Lake Chapala Fish Soup (Caldo Michi)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5-quart clay olla, enamel pot, or Dutch oven
• •Sharp chef's knife for cutting vegetables and fish
• •Wide ladle for serving fish pieces without breaking them
• •Deep pozolero-style bowls or hand-thrown clay soup bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the fish

   Rinse the fish pieces quickly under cold water and pat them dry. Rub with 1 teaspoon salt and the juice of 1 lime, then let them sit while you start the broth. Do not soak the fish. You are freshening the surface, not washing away the flavor of the lake.

2. 2

   Start the recaudo

   Heat the manteca de cerdo in a heavy pot or clay olla over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it turns glossy and soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until it smells alive. Add the tomato and a pinch of salt. Cook until the tomato collapses and its juices thicken against the bottom of the pot. This is the small foundation of the caldo, not a salsa roja.

3. 3

   Simmer the vegetables

   Pour in the water or light fish stock and scrape the bottom of the pot. Add the carrots, chayote, potato, whole slit chiles, bay leaf, oregano, and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until the carrot is just starting to soften. The broth should stay clear enough to see the vegetables. A hard boil makes it cloudy and rough.

4. 4

   Add tender vegetables

   Add the zucchini and the epazote. Simmer 5 minutes more. Epazote is not decoration. It gives the broth that green, medicinal edge that belongs with freshwater fish. Use too much and it dominates. Use none and the pot tastes unfinished.

5. 5

   Poach the fish

   Lower the fish pieces into the broth in a single layer, bone side down when you can. Keep the heat gentle. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness, until the flesh turns opaque and lifts from the bone with a spoon. Do not stir like you are making beans. Move the pot by its handles if you need to settle the fish. Broken fish makes a messy caldo.

6. 6

   Finish the broth

   Taste the broth and adjust with salt, black pepper, and a squeeze of lime. Stir in the chopped cilantro right at the end so it stays green. Remove the bay leaf and the epazote stems if they are woody. The finished caldo should taste clean: lake fish, tomato, vegetables, herbs, and salt. Not chile heat. Not garlic shouting over everything.

7. 7

   Serve Chapala style

   Ladle the fish, vegetables, and clear broth into deep bowls. Put chiles en vinagre, lime wedges, and warm corn tortillas on the table. Each person sharpens the bowl with the vinegar from the pickled chiles. That is the Jalisco lakeshore way. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Use freshwater fish if you can. Carp and catfish are the old lakeshore choices. Tilapia works because it is common now around Chapala, but it is a compromise, not an upgrade. Ask the fish vendor what came in fresh that morning.
• •Bone-in fish gives better broth. Fillets are easier to eat but weaker in the pot. If you use fillets, add them only for the last 4 to 5 minutes or they will fall apart.
• •Do not replace chiles en vinagre with bottled hot sauce. The vinegar, pickled carrot, onion, and jalapeño are part of the eating ritual. The caldo is gentle so the table can finish it.
• •If the chayote at the market is old, wrinkled, or sticky under the skin, buy zucchini and more carrot instead. A bad chayote tastes like wet cardboard. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •Manteca de cerdo gives the tomato base a rounder flavor. Some Jalisco home cooks use oil for fish caldos, and that is acceptable here. But do not pretend the fat does nothing. La manteca es el sabor when the pot asks for it.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato base and vegetables can be simmered up to one day ahead without the zucchini, epazote, cilantro, or fish. Reheat gently, then finish with the tender vegetables and fish just before serving.
• •Caldo michi is best the day it is made. Leftover broth and vegetables keep for two days, but cooked fish becomes fragile when reheated. Warm it gently and do not boil it.
• •Homemade chiles en vinagre can be made a week ahead. They get better as the jalapeños, carrots, onion, garlic, bay leaf, oregano, and vinegar settle together.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 600g)