Pan de Cazón Campechano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy cast iron comal or skillet for tatemar (charring)
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh sieve for the frijol colado
• •Heavy 4-quart saucepan
• •Tortilla press, if making fresh tortillas

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the cazón

   Place the cazón in a pot with the quartered onion, the two whole garlic cloves, two sprigs of epazote, the bay leaf, the salt, and enough cold water to cover by an inch. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until the fish flakes easily. Lift the fish out with a slotted spoon and let it cool on a plate. Reserve a cup of the poaching liquid. Cold water draws the flavor out of the fish into the broth without making the flesh rubbery. A rolling boil makes cazón tough and chalky.

   Cazón has a faint ammonia smell when very fresh. That is normal. Soak the fish in salted water for 20 minutes before poaching and the smell calms down. Old cazón smells aggressively of ammonia and cannot be saved. Buy from a fishmonger who knows the difference.
2. 2

   Flake and stew the fish

   Once the cazón is cool enough to handle, flake it with your fingers, pulling out any small bones or skin. In a heavy skillet, melt one tablespoon of lard over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and chopped garlic. Cook until the onion turns translucent, about four minutes. Add the flaked cazón and stir gently. Add a few tablespoons of the reserved poaching liquid, just enough to keep the mixture moist. Taste for salt. The fish should taste seasoned but not aggressive. Set aside.

3. 3

   Char the tomatoes and habanero for chiltomate

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over high. Place the whole tomatoes and the whole habanero directly on the hot surface. Turn them with tongs every couple of minutes until the skins blister and blacken in spots and the flesh begins to collapse, about eight to ten minutes total. The habanero will char faster, pull it off when the skin is mottled black. This is the Yucatecan tatemado technique. It is not optional. Raw tomatoes give you tomato sauce. Charred tomatoes give you chiltomate.

4. 4

   Build the chiltomate sauce

   Transfer the charred tomatoes to a blender, skins and all. The charred skin is part of the flavor. Reserve the habanero on the side. Blend the tomatoes until smooth. In the same skillet, melt the remaining tablespoon of lard over medium heat. Pour in the tomato puree. It will sputter. Cook for eight to ten minutes, stirring often, until the sauce darkens to a deep brick red and the fat starts to separate at the edges. Add the four sprigs of epazote and the whole charred habanero (do not break it). Simmer five more minutes. Season with salt. Fish out the habanero and the epazote stems before assembling. The habanero perfumes the sauce, it does not pulverize into it. Crush it only if the table wants real heat.

   Chiltomate is the foundational sauce of Campeche and the Yucatán peninsula. Make a double batch. It keeps refrigerated for a week and freezes well, and you will reach for it more than you expect.
5. 5

   Make the frijol colado

   Warm the cooked black beans with their liquid and the small sprig of epazote in a saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, transfer to a blender and puree until completely smooth. Pass the puree through a fine-mesh sieve back into the saucepan, pressing on the solids. This is what colado means: strained. The result should be the consistency of pancake batter, smooth enough to pour and coat a tortilla but thick enough to hold its place. If it is too thick, loosen with a splash of warm water. If it is too thin, reduce over low heat until it bodies up. Taste for salt. Keep warm.

6. 6

   Soften the tortillas

   Heat a thin film of oil or lard in a small skillet over medium heat. Pass each tortilla quickly through the hot fat, just three or four seconds per side, until soft and pliable. Do not let them crisp. They should bend, not snap. Drain on paper towels. This light fry seals the tortilla so it holds up to the bean puree and the sauce without falling apart in the layering.

7. 7

   Assemble the pan de cazón

   Pan de cazón is built like a Mayan lasagna, one serving at a time, on the plate it will be eaten from. For each portion: place one softened tortilla on a warm plate. Spread two tablespoons of frijol colado across it. Top with a generous spoonful of the cazón mixture. Place a second tortilla on top, press lightly. Repeat: bean puree, cazón. Finish with a third tortilla. The stack should be three tortillas high with two layers of bean and fish between them. This is how they serve it in Campeche. Two stacks per plate for a generous portion.

   Some cooks in the port of Campeche build a single tall stack of five or six tortillas for a single eater. Some build the assembly cazuela-style for a family. Both are correct. The home version, two stacks per plate, is what my notes from the Mercado Pedro Sainz de Baranda describe.
8. 8

   Bathe in chiltomate and serve

   Ladle the hot chiltomate generously over each stack, enough that it pools around the base and stains the top tortilla deep red. Top with a few rings of pickled red onion, a couple of slices of the charred habanero for the brave, and a few leaves of fresh epazote. Serve immediately. The dish is meant to be eaten the moment it is plated, while the sauce is hot and the tortillas have just started to drink it in. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •The tortillas must be small and fresh. Five inches across is the size in Campeche. If you can only find large tortillas, cut them down with a bowl and a knife. Day-old supermarket tortillas will not soften correctly and the dish will fight you at every layer. If your only option is a stiff package, buy nixtamal masa and press them yourself. It is one more hour of work and it is the difference between a good pan de cazón and a great one.
• •Cazón is not always easy to find outside Mexico. Fresh cod, hake, or skipjack tuna are honest substitutions and the campechano fishmongers I have talked to do not object to cod as a stand-in. What they object to is canned tuna. Do not do that. The texture is wrong and the flavor is wrong.
• •The habanero in the chiltomate is for perfume, not for heat. Leave it whole, let it steep, fish it out. If your guests want real heat, char a second one and slice it on top. Mexican cooks have always known how to scale chile to the table, not to the recipe.

Advance Preparation

• •The frijol colado and the chiltomate can both be made one day ahead and refrigerated separately. Reheat each gently before assembly. The flavors deepen overnight and the colado tightens slightly, so you may need a splash of water to loosen it.
• •The cazón can be poached and flaked up to four hours ahead, refrigerated covered. Reheat in its own moisture in a covered skillet just before serving.
• •Do not assemble the dish in advance. Pan de cazón is plated to order. Hold all three components warm and build the stacks just before they go to the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 360g)