Marinada de Pulque para Conejo Queretano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles
• •Blender
• •Glazed clay cazuela, glass dish, or stainless bowl for marinating
• •Wide barro vidriado cazuela or heavy Dutch oven for braising

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chiles pasilla one at a time, about 20 seconds per side, just until the skin darkens slightly and smells raisiny. Toast the chile ancho the same way. Do not blacken them. Pasilla gives this marinade its dark spine, but burned pasilla turns bitter and takes the whole rabbit with it.

   Use chile pasilla mexicano, the long dark dried chilaca. Do not use pasilla oaxaqueño here. That smoky chile belongs to Oaxaca, and this is Querétaro. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
2. 2

   Soften and roast

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover them with hot water, not boiling water. Let them soften for 15 minutes, then drain and discard the soaking water. While they soak, set the garlic cloves and onion on the comal until they are spotted brown and smell sweet, 6 to 8 minutes. Toast the peppercorns and whole cloves for 30 seconds, just until fragrant.

3. 3

   Blend the marinade

   In a blender, combine the drained chiles, roasted garlic, roasted onion, toasted peppercorns, toasted cloves, pulque blanco, thyme, oregano, and salt. Blend until completely smooth. The marinade should be brick-red, loose enough to pour, and sour in the clean fermented way pulque is sour. Vinegar shouts. Pulque works slowly.

4. 4

   Cover the rabbit

   Place the rabbit pieces in a glazed clay cazuela, glass dish, or stainless bowl. Pour the pulque marinade over them and turn every piece with your hands so the chile reaches the joints and the thin belly flaps. Tuck in the bay leaves. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 12 hours.

   Do not marinate rabbit at room temperature. Old hacienda kitchens had cool stone rooms. Your kitchen counter does not. Refrigerate it.
5. 5

   Respect the rest

   Turn the rabbit once halfway through the marinating time. Twelve hours is the point. Eight hours will work if your pulque is sharp and the rabbit is small. Do not leave it for two days. Rabbit is lean and delicate, and too much acid makes the surface cottony. No me vengas con atajos, but do not punish the meat either.

6. 6

   Drain and save

   Take the rabbit out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Lift the pieces from the marinade and let the excess drip back into the dish. Pat the rabbit mostly dry, but do not scrub off the chile. Save every drop of marinade. It touched raw rabbit, so it must boil before it becomes sauce. That is not negotiable.

7. 7

   Brown in manteca

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide cazuela or heavy Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown the rabbit in batches until the edges take color, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Rabbit has little fat of its own. La manteca es el sabor. If you skip this browning, the finished dish tastes boiled, and nobody at the table will thank you.

8. 8

   Braise the rabbit

   Return all the browned rabbit to the cazuela. Pour in the reserved marinade and bring it to a hard boil for 3 full minutes, stirring so it does not catch on the bottom. Lower the heat, cover, and cook gently for 35 to 45 minutes, until the rabbit is tender but still holds to the bone. Add the water or light stock only if the sauce thickens before the meat is done.

9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Let the rabbit rest off the heat for 10 minutes. The sauce should cling to the meat, not sit like soup. Taste for salt at the end. Serve the rabbit in the same cazuela with warm corn tortillas. This dish does not need lettuce, sour cream, or a pile of cheese. It needs good pulque, good chiles, and patience. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy pulque blanco the same day you cook from a pulquería, a trusted mercado vendor, or a Mexican grocery that knows the difference between pulque and sweet aguamiel. It should smell fermented, sour, and clean. If it smells rotten, throw it out. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •If you cannot find fresh pulque, choose another rabbit preparation first. If you must approximate, mix 1 1/2 cups light Mexican beer with 1/2 cup plain unsweetened kefir and 1 teaspoon agave syrup. That imitates acidity and fermentation, but it is a compromise, not pulque.
• •Do not use smoked pasilla oaxaqueño in this marinade. It will drag the dish south and make the smoke louder than the pulque. Use standard chile pasilla mexicano, dark, flexible, and smelling of raisins.
• •Rabbit dries out faster than chicken. The marinade helps, but the final braise still needs gentleness. Keep the bubbles low after the required boil for food safety.
• •The fat comes after the marinade. Do not pour oil into the pulque mixture. Brown the rabbit in manteca de cerdo when it is time to cook. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Advance Preparation

• •The marinade can be blended up to 24 hours ahead without the rabbit and refrigerated in a covered jar. Stir before using because the chile settles.
• •The rabbit should marinate 8 to 12 hours. Do not push it past 16 hours unless the pulque is very mild.
• •The finished rabbit can be cooked one day ahead and reheated gently in its sauce. Add a spoonful of water if the sauce has tightened in the refrigerator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 330g)