Churipo Mixto P'urhépecha

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot or deep clay cazuela
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Vaporera or tamalera with rack for corundas
• •Green-glazed barro bowls from Capula or Tzintzuntzan for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the beef

   Place the beef shank and short ribs in a heavy 8-quart pot or deep clay cazuela. Cover with the cold water by three inches. Add half the onion, the halved head of garlic, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a slow simmer over medium heat and skim the gray foam during the first 20 minutes. Do not boil it hard. Churipo needs a clear, strong broth, not a cloudy pot of punished meat.

2. 2

   Add the chicken

   After the beef has simmered for 1 hour and 30 minutes, add the chicken pieces. Keep the broth at a gentle simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Lift the chicken into a bowl and cover it. Let the beef continue cooking until it yields easily when pierced, usually 30 to 45 minutes more. Mixto means you respect both meats. Chicken left in the pot for three hours turns dry and stringy. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Soften the leaves

   While the broth works, rinse the fresh carrizo leaves well. Pass them briefly over a warm comal or dip them in hot water until they bend without cracking. Use leaves sold for food, clean and unsprayed. Roadside reeds are not an ingredient. Tear a few narrow strips for tying if your leaves need help holding their shape.

4. 4

   Beat the masa

   Beat the 3/4 cup lard in a large bowl until light and spreadable. Add the fresh nixtamalized masa, salt, and baking powder. Work in 3/4 cup warm broth or water with your hand until the masa feels like soft clay, moist but not loose. If it cracks when pressed, add more liquid a tablespoon at a time. La manteca es el sabor, and in corundas it is also the texture.

5. 5

   Fold the corundas

   Lay one softened carrizo leaf flat. Put 2 generous tablespoons of masa near one end and fold the leaf around it into a tight triangle, turning the packet over itself until the masa is enclosed. The shape matters. Corundas are not square tamales wearing a Michoacán name. Repeat with the remaining masa and leaves.

6. 6

   Steam the corundas

   Arrange the corundas upright in a vaporera or tamalera lined with extra leaves. Cook over steady medium heat for 60 to 70 minutes, adding water to the bottom if needed. They are done when the masa pulls away from the leaf and feels set at the center. Rest them 10 minutes before serving so the masa finishes firming. Churipo is always served with corundas, never alone.

7. 7

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo chiles a few at a time, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until they darken slightly and smell fruity. Toast the ancho chiles separately because they are thicker and sweeter. Do not blacken them. Burned chile gives bitterness, and bitterness does not become tradition just because you were distracted.

   Good guajillo bends before it breaks and has a clean raisin-red smell. If your chiles are dusty, brittle, and smell like cardboard, your broth will taste the same. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
8. 8

   Soak and blend

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover them with hot water, not boiling water. Soak for 20 minutes. On the same comal, char the tomatoes, the remaining onion half, and the 2 peeled garlic cloves until blistered in spots. Drain the chiles and blend them with the charred tomatoes, onion, garlic, and 1 cup of broth from the pot until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. The skins stay in the strainer. The flavor goes into the pot.

9. 9

   Fry the chile

   Melt the 2 tablespoons lard in a deep skillet over medium heat. Pour in the strained chile puree carefully. It will sputter. Stir for 6 to 8 minutes, until the color changes from bright red to brick red and the fat begins to separate at the edges. This is where the guajillo stops tasting raw and starts tasting like churipo. Así se hace y punto.

10. 10

    Build the stew

    Remove the spent onion, garlic head, and bay leaves from the beef broth. Stir the fried chile base into the pot. Add the xoconostle, corn, carrots, and chayotes. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add the green beans, cabbage wedges, and calabacitas. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes more, until the vegetables are tender but still hold their shape. The vegetables come from the milpa logic of the region: corn, squash, greens, sour fruit, what the land gives in season.

11. 11

    Return the meats

    Return the chicken to the pot with any juices in the bowl. Add the tied cilantro stems and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Taste for salt. The broth should be red, meaty, lightly sour from the xoconostle, and deep from the guajillo. Remove the cilantro stems before serving. If the broth tastes thin, simmer it uncovered for a few more minutes. If it tastes dull, it needs salt, not another chile.

12. 12

    Serve with corundas

    Ladle the churipo into deep green-glazed barro bowls, giving each person beef, chicken, vegetables, and plenty of red broth. Scatter a little chopped cilantro over the top. Set the corundas beside the bowls in their leaves, or unwrap one and let it drink the broth at the table. A Pátzcuaro wedding pot without corundas is unfinished. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Churipo without corundas is not churipo ready for the table. Do not replace them with flour tortillas. Flour tortillas have their northern place, but this table is Michoacán.
• •The guajillo is the backbone. Buy chiles that are flexible, shiny, and smell like dried fruit. Chile powder from a jar will not give you the same color or body. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Xoconostle gives sourness without turning the broth into lime soup. If the market has none, leave it out and understand what you are missing. Do not dump vinegar into the pot.
• •If a P'urhépecha family from the Meseta gives you nurite for their version, use nurite and nothing else. Do not replace it with mint, oregano, or whatever the supermarket wants to sell you. In this Pátzcuaro version, cilantro is the herb and guajillo is the authority.
• •Use bone-in meats. Boneless beef and skinless chicken make a weak broth. The bones, skin, and connective tissue are not waste. They are structure.

Advance Preparation

• •The beef broth can be made one day ahead. Chill it, lift off only the excess hardened fat, and keep a little fat for flavor. A completely stripped broth tastes thin.
• •The chile puree can be toasted, blended, strained, and refrigerated one day ahead. Fry it in lard before adding it to the broth.
• •Corundas can be made one day ahead and reheated in the vaporera for 15 to 20 minutes. They should return to the table wrapped and tender, not dry.
• •If making the churipo ahead, stop before adding the cabbage and calabacitas. Add those on serving day so they don't collapse into the broth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 950g)