Conejo al Pulque Queretano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 12-inch clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and warming tortillas
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the rabbit

   Pat the rabbit dry and season it with the salt and pepper. Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while you work on the chiles. Rabbit is lean. If you put it into the cazuela wet and cold, it will tighten before it browns.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho and chile guajillo separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skins darken slightly and smell sweet. Do not blacken them. Ancho gives depth and fruit. Guajillo gives clean red color. Burn either one and the pulque will carry that bitterness through the whole guiso.

   The guajillo is thinner than the ancho. Watch it closely. A chile that turns brittle and black belongs in the trash, not in your stew.
3. 3

   Soak and blend

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 20 minutes. Drain them and blend with the roasted tomatoes, 3 whole garlic cloves, the chilcuague if using, and 1 cup of the pulque. Blend until completely smooth. Strain through a fine sieve. Chilcuague gives a small electric bite from the Sierra Gorda, not heat like a chile. Use a little. This is seasoning, not a dare.

4. 4

   Brown the rabbit

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown the rabbit pieces in batches until golden on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Do not crowd the pot. La manteca es el sabor, and with rabbit it also protects the meat from drying out.

5. 5

   Cook the onion

   Lower the heat to medium-low. Add the sliced onion to the fat left in the cazuela and cook until soft and lightly golden, about 8 minutes. Add the 2 minced garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute. Scrape the browned bits from the bottom. That is rabbit flavor. Do not leave it stuck to the pot.

6. 6

   Fry the sauce

   Pour the strained chile puree into the cazuela. It will sputter. Stir steadily for 6 to 8 minutes, until the sauce darkens, thickens, and the fat begins to shine at the edges. This frying step is what makes the sauce taste cooked instead of raw. No me vengas con atajos.

7. 7

   Simmer in pulque

   Return the rabbit to the cazuela. Add the remaining 1 cup pulque, the stock, bay leaf, thyme, oregano, canela, piloncillo, and diced xoconostle. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover mostly, and cook 55 to 70 minutes, turning the rabbit once, until the meat is tender but still attached to the bone. Pulque is pulque. Beer will make a different stew.

8. 8

   Adjust the sauce

   Uncover the cazuela and simmer 10 to 15 minutes more, until the sauce coats a spoon and the xoconostle has softened into sharp little pieces. Taste for salt. The sauce should be earthy from the pulque, rounded by ancho, red from guajillo, and lightly acidic from the xoconostle. Not all Mexican food is hot. This guiso is deep, sour, and savory.

9. 9

   Serve from cazuela

   Remove the bay leaf, thyme stems, oregano stem, and canela. Serve the rabbit in the cazuela with a little chopped cilantro and crumbled queso ranchero if you like the Bajío table that way. Put warm corn tortillas in a cloth-lined chiquihuite beside it. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Buy rabbit from a butcher who sells it whole and fresh, not freezer-burned pieces in a supermarket bag. In Querétaro's Mercado de La Cruz, you ask early. Good rabbit sells before noon.
• •Fresh pulque should smell pleasantly sour, yeasty, and green, never rotten. If you cannot find real pulque, do not pretend beer is the same thing. Use light stock and a spoonful of good vinegar and call it conejo guisado, not conejo al pulque.
• •Xoconostle is not tuna roja. Xoconostle is sour prickly pear, firmer and sharper. It cuts the richness of the lard and the earthiness of the pulque. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •Chilcuague is powerful. The cooks of Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, and the Sierra Gorda use it for a tingling bite that has nothing to do with chile heat. Use a small piece or leave it out. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Serve this with corn tortillas, not flour tortillas. This part of Querétaro eats from the comal and the cazuela. No cheddar, no sour cream, no lettuce. Así se hace y punto.

Advance Preparation

• •The chile puree can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Fry it in manteca only when you are ready to cook the rabbit.
• •The finished stew is better after resting 30 minutes off the heat. For a dinner party, cook it earlier in the day and reheat gently in the cazuela.
• •Leftovers keep refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat slowly with a splash of stock or pulque so the lean rabbit does not tighten.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 350g)