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The chilango chicken salad of every fonda lunch counter in Ciudad de México: shredded poached chicken, potato, carrot, and peas bound in crema and mayonnaise, sharpened with the brine from a can of pickled jalapeños.
This is a Ciudad de México dish. Not a Yucatecan one, not a Sinaloan one. Chilango. You will find it behind the glass at every fonda in Colonia Roma, every torta cart outside the Metro, every tlapaleria that also sells lunch. It is what feeds office workers and students and abuelas who do not feel like cooking that day. It is also what you pack for a kermesse, a velorio, a Sunday at the park.
The technique is humble, but the seasoning is the whole argument. Anyone can boil chicken and dice potato. What makes this ensalada chilanga is the splash of brine from the can of chiles jalapeños en escabeche. That vinegar, carrying the memory of carrot, onion, bay leaf, and chile, is what wakes up the crema. Skip the brine and you have an American deli salad. Add it and you have what the señora at the corner fonda has been making since before you were born.
My mother kept a can of La Costeña jalapeños open in the refrigerator at all times. She used the chiles for one thing and the brine for another, and her ensalada de pollo went into our tortas every week. She shredded the chicken by hand on Sunday afternoons while she listened to the radio. Hand-shredded, always. The food processor was for people in a hurry, and she was never in a hurry when it came to feeding us. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and this one belongs to the capital.
Ensalada de pollo as it exists in Ciudad de México is a product of the mid-20th century, when industrial mayonnaise from brands like McCormick and Hellmann's became widely affordable in Mexican urban kitchens and combined with the older tradition of crema-bound rellenos for tortas. The dish belongs to the broader chilango category of guisados de fonda, the prepared dishes sold at small lunch counters and behind glass cases at neighborhood markets that fed the working population of the rapidly industrializing capital. The use of chile en escabeche brine as a seasoning agent reflects a deeper Mexican culinary logic, the idea that the pickling liquid is as valuable as what was pickled in it, a principle that also governs the use of tepache, aguas de masa, and the cooking liquid from beans.
Quantity
2 (about 2 pounds total)
Quantity
1/2 medium, plus 1/4 cup finely diced for the salad
Quantity
4
smashed
Quantity
2
Quantity
1 sprig
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
2 medium (about 12 ounces)
peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Quantity
2 medium (about 8 ounces)
peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Quantity
1 cup
Quantity
1/2 cup
Quantity
1/2 cup
Quantity
3 tablespoons
Quantity
1/3 cup, plus more to taste
finely chopped
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
Quantity
1/4 cup
finely chopped
Quantity
to taste
Quantity
for serving
split and toasted
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for spreading on the bread
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts | 2 (about 2 pounds total) |
| white onion | 1/2 medium, plus 1/4 cup finely diced for the salad |
| garlic clovessmashed | 4 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| fresh thyme | 1 sprig |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| yellow potatoespeeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes | 2 medium (about 12 ounces) |
| carrotspeeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes | 2 medium (about 8 ounces) |
| fresh or frozen peas | 1 cup |
| Mexican crema | 1/2 cup |
| mayonnaise (Mexican brand like McCormick if you can find it) | 1/2 cup |
| brine from chiles jalapeños en escabeche | 3 tablespoons |
| pickled jalapeños en escabechefinely chopped | 1/3 cup, plus more to taste |
| pickled carrots from the escabeche canfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| fresh cilantrofinely chopped | 1/4 cup |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| bolillos or teleras (optional)split and toasted | for serving |
| tostadas (optional) | for serving |
| sliced avocado (optional) | for serving |
| refried beans (optional) | for spreading on the bread |
Place the chicken breasts in a pot just large enough to hold them. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the half onion, smashed garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Lower the heat until the water barely moves. Poach for 20 to 25 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165F at the thickest part. A rolling boil makes the meat stringy and dry. You want it tender enough to shred with two fingers.
Lift the chicken out of the broth and let it cool on a plate until you can handle it. Pull off the skin and discard or save for snacking. Pull the meat off the bone and shred it by hand into pieces about the size of your thumbnail. Hand-shredded chicken catches the dressing the way a knife-cut cube never will. No me vengas con atajos. The food processor turns this dish into baby food.
Return the poaching broth to a simmer. Add the potato cubes and cook for 6 minutes. Add the carrot cubes and cook for 4 minutes more. Add the peas in the last 90 seconds. The potato should hold its shape when you press it with a fork, not collapse. Drain the vegetables in a colander and spread them on a sheet pan to cool completely. Warm vegetables thin the dressing and turn the salad into soup.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the crema, mayonnaise, and the brine from the jalapeño can. The brine is not optional. That tangy, slightly spiced vinegar is what separates a chilango ensalada de pollo from a sad American chicken salad. Taste the dressing. It should be creamy, sharp, and a little aggressive on its own.
Add the shredded chicken, cooled vegetables, finely diced raw onion, chopped pickled jalapeños, chopped pickled carrots, and cilantro to the dressing. Fold gently with a rubber spatula until every piece is coated. Taste for salt and add cracked black pepper. The salad should taste bright, creamy, and a little picante on the back of the tongue. If it tastes flat, add another tablespoon of brine.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. This is when the flavors marry. The brine works into the potato, the crema rounds out, the onion loses its raw bite. An hour is better. Overnight is best of all. Serve cold, piled onto split bolillos for tortas or spread thick on tostadas with avocado on top. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
1 serving (about 230g)
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