Chef Lupita
Aguascalientes Beef Tongue Pozole (Pozole de Lengua)
Aguascalientes' Bajio pozole de lengua, built with cacahuazintle hominy, tender beef tongue, chile ancho and guajillo, with xoconostle brightness and table garnishes.
Culinary Explorer
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Manuel Doblado Xoconostle Broth (Caldo de Zorra)
Created by
Southwest Guanajuato's Caldo de Zorra is an acidic xoconostle broth from Manuel Doblado, built with guajillo, chilcuague, corn, vegetables, and the patience of Bajio home kitchens.
Soups & Stews
Mexican
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
30 min
Active Time
1 hr 20 min cook•1 hr 50 min total
Yield6 servings
Guanajuato, southwest Bajio, Manuel Doblado. That is where this broth lives. Caldo de Zorra belongs to the rainy season, when the fields soften, the nopaleras give xoconostles, and the market basket comes home with corn, squash, potatoes, tomato, and herbs. This is not a heavy meat stew. It is a sharp, clean broth where the acidic tuna of the xoconostle does the work.
The defining ingredient is xoconostle, the sour cactus fruit that too many cooks outside the Bajio confuse with sweet tuna. No. Xoconostle is tart, almost mineral, and it gives the broth its spine. The chile guajillo gives color. The chilcuague, that small Bajio root with a numbing heat, gives a prickle that belongs to Guanajuato and the Sierra Gorda corridor. If you cannot find chilcuague, I will tell you how to cook without it, but do not pretend the result is the same.
I learned this style of broth from cocineras between Leon, Manuel Doblado, and the Querétaro side of the old Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. They cook what the milpa and the mercado give them: cacahuazintle when there is good corn, calabacita when it is tender, epazote because beans and corn understand epazote better than any imported herb. The pot is humble only if you do not know how to read it.
Serve it in barro, with hand-pressed corn tortillas and queso ranchero on the table if your family eats it that way. No cheddar. No sour cream. No flour tortillas here. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Caldo de Zorra is associated with Manuel Doblado in southwest Guanajuato, a Bajio municipality shaped by rain-fed agriculture, cattle country, and the old Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Xoconostle was used in central Mexican cooking before the Spanish conquest, valued less for sweetness than for acidity, preservation, and balance in broths and salsas. The dish shows the criollo-mestizo Bajio register clearly: native cactus fruit, corn, epazote, and chile alongside later market vegetables that became daily food across Guanajuato's ranch and hacienda kitchens.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
xoconostles
Quantity
6 medium
peeled, seeds removed, flesh cut into wedges
fresh cacahuazintle corn or tender field corn
Quantity
2 ears
cut into 2-inch rounds
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
3 tablespoons
dried chile guajillo
Quantity
4
stemmed and seeded
dried chilcuague root
Quantity
1 small piece, about 1 inch
or 1/2 teaspoon finely grated dried chilcuague
Roma tomatoes
Quantity
3 ripe
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium, plus 1/4 onion
divided
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
unpeeled
carrots
Quantity
2 medium
peeled and cut into thick rounds
potatoes
Quantity
2 small
peeled and cut into large chunks
Mexican calabacitas
Quantity
2
cut into thick half-moons
green beans
Quantity
1 cup
trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
cooked garbanzos (optional)
Quantity
1/2 cup
fresh epazote
Quantity
2 sprigs
water or light vegetable broth
Quantity
6 cups
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
queso ranchero (optional)
Quantity
for serving
crumbled
hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warmed
lime halves (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| xoconostlespeeled, seeds removed, flesh cut into wedges | 6 medium |
| fresh cacahuazintle corn or tender field corncut into 2-inch rounds | 2 ears |
| manteca de cerdo | 3 tablespoons |
| dried chile guajillostemmed and seeded | 4 |
| dried chilcuague rootor 1/2 teaspoon finely grated dried chilcuague | 1 small piece, about 1 inch |
| Roma tomatoes | 3 ripe |
| white oniondivided | 1/2 medium, plus 1/4 onion |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 3 |
| carrotspeeled and cut into thick rounds | 2 medium |
| potatoespeeled and cut into large chunks | 2 small |
| Mexican calabacitascut into thick half-moons | 2 |
| green beanstrimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces | 1 cup |
| cooked garbanzos (optional) | 1/2 cup |
| fresh epazote | 2 sprigs |
| water or light vegetable broth | 6 cups |
| kosher salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| queso ranchero (optional)crumbled | for serving |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)warmed | for serving |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Dry comal for toasting chiles and roasting vegetables
- •5-quart clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven
- •Blender
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Small sharp knife for cleaning xoconostle
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the xoconostles
Cut off the ends of each xoconostle and peel away the tough outer skin with a small knife. Slice them open and scrape out the seed center, keeping the firm sour flesh. Cut the flesh into wedges. Taste one small piece. It should be tart and clean, not sweet. If it tastes like dessert fruit, you bought tuna, not xoconostle.
