cotija, salsa de chile perón, and charales from the lake when the market has them. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.