Nuégados Chiapanecos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide mixing bowl
• •Wooden rolling pin or clean hands for rolling ropes
• •Heavy 4-quart pot for frying
• •Kitchen spider or slotted spoon
• •Wire rack set over a tray
• •Woven palm basket lined with a cotton servilleta for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the dry base

   Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a wide bowl. Make a well in the center. This dough is not cake batter. It needs structure so the nuégados fry crisp outside and tender inside.

2. 2

   Add orange and manteca

   Beat the eggs with the orange juice, orange zest, softened manteca de cerdo, and tablespoon of sugar. Pour this into the flour well and begin mixing with your fingers, pulling flour from the sides into the center. The dough should come together rough and slightly firm. If dry flour remains, add warm water one tablespoon at a time. Do not drown it.

3. 3

   Knead and rest

   Knead on a lightly floured table for 6 to 8 minutes, until the dough feels smooth and elastic but not soft like bread dough. Cover with a clean cloth and rest for 20 minutes. The rest lets the flour drink the orange juice and makes the pieces easier to cut. A rushed dough fights you in the oil.

4. 4

   Cut the nuggets

   Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 3/4 inch thick, then cut into small nuggets about the size of the first joint of your thumb. Keep them even. A señora selling from a basket will spot the lazy cutting before the first customer does.

   If the pieces puff unevenly or split open, the dough was cut too large or the oil is too hot. Small, even pieces are the discipline of this recipe.
5. 5

   Fry until golden

   Heat the oil or fresh lard in a heavy pot to 350F. Fry the nuégados in small batches, stirring gently so they color evenly. They should turn deep golden in 3 to 4 minutes, with tiny blisters on the surface and no raw line at the center when one is broken open. Lift them out with a spider and drain on a rack. Paper towels trap oil underneath. Use a rack.

6. 6

   Warm the honey

   Warm the miel de abeja with the canela mexicana and 1 teaspoon orange juice over low heat for 3 minutes. Do not boil it hard. Honey turns sharp when abused. Remove the canela. The honey should be loose enough to coat, not so hot that it soaks the nuégados into heaviness.

7. 7

   Coat with honey

   Put the warm nuégados in a wide bowl. Drizzle with the warm honey and toss with a wooden spoon until every piece is lightly glazed. You want shine, not a puddle. If you bury them in honey, you made sticky dough balls, not Chiapas nuégados.

8. 8

   Roll in sugar

   Spread the 3/4 cup sugar on a tray. Roll the honey-coated nuégados while they are still tacky, then let them sit 10 minutes so the sugar sets into a thin crust. Serve piled in a basket lined with a cloth napkin, the way they belong. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use fresh orange juice, not bottled. Bottled juice tastes cooked and flat. The orange is the fragrance of the dough, so do not cheat there.
• •Miel de abeja should taste floral and clean. If your honey tastes like corn syrup, ask the women at the market who sells the real thing. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Fresh pork lard gives the best flavor for frying, but it must be clean and not previously used for onions, chiles, or meat. Sweet frying remembers everything.
• •Nuégados are not supposed to be spicy. Not all Mexican food carries chile. This is Chiapas dulcería, and sugar, orange, honey, wheat, and manteca are doing the work.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be mixed and rested in the refrigerator up to 8 hours ahead. Bring it back to cool room temperature before rolling and cutting.
• •The nuégados are best the day they are fried, but they keep well for 2 days in a covered tin once the sugar coating has set.
• •Do not refrigerate finished nuégados. The sugar pulls moisture from the air and turns sticky.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 26g)