Highland Venison Churipo (Churipo de Venado)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart clay cazuela from Capula or a heavy stockpot
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and softening carrizo leaves
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Tamalera or large steamer for corundas
• •Deep green-glazed Michoacán clay bowls for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the venison

   Put the venison pieces and bones in a heavy 8-quart pot or a deep clay cazuela. Cover with the cold water. Add the onion, garlic, and salt. Bring it slowly to a simmer over medium heat, then lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. Venison is lean and highland-tough. A hard boil tightens it and gives you dry meat in a cloudy broth.

2. 2

   Skim the broth

   For the first 20 minutes, skim the gray foam that rises. Do it with patience. After that, cover the pot halfway and simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is almost tender but not falling apart. Add hot water if the liquid drops below the meat. The broth should taste clean, mineral, and meaty before the chile ever touches it.

3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo, ancho, and pasilla michoacano separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. The skins should puff and smell deep, not burned. Roast the tomatoes on the same comal until the skins blister and blacken in spots. The guajillo gives the red color. The ancho gives body. The pasilla brings the darker highland note.

   Burned chile turns bitter. If one blackens hard, throw it out. No me vengas con atajos. You cannot hide burned chile under more salt.
4. 4

   Blend the chile

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water, not boiling water. Let them soften for 20 minutes. Drain them, then blend with the roasted tomatoes, the cooked garlic from the broth, and 1 1/2 cups of venison broth until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing hard on the solids. Churipo broth should be red and clean, not full of chile skins.

5. 5

   Fry the chile

   Melt the 2 tablespoons of manteca de cerdo in a cazuela or skillet over medium heat. Pour in the strained chile puree. It will sputter. Stir for 8 to 10 minutes, until the color darkens from bright red to brick red and the fat begins to show around the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Frying the chile wakes it up before it joins the broth.

6. 6

   Mix the corundas

   While the venison simmers, beat the 1 cup manteca de cerdo until soft and lighter in color. Work in the fresh nixtamal masa, strained tequesquite, salt, and enough warm broth or warm water to make a soft masa that spreads without cracking. It should feel supple, not wet. Fresh masa from a tortillería is what you want. Masa harina will feed people, but it is a compromise.

7. 7

   Wrap the corundas

   Pass the carrizo leaves quickly over a warm comal so they bend without tearing. Put a small mound of masa in the center of each leaf and fold into a tight triangle, tucking the ends so the masa is enclosed. Corundas are not little rectangular tamales. Their triangular shape belongs to Michoacán. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

8. 8

   Steam the corundas

   Line a tamalera or large steamer with extra carrizo leaves. Arrange the corundas in layers, leaving room for circulation. Cover and steam for 55 to 65 minutes, until the masa pulls cleanly from the leaf and smells like cooked corn and lard. Rest them 10 minutes before serving. A churipo table without corundas is not finished.

9. 9

   Add the vegetables

   When the venison is almost tender, stir the fried chile base into the broth. Add the xoconostles, corn, carrots, potatoes, and chayotes. Simmer 20 minutes. Add the green beans, calabacitas, and cabbage wedges, then simmer 15 to 20 minutes more. The vegetables should hold their shape. This is a ceremonial caldo, not baby food.

10. 10

    Finish with nurite

    Add the sprig of nurite during the last 10 minutes only. Taste for salt. The broth should be savory, red from guajillo, lightly sour from xoconostle, and clean enough that you can taste the venison. Nurite is not mint, not oregano, not epazote. It is nurite, from the Meseta, and you substitute nothing for it.

    If you cannot source nurite, leave it out and know what you are missing. Do not replace it with another herb and pretend the flavor is the same.
11. 11

    Serve correctly

    Ladle venison, vegetables, and red broth into deep bowls. Set two or three warm corundas beside each bowl, still wrapped or partly unwrapped in the carrizo leaves. The diner tears pieces of corunda and eats them with the broth. Churipo is always served with corundas, never alone. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Use legally sourced venison from shoulder, neck, or shank. Backstrap is too lean and too fine for this pot. Save it for the comal. Churipo needs bone, connective tissue, and time.
• •Buy guajillo chiles that bend. If they crack like dry leaves, they are old and will give you color without life. At Mercado Independencia in Morelia, the chile vendors know the difference. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •Nurite is endemic to the Meseta P'urhépecha and it is medicinal in the kitchen, not decorative. Do not replace it with mint, oregano, cilantro, or epazote. If you cannot find nurite, omit it and call the pot a compromise.
• •Fresh nixtamal masa makes better corundas than masa harina. If masa harina is all you can get, hydrate it well and let it rest 30 minutes before mixing with the lard. It works, but fresh masa tastes like corn instead of a package.
• •Xoconostle should be firm, sour, and pale green to pink inside. Do not use sweet tuna fruit and do not pour vinegar into the broth. If xoconostle is out of season, leave it out.
• •Do not serve this with flour tortillas. Flour tortillas have their place in the north. This is Michoacán's highland table, and the partner is corunda. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Advance Preparation

• •The venison broth can be made one day ahead. Chill the meat in the broth so it stays moist, then reheat gently before adding the fried chile base and vegetables.
• •The chile puree can be toasted, blended, strained, and refrigerated up to two days ahead. Fry it in manteca on the day you finish the churipo.
• •Corundas can be steamed one day ahead. Reheat them in the tamalera for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Do not microwave them dry unless you want hard masa and disappointment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 820g)