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Mezcal de Charcas
Created by Chef Lupita
San Luis Potosi's Altiplano mezcal, made from maguey salmiana around Charcas, served the serious way: clay copita, xoconostle, lime, and sal de chile piquin.
San Luis Potosi, Altiplano Potosino, Charcas. That is where this mezcal lives. Not Jalisco. Not Oaxaca. Charcas sits in the dry high country north of the capital, where maguey salmiana grows hard and patient in soil that does not forgive laziness.
Mezcal de Charcas is usually called mezcal de campanilla because of the old clay-pot distillation system, the bell-shaped campana that catches and guides the spirit. You are not making that at home. Don't play distiller in a kitchen. You are serving it properly, with the things that belong to the region: xoconostle, lime, and sal de chile piquin. The point is to taste the maguey, not bury it under sugar and perfume.
I learned this service from men and women in the Altiplano who poured mezcal like something serious, not like a party trick. The copita was clay, the fruit was sharp, the salt was small and fierce. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and yes, cada estado, su propia bebida too. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Ingredients
mezcal de Charcas
Quantity
8 ounces
preferably maguey salmiana mezcal de campanilla
xoconostle
Quantity
1
peeled and cut into thin wedges
limes
Quantity
2
cut into halves or wedges
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| mezcal de Charcaspreferably maguey salmiana mezcal de campanilla | 8 ounces |
| xoconostlepeeled and cut into thin wedges | 1 |
| limescut into halves or wedges | 2 |
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