Mondongo Jarocho (Veracruz Tripe Stew)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8 to 10 quart peltre pot or stockpot
• •Cast iron comal for chiles, tomatoes, onion, and garlic
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Heavy clay cazuela for finishing or serving
• •Wooden spoon reserved for chile stews

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the chickpeas

   The night before, cover the dried chickpeas with at least three inches of cool water. Leave them on the counter overnight, then drain them. Do not use canned chickpeas here. They turn tired in a long stew and this pot deserves better.

2. 2

   Clean the tripe

   Rub the tripe with the coarse salt and the juice of two limes. Rinse well under cold water. Put it in a pot, cover with water, add the vinegar, and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse again. This first boil cleans the flavor without bleaching the life out of the tripe.

   Buy tripe cleaned by a butcher, but do not trust that it is ready for the pot. You still scrub, rinse, and parboil. Así se hace y punto.
3. 3

   Build the broth

   Put the parboiled tripe, beef bones, 14 cups cold water, halved onion, halved head of garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, and 1 tablespoon salt in a heavy stockpot or peltre pot. Bring it to a gentle simmer. Skim the gray foam during the first 20 minutes. Keep the bubbles slow. A violent boil makes the broth cloudy and toughens the tripe.

4. 4

   Cook the tripe

   Simmer partially covered for 1 hour, then add the soaked chickpeas. Continue simmering for 1 1/2 to 2 hours more, until the chickpeas are creamy and the tripe gives when you press it between two fingers. It should not fall apart. Mondongo needs chew. That is part of its character.

5. 5

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo chiles for about 20 to 30 seconds per side, then toast the costeño chiles separately because they are smaller and burn faster. The skins should puff and smell deep, not blacken. Cover the toasted chiles with hot water and let them soften for 20 minutes.

   Chile costeño brings the coastal bite. If your vendor does not know it, ask at an Oaxacan or Guerrero stall. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
6. 6

   Roast the vegetables

   On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, the half onion, and the unpeeled garlic cloves until they blister in spots and soften. Peel the garlic. The tomato gives body, the roasted onion gives sweetness, and the garlic grounds the chile. None of this comes from a powdered mix. No me vengas con atajos.

7. 7

   Blend the recado

   Drain the softened chiles and put them in a blender with the roasted tomatoes, roasted onion, peeled garlic, oregano, cumin, allspice, and 1 1/2 cups of broth from the tripe pot. Blend until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing hard on the solids. You want a red paste that moves like thick salsa, not a skin-filled puree.

8. 8

   Fry the chile paste

   Melt 3 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a heavy cazuela or deep skillet over medium heat. Add the strained chile paste carefully. It will jump at first. Stir for 8 to 10 minutes, until the color darkens and the fat separates in small red beads around the edge. La manteca es el sabor. Frying the recado is what makes the broth taste finished.

9. 9

   Marry the stew

   Remove the spent onion, garlic head, bay leaves, and bones from the broth. Cut the tripe into short strips if your butcher left it whole, then return it to the pot. Stir in the fried chile paste. Add the yuca, plátano macho, 1 whole hoja santa leaf, and the epazote sprigs. Simmer 25 to 30 minutes, until the yuca is tender at the center and the plantain holds its shape.

10. 10

    Shape the chochoyotes

    While the yuca cooks, knead the masa with 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add warm broth or water, a spoonful at a time, until the dough feels soft and does not crack at the edges. Roll into walnut-sized balls and press a dimple into each one with your thumb. That little hollow catches broth. The women who perfected this knew engineering before anyone gave it a fancy name.

11. 11

    Finish with masa

    Drop the chochoyotes into the simmering stew one by one. Do not stir hard or you will break them. Simmer 15 to 18 minutes, until they float and the masa tastes cooked through. Tear the second hoja santa leaf and stir it in during the last 2 minutes. Taste for salt. The broth should be red, rounded, and strong enough to season the tripe, the chickpea, and the yuca in one spoonful.

12. 12

    Serve the pot

    Ladle the mondongo into deep clay bowls or a heavy cazuela at the center of the table. Put diced white onion, cilantro, lime wedges, and warm corn tortillas alongside. The surface should show a red sheen from the fried chile and lard, with tripe, chickpeas, yuca, plantain, and chochoyotes visible. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Start with the tripe and bones. You can have perfect chile technique and a thin broth and the stew will still taste unfinished. No canned broths. No bouillon cubes. Bones, water, time. Así se hace y punto.
• •Chile costeño is not chile de arbol with better publicity. It has a coastal, sharp fruitiness that belongs to Afro-Mexican cooking corridors from Guerrero and Oaxaca and travels through market trade. If you cannot find it, order it from a Mexican grocer before you rewrite the dish.
• •Use plátano macho pintón: green with yellow patches, still firm. Fully ripe plantain will sweeten the pot too much and fall apart. Green plantain stays firmer but gives less body. Pintón is the balance.
• •Frozen peeled yuca is acceptable if the fresh yuca at your market is dry, waxy, or streaked gray. Canned yuca is not the same. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Hoja santa belongs here because Veracruz knows that leaf. It tastes of anise, pepper, and wet earth. Add one whole leaf to perfume the broth and a torn leaf at the end so the flavor does not disappear.
• •Afro-Mexican food is not a footnote to the national menu. Veracruz Sotavento, Costa Chica Oaxaca, and Costa Chica Guerrero each have their own pots, beaches, markets, and arguments. This is a 32-state cuisine, and the third root has names: Tlacotalpan, Los Tuxtlas, Chacahua, Pinotepa, Cuajinicuilapa.
• •Keep the vocabulary clean. Guerrero has chilate the chicken stew and chilate the cacao, rice, and cinnamon beverage. Wet barbacoa from Costa Chica is plated as stew, not taquería barbacoa. Tichindas are black-shell mangrove mussels from Laguna de Chacahua and Corralero, not generic mussels. Chilpachole is thickened with masa, not flour.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the chickpeas the night before. If you forget, cook them separately until almost tender, then add them to the stew. Do not replace them with canned chickpeas.
• •The tripe and bone broth can be cooked one day ahead. Refrigerate the broth with the tripe in it, then lift off any hard fat you do not want before reheating. Leave some fat. That red sheen is part of the dish.
• •The chile recado can be toasted, blended, strained, and fried one day ahead. Keep it refrigerated and stir it into the hot broth when you finish the stew.
• •Add the chochoyotes the day you serve. Masa dumplings left overnight keep absorbing broth and become heavy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 720g)