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Tabasco's river-lowland empanadas: smoke-roasted pejelagarto pulled from its armored skin, folded into corn masa with tomato recado, then fried in manteca de cerdo until the shell turns crisp.
Tabasco's Grijalva lowlands own this dish. Villahermosa, the Chontalpa, the river towns where pejelagarto is not a novelty fish but supper, market food, and family food. You see it roasted whole, armored skin blackened, jaws still showing why the name means fish-lizard. That is where these empanadas begin.
The filling is not complicated, but it is exact: smoke-roasted pejelagarto pulled from the bone, onion, garlic, jitomate, chile dulce tabasqueño, epazote, and a little naranja agria. The chile amashito stays in the salsa. I am saying this because people love throwing every chile into everything and calling it regional. No. In Tabasco, that tiny red chile sits at the table and bites when you ask it to.
I learned this version from a señora near the Mercado José María Pino Suárez who pressed the masa thicker than a tortilla and fried the empanadas in manteca de cerdo without blinking. She told me, 'If the shell is thin, it breaks. If the lard is weak, it tastes poor.' She was right. My mother was from Jalisco, so pejelagarto was not in her notebook, but she would have understood the rule: the ingredient tells you the method. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Pejelagarto has been part of the Grijalva-Usumacinta river basin diet since before the Spanish conquest, especially among Chontal Maya communities who cooked river fish over wood fires and on raised racks. The name combines 'pez' and 'lagarto,' a Spanish description of the fish's long snout and armored body, but the cooking practice is older than the name. By the 20th century, roasted pejelagarto had become one of Tabasco's strongest market signatures, sold whole in Villahermosa and turned into tamales, empanadas, and guisos in home kitchens.
Quantity
1, about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds
gutted and rinsed
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, divided
Quantity
3 cups
Quantity
2 tablespoons
room temperature
Quantity
1/4 to 1/2 cup
as needed for the masa
Quantity
3 cups
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
Quantity
1
finely chopped
Quantity
3
finely chopped
Quantity
3
finely chopped
Quantity
6
finely chopped
Quantity
2 tablespoons
or 1 tablespoon lime juice mixed with 1 tablespoon orange juice
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
20
stemmed, for the salsa
Quantity
1
for the salsa
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
for the salsa
Quantity
1/4 cup
for the salsa
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole pejelagartogutted and rinsed | 1, about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds |
| fine sea salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, divided |
| fresh nixtamalized white corn masa | 3 cups |
| manteca de cerdo, for the masaroom temperature | 2 tablespoons |
| warm wateras needed for the masa | 1/4 to 1/2 cup |
| manteca de cerdo, for frying | 3 cups |
| manteca de cerdo, for the filling | 2 tablespoons |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| chile dulce tabasqueño or small sweet green pepperfinely chopped | 1 |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 3 |
| ripe jitomates guajefinely chopped | 3 |
| fresh epazote leavesfinely chopped | 6 |
| fresh naranja agria juiceor 1 tablespoon lime juice mixed with 1 tablespoon orange juice | 2 tablespoons |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| fresh or dried chile amashitostemmed, for the salsa | 20 |
| garlic clovefor the salsa | 1 |
| coarse sea saltfor the salsa | 1/2 teaspoon |
| fresh naranja agria juicefor the salsa | 1/4 cup |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
Prepare a charcoal grill, a tapesco, or a heavy comal over medium heat. Rub the whole pejelagarto with 1 teaspoon fine sea salt and lay it directly over the heat. Roast 18 to 25 minutes per side, turning carefully, until the armored skin blackens in patches and the flesh near the backbone flakes when tested with a knife. Do not fillet it first. The thick skin protects the meat and gives you the flavor Tabasco cooks want.
Let the pejelagarto cool until you can handle it. Open the skin and pull the white meat away from the bones with your fingers. Work slowly and feel for fine bones. Discard the skin, head, and bones. You should have about 2 cups of roasted fish. This is not canned tuna in a costume. If the fish was not roasted whole first, the filling will taste thin.
Melt 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and chile dulce tabasqueño and cook until the onion turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the chopped jitomates and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the tomato loses its raw edge and the mixture thickens. The filling must be moist, not wet, or it will tear the masa.
Fold the pulled pejelagarto into the tomato recado. Add the epazote, black pepper, remaining 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, and 2 tablespoons naranja agria juice. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, just until the fish absorbs the tomato and the pan looks glossy, not soupy. Spread the filling on a plate and cool completely. Hot filling breaks empanadas. No me vengas con atajos.
In a molcajete, grind the garlic clove with the coarse sea salt until it becomes a paste. Add the chile amashito and crush it roughly. Stir in the naranja agria juice. The chile amashito belongs here, in the salsa on the table, not hidden inside the fish filling. That tiny Tabasco chile has a clean bite and it should announce itself.
Put the fresh masa in a bowl. Knead in 2 tablespoons room-temperature manteca de cerdo and enough warm water to make a soft dough that does not crack when pressed. It should feel like the lower part of your ear. If you use masa harina because you cannot reach a tortillería, hydrate it first and let it rest 20 minutes. Fresh masa is better. A compromise is not an upgrade.
Divide the masa into 16 balls, each about the size of a small lime. Line a tortilla press with cut plastic. Press one ball into a thick 5-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. Spoon 2 tablespoons cooled pejelagarto filling onto one side, fold the masa over, and press the edges shut through the plastic. Seal well. If you overfill them, they will open in the lard and you will have a mess, not dinner.
Heat 3 cups manteca de cerdo in a heavy pot to 350F. Fry 3 or 4 empanadas at a time, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until the shell is golden, crisp at the edges, and lightly blistered. Keep the heat steady. If the lard is too cool, the masa drinks fat. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the center warms. La manteca es el sabor, but it still needs discipline.
Drain the empanadas on a rack, then pile them on a warm Tabasco clay platter. Serve with the chile amashito salsa and lime halves. Eat them while the shell is crisp and the fish filling is warm. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and this one belongs to the river lowlands of Tabasco.
1 serving (about 95g)
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