Huevos Ahogados Veracruzanos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet
• •Blender
• •Wide clay cazuela or deep skillet with lid
• •Bean masher or wooden spoon
• •Cotton servilleta for tortillas

Instructions

1. 1

   Char the vegetables

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-high. Place the tomatoes cut side down with the onion slices, unpeeled garlic, jalapeno, and serrano. Turn the chiles and garlic as they blister. The tomatoes should soften and blacken in spots, the onion should smell sweet, and the garlic skins should look papery and browned. This char gives the broth its backbone.

2. 2

   Blend the broth

   Peel the garlic. Put the charred tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno, serrano, and salt in a blender with 1 cup of the broth or water. Blend until mostly smooth. Do not strain it. Veracruz home cooking is not afraid of texture.

   For a gentler broth, remove the seeds from the serrano before blending. Keep the jalapeno whole. The dish should taste alive, not punish people.
3. 3

   Fry the sauce

   Melt 1 tablespoon of manteca de cerdo in a wide clay cazuela or deep skillet over medium heat. Pour in the blended tomato mixture. It will sputter. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until the raw tomato smell is gone and the color deepens to a cooked brick red. Add the remaining 1 cup broth or water and the epazote sprig. Simmer gently for 5 minutes.

4. 4

   Refry the beans

   In a separate skillet, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon manteca over medium heat. Add the chopped white onion and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the black beans, their cooking liquid, and the epazote sprig. Mash with a bean masher or the back of a spoon until thick but not dry. Taste for salt. Black beans from Veracruz should be glossy and soft, not a paste scraped from a can.

5. 5

   Poach the eggs

   Lower the tomato broth to a gentle simmer. Crack each egg into a small cup first, then slide it into the broth, leaving space between the eggs. Cover the cazuela and cook 5 to 7 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks are still soft. Do not boil them hard. The eggs are supposed to be drowned, not beaten into submission.

6. 6

   Serve with beans

   Spoon a generous layer of refried black beans into shallow bowls or onto warm plates. Lift two eggs per person with a wide spoon and set them over the beans, then ladle tomato broth around them. Finish with cilantro, queso fresco, and lime if using. Serve immediately with warm corn tortillas. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy ripe tomatoes that smell like tomato at the stem. If the market tomatoes are pale and hard, use good canned whole tomatoes and drain them before charring briefly in the skillet. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Jalapeno belongs here because Veracruz has a claim on it through Xalapa. Serrano adds a cleaner bite. Do not replace both with canned pickled jalapenos and call it the same dish.
• •Use manteca de cerdo for the beans. Oil will work in the mechanical sense, but it will not give the same roundness. La manteca es el sabor.
• •Corn tortillas are the correct tortilla for this table. Warm them on a comal until they puff in spots, then keep them wrapped in a cotton servilleta.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato broth can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat it gently before adding the eggs.
• •Cook the black beans up to three days ahead with onion, garlic, and epazote. Refry them just before serving.
• •Do not poach the eggs ahead. Once the eggs are in the broth, the dish belongs on the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 610g)