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Sonora's working-pot stew of beef shank, oxtail, pinto beans, and hominy, stained red with Anaheim chile and bitten by chiltepin. The dish is named for a hen it does not contain.
Gallina pinta is from Sonora. The northwest. Cattle country, wheat country, the country of mesquite fires and flour tortillas the size of a wagon wheel. There is no chicken in this stew. The name refers to the spotted appearance of the pinto beans floating in the red broth, the pinta in the pot looks like a speckled hen. Sonorense humor is dry like the desert.
The meat is beef, not pork, because Sonora is a beef state. Shank for the marrow and the collagen, oxtail for the depth. The beans are pinto, not black, because we are in the noroeste, not the south. The chile is Anaheim, sometimes called chile California or chile colorado del norte, mild and sweet and red, the chile that grows along the Rio Sonora and the Rio Yaqui. Toast it, soak it, blend it, fry it in lard. Without those four steps the broth tastes like soaked chile water and you will wonder why yours does not taste like the pot at your tia's house in Hermosillo.
The chiltepin is the signature. A wild bird-pepper that grows in the Sonoran sierras and is harvested by hand, families in towns like Baviacora and San Pedro climb the hills every fall to pick them off the bushes. It is small, round, and serious. Ten of them in a pot of stew is plenty. Defenders of the chiltepin will tell you no other chile can replace it, and they are right. The flavor is grassy, sharp, and clean, with a heat that arrives late and leaves quickly.
My mother did not make gallina pinta. She was from Jalisco. I learned this dish from a senora named Dona Eulalia in El Recodo, a ranch town outside Ures, who served it to me out of an olla de peltre on a Saturday morning with sobaqueras she had pressed across her forearm an hour before. She told me the chile must come from the Rio Sonora and the chiltepin must come from her cousin's land, and that everything else is negotiable. I wrote it down. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Gallina pinta belongs to a cluster of bean-and-hominy stews from northwestern Mexico that share roots with the indigenous Yoreme and Yaqui dish wakabaki, a ceremonial beef-and-hominy stew prepared for fiestas and pascolas in Sonora and northern Sinaloa. The Spanish introduction of cattle and wheat to the noroeste in the 17th century, along with the Jesuit mission system that organized indigenous agriculture along the Rio Yaqui and Rio Mayo, created the conditions for a stew that combined pre-Columbian nixtamalized maize and chiltepin with European beef and pork lard. The chiltepin itself, Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum, is considered the wild ancestor of all domesticated chiles and has been harvested in the Sonoran sierras for thousands of years; it remains one of the few chiles in Mexico that is still gathered wild rather than cultivated, and its harvest is a recognized cultural and economic tradition in towns like Baviacora and Sahuaripa.
Quantity
1 pound
picked over and rinsed
Quantity
2 pounds
cut into thick rounds
Quantity
1 pound
cut into 2-inch pieces
Quantity
1 large
halved (one half whole, the other diced for finishing)
Quantity
1
halved crosswise
Quantity
3
minced
Quantity
2
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
4
stemmed and seeded
Quantity
2
stemmed and seeded
Quantity
1 can (29 ounces)
drained and rinsed
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Quantity
10 to 15, plus more for the table
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
warmed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried pinto beanspicked over and rinsed | 1 pound |
| bone-in beef shankcut into thick rounds | 2 pounds |
| oxtailcut into 2-inch pieces | 1 pound |
| white onionhalved (one half whole, the other diced for finishing) | 1 large |
| head of garlichalved crosswise | 1 |
| garlic clovesminced | 3 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| dried Anaheim chiles (chile California or chile colorado)stemmed and seeded | 4 |
| dried chile guajillostemmed and seeded | 2 |
| Mexican-style hominydrained and rinsed | 1 can (29 ounces) |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard) | 2 tablespoons |
| dried Mexican oregano (preferably oregano sonorense) | 1 tablespoon |
| ground cumin | 1 teaspoon |
| dried chiltepin | 10 to 15, plus more for the table |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
| diced white onion (optional) | for serving |
| chopped cilantro (optional) | for serving |
| tortillas de harina sobaqueras (optional)warmed | for serving |
Place the pinto beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water by four inches. Soak for at least eight hours or overnight. The beans of Sonora are big and hold their shape, but they still need time to drink. Drain and rinse before using. Skip the soak and your stew will take an extra hour and the beans will cook unevenly.
Place the beef shank and oxtail in a heavy 8-quart stockpot or large olla. Cover with cold water by three inches, about four quarts. Add the whole onion half, the halved head of garlic, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first twenty minutes. Cold water draws the marrow and collagen out slowly. A rolling boil clouds the broth and toughens the meat. Asi se hace y punto.
Once the broth is clean, add the drained pinto beans to the pot. Lower the heat until you see lazy bubbles every few seconds. Cover partially and cook for two hours. The beans should be tender but still hold their spotted skins, and the meat should pull from the bone with a fork. Check the water level once an hour. Add hot water if it drops below the meat. Cold water shocks the beans and they split.
While the pot works, heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the Anaheim and guajillo chiles separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. They should puff and turn fragrant, never blacken. The Anaheim is mild and sweet, the guajillo is sharper and brighter. Together they give the broth its characteristic Sonoran red, neither timid nor hot. Move them to a bowl, cover with hot tap water, and soak for 15 minutes until soft.
Drain the soaked chiles and transfer to a blender with the minced garlic, oregano, cumin, and one cup of broth ladled from the pot. Blend until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of a ladle. Discard the skins. You want a clean, deep red puree the color of a Sonoran sunset, not chunky and not thin.
In a small skillet, melt the manteca de cerdo over medium heat. Add the strained chile puree. It will sputter, that is the water cooking off. Stir constantly for five to seven minutes, until the puree darkens and the fat starts to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This step is what turns chile from raw to cooked, from sharp to deep. Skip it and the broth tastes like soaked chile water.
Stir the fried chile paste into the bean and meat pot. Add the drained hominy and the chiltepin, crushed lightly between your fingers as they go in. The chiltepin is small but serious, that is why ten to fifteen is enough for a pot that feeds eight. Simmer uncovered for 30 more minutes, until the broth has tightened and the hominy has absorbed the chile. Taste for salt now. The beans, the corn, and the meat all soak it up, so the broth needs to be assertive.
Ladle into deep bowls, making sure each portion gets meat, beans, and a few kernels of hominy. Set the diced onion, cilantro, lime, extra chiltepin, and a basket of warm tortillas de harina around the table. Each person seasons their own bowl. The flour tortilla is not a mistake. This is the noroeste, and the wheat tortilla is what you tear and dip into the broth. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
1 serving (about 450g)
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