Huevos con Tasajo al Comal

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large cast iron comal or heavy cast iron skillet, well-seasoned
• •Wide metal spatula
• •Small saucepan for warming the beans
• •Molcajete for the salsa (or blender)

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the tasajo

   If your tasajo is very salty, and most of it is, soak the sheets in cold water for fifteen to twenty minutes. Taste a corner. It should be seasoned, not aggressive. Some vendors sell tasajo that has been lightly cured and needs no soaking. Ask the senora who sold it to you. She'll know. Drain it well and pat it dry with a clean towel. Wet tasajo will not crisp on the comal. It will steam, and that is not what you want.

   The salt level varies by vendor and by how long the tasajo has been hanging. Always taste before you cook. You can always add salt to the eggs later, but you cannot remove it from the meat.
2. 2

   Heat the comal

   Set your comal or a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Let it get properly hot, two to three minutes. You are looking for the kind of heat that makes a drop of water dance and evaporate on contact. This is the same heat the senoras at Mercado 20 de Noviembre use. The comal does the work. Spread a thin film of asiento across the surface with a cloth or the back of a spoon. The asiento will melt immediately and the kitchen will smell like a Oaxacan market at dawn.

3. 3

   Grill the tasajo

   Lay the tasajo flat on the hot comal. It will contract and buckle almost immediately. That is the salt and the heat pulling moisture out. Let it cook without moving it for about two minutes per side. You want the edges to go dark and crisp while the thicker parts stay just tender enough to tear. Watch for the moment when the fat at the edges renders and the surface gets a faint char. That is Oaxacan tasajo done right. Remove it to a cutting board and use your hands or a knife to tear or cut it into bite-sized strips.

   Do not overcrowd the comal. If your tasajo comes in several sheets, cook them one at a time. Crowding traps moisture and turns a grill job into a steam job.
4. 4

   Scramble the eggs in the fat

   Lower the heat to medium. There will be rendered fat and asiento lefton the comal from the tasajo. Good. That is your cooking fat. Crack the four eggs directly onto the comal. Let them sit for ten seconds until the edges just begin to set, then break the yolks with a spatula and scramble them loosely, pushing them in broad strokes across the surface. You are not making a French omelette. You want large, soft curds with some spots that caught the heat of the comal and picked up a faint color from the asiento. This takes sixty to ninety seconds. Do not overcook them. Pull them off while they still look slightly wet. They will finish on the hot plate.

   Taste the eggs before you add salt. The tasajo fat is already seasoned. You may not need any salt at all.
5. 5

   Plate and serve

   Smear the warmed black bean paste across one side of a clay plate or a wide ceramic plate. Pile the torn tasajo strips next to the beans. Lay the scrambled eggs alongside, letting them fall against the meat and the beans so the plate looks like a market comedor put it together, generous and without ceremony. Add a few strips of pulled quesillo, the lime wedges, and the sliced radishes. Set the salsa de chile pasilla oaxaqueno in a small bowl on the side. Warm tortillas go in a cloth-lined basket at the table. Cada estado, su propia cocina. This one is Oaxaca's.

Chef Tips

• •Asiento is the dark, smoky sediment that settles at the bottom of the pot when pork lard is rendered. In Oaxaca, it is sold at every market and used the way other states use manteca de cerdo. It has a deeper, more complex flavor than clean lard. If you cannot find asiento, use manteca de cerdo. Do not use vegetable oil. The fat is half the flavor of this dish.
• •If you cannot find Oaxacan tasajo, cecina from Yecapixtla in Morelos is the closest substitute, though it is cut thicker and salted differently. Carne seca from the north is a different product entirely and will not behave the same on the comal. Know what you are substituting and why.
• •The black beans should be Oaxacan-style frijoles negros, cooked with avocado leaf and a little asiento, then mashed into a paste. Canned refried beans from a supermarket shelf are a different food. If you must use them, at least warm them in a small saucepan with a spoonful of asiento and a torn avocado leaf to bring them closer to what they should taste like.
• •Salsa de chile pasilla oaxaqueno is made by charring the dried pasilla oaxaqueno on the comal until the skin blisters, then grinding it in the molcajete with roasted garlic and salt. The smoke of the chile is the point. A blender works, but the molcajete gives you the texture Oaxacan cooks expect. Do not substitute pasilla mexicano, which is a different chile. The pasilla oaxaqueno is a smoked chile related to the chipotle family, dark red and leathery, and it is grown almost exclusively in the Mixe region of Oaxaca.

Advance Preparation

• •The salsa de chile pasilla oaxaqueno can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor deepens overnight.
• •The black bean paste can be made in large batches and refrigerated for up to five days or frozen for a month. Warm it in a saucepan with a little water or asiento to loosen it before serving.
• •The tasajo can be soaked and patted dry up to two hours before cooking. Keep it covered and refrigerated. The eggs and the grilling must be done at serving time. This is a comal-to-plate breakfast. No me vengas con atajos.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 440g)