Wear gloves if the fruit still has tiny spines. Market vendors in Guanajuato usually clean them, but do not trust a cactus fruit blindly. - 2
Toast the chile
Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile guajillo for 15 to 20 seconds per side, just until the skin darkens slightly and smells fruity. Do not let it blacken. Guajillo turns bitter fast when abused. Place the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes.
- 3
Char the salsa base
On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, 1/2 onion, and unpeeled garlic until they are blistered in spots and softened. Peel the garlic. Drain the softened guajillos and blend them with the tomatoes, roasted onion, peeled garlic, chilcuague, and 1 cup of the water until very smooth. Strain if your blender leaves bits of chile skin. This is a broth, not a coarse salsa.
- 4
Fry the recaudo
Melt the manteca de cerdo in a 5-quart clay cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. Pour in the blended chile base carefully. It will sputter. Fry for 7 to 9 minutes, stirring often, until the color deepens to brick red and the fat begins to shine at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This frying step gives the broth body without making it heavy.
- 5
Build the broth
Add the remaining 5 cups water or light vegetable broth, the 1/4 onion, salt, corn rounds, carrots, and potatoes. Bring to a steady simmer, then lower the heat so the pot moves gently. Cook for 25 minutes, until the corn smells sweet and the potatoes are almost tender. A hard boil breaks the vegetables and muddies the broth.
- 6
Add tender vegetables
Add the xoconostle wedges, calabacitas, green beans, garbanzos if using, and epazote. Simmer 18 to 22 minutes more. The xoconostle should soften but keep its shape, and the broth should taste bright before it tastes salty. That acidity is the point. Not all Mexican food is hot. This one is sour, earthy, and clean.
- 7
Correct the seasoning
Remove the spent onion and epazote stems. Taste the broth. Add salt only until the xoconostle sharpness comes forward. If the broth tastes flat, it usually needs salt, not more chile. If the chilcuague is strong, let the pot rest off heat for 10 minutes so its numbing edge settles into the broth.
- 8
Serve in barro
Ladle the broth into deep clay bowls with corn, vegetables, and xoconostle in every serving. Put crumbled queso ranchero, warm hand-pressed corn tortillas, and lime halves on the table. The cheese is added by the diner, not melted into the pot. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •Buy xoconostle at a Mexican market where the vendor can name it. Ask for xoconostle agrio, not tuna roja. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. They know which fruit belongs in broth.
- •Chilcuague is regional and hard to find outside Guanajuato, Querétaro, and San Luis Potosí. If you cannot get it, leave it out and add one small toasted chile de arbol for a little edge. That is a compromise, not the same flavor.
- •Use manteca de cerdo, not neutral oil. The amount is small, and it carries the guajillo through the broth. People fear lard and then eat processed food from a bag. No me vengas con atajos.
- •Cacahuazintle gives the broth big, starchy kernels that make it feel like rainy-season food. If you cannot find fresh cacahuazintle, use tender white field corn cut into rounds. Canned sweet corn does not belong here.
- •This broth should not be fiery. Guajillo is for color and fruit, chilcuague is for a Bajio prickle, and xoconostle is for acidity. Calling every Mexican dish hot is lazy.
Advance Preparation
- •The guajillo-tomato base can be roasted, blended, strained, and refrigerated one day ahead. Fry it in manteca when you are ready to make the broth.
- •The finished broth keeps refrigerated for three days. Reheat gently so the calabacitas and xoconostle do not break apart.
- •If making ahead for guests, cook the broth through the potatoes and corn, then add the xoconostle, calabacitas, green beans, garbanzos, and epazote during reheating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 570g)
Calories
455 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
950 mg
Total Carbohydrates
62 g
Dietary Fiber
12 g
Sugars
10 g
Protein
14 g
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