Chicharrón Prensado en Salsa de Chile de Árbol

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and roasting vegetables
• •High-powered blender
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy skillet
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile de árbol for 10 to 15 seconds, moving constantly, just until darker and fragrant. Toast the guajillos about 25 seconds per side. Do not walk away. Chile de árbol burns fast, and burned chile gives you a bitter salsa that no tomato can save.

   If a chile turns black instead of brick red, throw it out. No me vengas con atajos. Bitterness stays.
2. 2

   Soak the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with 1 cup hot water. Hot, not boiling. Let them soften for 15 minutes. The guajillo gives body and red color. The chile de árbol gives the bite. Together they make the salsa hold to the chicharrón instead of running off like red water.

3. 3

   Char the vegetables

   On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, the quarter onion, and the unpeeled garlic until the tomatoes blister and slump, the onion chars at the edges, and the garlic softens in its skin. Peel the garlic. Toast the cumin seeds for 20 seconds, just until aromatic. This is mercado cooking: one comal, many jobs, no drama.

4. 4

   Blend the salsa

   Blend the soaked chiles with their soaking water, roasted tomatoes, roasted onion, peeled garlic, toasted cumin, Mexican oregano, and salt until smooth. The salsa should be deep red-orange, sharp, and a little rough from the chile skins. Strain it only if your blender leaves big pieces. A little texture belongs here.

5. 5

   Fry the onion

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and cook until translucent and sweet, about 5 minutes. La manteca es el sabor. Oil will cook the onion, yes. It will not give the same round pork flavor that ties the salsa to the chicharrón.

6. 6

   Fry the salsa

   Pour the blended salsa into the hot manteca and onion. It will sputter, so use a wooden spoon and stand like you mean it. Add the bay leaf. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the salsa darkens, thickens, and small beads of red fat appear at the edges. That frying step wakes the chile. Skip it and the salsa tastes raw.

7. 7

   Simmer the chicharrón

   Add the chicharrón prensado and fold it through the salsa until every shard is coated. Add pork broth or water a few tablespoons at a time if the pan looks dry. Simmer 12 to 15 minutes, uncovered, until the chicharrón softens at the center but still keeps some chew at the edges. Taste for salt after it softens because chicharrón prensado is already salted.

8. 8

   Serve from cazuela

   Bring the cazuela to the table with warm corn tortillas or fresh tostadas, raw white onion, cilantro, and lime halves. Spoon the chicharrón onto a tortilla while the salsa still looks glossy and clings to the meat. This is a botana, not a plated little performance. Eat it with your hands. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chicharrón prensado from a carnicería or Mexican mercado that turns over product quickly. It should smell clean and porky, never stale. If the block looks gray and dry, leave it there.
• •Use chile de árbol from Jalisco if you can find it, especially Yahualica. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade. Other chile de árbol will work, but the flavor is often sharper and less rounded.
• •Do not add cheese, sour cream, or lettuce. That is not this dish. Raw white onion, cilantro, lime, tortillas, tostadas. Enough.
• •If your salsa gets too thick before the chicharrón softens, add pork broth two tablespoons at a time. Do not drown it. This should be a glossy guisado, not soup.
• •Chicharrón prensado is salty by nature. Salt the salsa lightly at first and adjust after the meat has simmered.

Advance Preparation

• •The salsa can be toasted, blended, and refrigerated one day ahead. Fry it in manteca and add the chicharrón the day you serve it.
• •The finished chicharrón keeps refrigerated for three days. Reheat gently in a cazuela with a splash of pork broth or water so the salsa loosens without turning greasy.
• •Do not freeze this dish. The fat separates badly and the chicharrón loses the chew that makes it worth eating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 225g)