Chef Lupita
Arroz a la Tumbada Veracruzano
Veracruz's Gulf coast rice from Alvarado, built with seafood stock, tomato, chile chipotle, epazote, shrimp, fish, jaiba, and pulpo, served loose and brothy in a clay cazuela.
Culinary Explorer
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Huasteca Shrimp Masa Caldo (Huatape de Camarón)
Created by
Veracruz's Huasteca shrimp caldo, thickened with fresh corn masa and sharpened with tomatillo, chile cascabel, and epazote, the kind of pot that tastes like river markets and old comales.
Soups & Stews
Mexican
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
Dinner Party
35 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield6 servings
Veracruz, the Huasteca Veracruzana, especially the north around Tantoyuca, Panuco, Chicontepec, and the river towns that look toward San Luis Potosi and Hidalgo. That is where huatape de camarón belongs. The Huasteca is not one state on a map. It is a cultural region, Teenek, Nahua, mestiza, coastal and river-fed, with Veracruz giving this version its jarocho fire and its shrimp pot.
The defining ingredient is masa. Not cream. Not flour. Fresh corn masa is whisked into a tomatillo and chile base until the caldo thickens like a light atole. The epazote cuts through the sweetness of the shrimp, and the chile cascabel gives a toasted, nutty warmth without turning the dish into a dare. Not all Mexican food is about heat. Some of it is about body, sourness, corn, and the smell of herbs hitting a clay pot.
I learned this style from a woman in the market at Tantoyuca who sold dried shrimp, fresh epazote, and little bags of masa tied like money. She told me the mistake outsiders make is treating huatape like any shrimp soup. No. The masa is not decoration. It is the structure. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. Stir the pot and respect the corn.
Huatape is part of the Huasteca's older corn-thickened soup tradition, tied to pre-Hispanic techniques of using nixtamalized masa to give body to broths before wheat flour or dairy thickeners entered Mexican kitchens. The dish appears in Huasteca communities across northern Veracruz, San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, Puebla, and Queretaro, with local versions using shrimp, fish, crab, chicken, or quelites depending on the river, coast, or milpa nearby. The name is commonly associated with Huasteca usage, and the method shows the region's deep corn base: broth first, masa to bind it, herbs to finish it.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
medium raw shrimp
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
shell-on if possible, peeled and deveined, shells reserved
water
Quantity
8 cups
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
for shrimp broth
white onion
Quantity
1/4
for blending
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
divided
bay leaf
Quantity
1
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
tomatillos
Quantity
8 ounces
husked and rinsed
dried chile cascabel
Quantity
4
stemmed and seeded
fresh chile serrano
Quantity
1
stemmed
fresh corn masa
Quantity
3/4 cup
or 1/2 cup masa harina mixed with 1/2 cup warm water
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
2 tablespoons
epazote sprigs
Quantity
2 large
fresh cilantro
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
lime halves (optional)
Quantity
for serving
hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warmed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| medium raw shrimpshell-on if possible, peeled and deveined, shells reserved | 1 1/2 pounds |
| water | 8 cups |
| white onionfor shrimp broth | 1/2 medium |
| white onionfor blending | 1/4 |
| garlic clovesdivided | 3 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| kosher salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| tomatilloshusked and rinsed | 8 ounces |
| dried chile cascabelstemmed and seeded | 4 |
| fresh chile serranostemmed | 1 |
| fresh corn masaor 1/2 cup masa harina mixed with 1/2 cup warm water | 3/4 cup |
| manteca de cerdo | 2 tablespoons |
| epazote sprigs | 2 large |
| fresh cilantrochopped | 2 tablespoons |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)warmed | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Dry cast iron comal for toasting chile cascabel
- •3-quart clay cazuela or heavy-bottomed pot
- •High-powered blender
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Wooden spoon for stirring masa-thickened caldo
Instructions
- 1
Make shrimp broth
Peel and devein the shrimp, keeping the shells. Refrigerate the cleaned shrimp. Put the shells in a pot with the water, 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, bay leaf, and salt. Simmer gently for 25 minutes. Do not boil it hard. Shrimp shells give quickly, and a rough boil makes the broth taste muddy.
- 2
Toast the cascabel
Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile cascabel for 15 to 20 seconds per side, just until the skins darken slightly and smell nutty. Cascabel burns fast because it is round and hollow. If it goes black, throw it away. Burned chile makes bitter caldo, and no señora in Tantoyuca will forgive that.
- 3
Cook tomatillos
Put the tomatillos and chile serrano in a small saucepan and cover with water. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until the tomatillos turn olive green and soften. Drain them. The tomatillo gives the caldo its clean sour edge. Without that edge, the masa tastes heavy.
- 4
Blend the base
Strain the shrimp broth and discard the shells, onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Measure 5 cups of broth and keep the rest nearby. In a blender, combine the cooked tomatillos, serrano, toasted cascabel, 1/4 onion, 1 raw garlic clove, fresh masa, and 1 cup of shrimp broth. Blend until completely smooth. Masa must disappear into the liquid, not float as little white lumps.
Fresh masa from a tortilleria gives the best body. Masa harina works when you have no tortilleria, but it is a compromise, not an upgrade. - 5
Fry the sauce
Melt the manteca de cerdo in a clay cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. Pour in the blended base through a fine strainer, pressing with a spoon. It will hiss and thicken almost immediately. Stir for 5 minutes, until the raw tomatillo smell calms down and the surface turns glossy. La manteca es el sabor, even in a seafood caldo.
- 6
Build the caldo
Whisk in the remaining 4 cups measured shrimp broth, slowly at first so the masa does not seize. Add the epazote sprigs. Simmer 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often across the bottom of the pot. The caldo should coat a spoon lightly, thicker than broth but looser than atole. That is huatape. Not soup, not gravy. Huatape.
- 7
Cook the shrimp
Add the cleaned shrimp and simmer 3 to 4 minutes, just until they curl and turn pink. Turn off the heat. Shrimp keeps cooking in the hot masa broth, so do not stand there admiring the pot. Taste for salt. Remove the epazote stems if they are tough.
- 8
Serve in clay
Ladle the huatape into deep clay bowls. Scatter a little cilantro over the top and serve with lime halves and warm corn tortillas. The tortillas are corn because this is the Huasteca, not a northern flour-tortilla table. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chef Tips
- •Buy shrimp with the shells on. The shells are your broth. Peeled shrimp from a plastic bag will still feed you, but it will not give the pot the same depth.
- •Chile cascabel is the right dried chile here: round, nutty, and gently warm. If you cannot find it, use chile guajillo, but know what you are losing. Guajillo is cleaner and redder. Cascabel tastes more toasted and Huasteca.
- •Use fresh epazote. Dried epazote tastes tired in this caldo. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. They know who has the good bunches.
- •Fresh masa from a tortilleria should smell like corn and cal, clean and mineral. If it smells sour, it is old. Do not put old masa in a shrimp pot.
- •The caldo thickens as it sits. Reheat it gently with a splash of shrimp broth or water and stir from the bottom so the masa loosens without scorching.
Advance Preparation
- •The shrimp broth can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Keep the cleaned shrimp separate and cold.
- •The tomatillo, cascabel, and masa base can be blended up to 4 hours ahead. Stir before using because the masa settles.
- •Do not cook the shrimp ahead. Add them only when the caldo is ready to serve, or they will tighten and lose their sweetness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 450g)
Calories
360 calories
Total Fat
12 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
180 mg
Sodium
920 mg
Total Carbohydrates
38 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
27 g
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