Tabasco Chontal Achiote Paste (Pasta de Achiote Tabasqueña)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry comal or heavy cast iron skillet
• •Spice grinder, metate, or rough volcanic basalt molcajete for breaking the achiote seeds
• •High-powered blender
• •Clean glass jar with tight lid
• •Rubber spatula reserved for chile and achiote work

Instructions

1. 1

   Pick the achiote

   Spread the achiote seeds on a plate and pick out twigs, grit, or pale broken seeds. Good achiote stains your fingers red-orange and smells faintly peppery. If it smells dusty and old, it will taste dusty and old. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.

2. 2

   Toast the seeds

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-low. Add the achiote seeds and move them constantly for 60 to 90 seconds, just until their color deepens and the smell wakes up. Do not blacken them. Remove them to a plate. Toast the pimienta gorda, black pepper, cumin, cloves, and canela for 30 to 45 seconds, until fragrant. Pull them off the comal before the cloves darken.

   Achiote turns bitter when scorched. If the seeds go black, throw them out. No paste recovers from burned achiote.
3. 3

   Grind the dry spices

   Grind the toasted achiote and spices in a spice grinder in short bursts until fine and sandy. If you are using a metate, grind with the salt first, then work in the spices. The señoras in Nacajuca add liquid slowly because achiote needs pressure before it needs moisture. If whole red specks remain, grind again. Red freckles are not paste.

4. 4

   Blend the citrus base

   Put the garlic, chile amashito, 1/2 cup of the sour orange juice, vinegar, and salt in a blender. Blend until smooth. The smell should be sharp: citrus first, then garlic, then that small green Tabasco chile. Chile amashito is not piquín. It has its own edge, and Tabasco cooks know the difference.

5. 5

   Make the paste

   Add the ground achiote mixture and the dried Mexican oregano to the blender. Blend, stopping to scrape the sides, until the paste is smooth and loose enough to fall slowly from a spoon. Add the remaining sour orange juice one tablespoon at a time until it looks like wet red clay. This is Tabasco, not a dry Yucatecan brick of recado rojo.

   If using the paste the same day for mone tamales or fish wrapped in banana leaf, blend in the torn hoja santa, called momo in Tabasco and Chiapas. For a storage jar, leave the momo out and add the fresh leaf when you cook.
6. 6

   Rest and adjust

   Scrape the paste into a clean glass jar. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes, then taste a small smear. It should be salty enough to season food, acidic enough to make your mouth water, and red enough to stain the spoon. Add a pinch more salt or a splash more sour orange if it tastes flat. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

7. 7

   Use it correctly

   For fish, chicken, pork, or squash, use about 2 tablespoons paste per pound and loosen it with a spoonful of sour orange before rubbing it in. For mone tamales, smear the paste on the filling, lay momo beside it, and wrap with banana leaf. For pejelagarto, use the paste boldly. Pejelagarto is alligator gar, native to the Grijalva and Usumacinta basins. There is no acceptable substitute. If you do not have it, cook another dish and keep your language honest.

Chef Tips

• •Buy whole achiote seeds from a spice vendor who moves product quickly. Old achiote looks dull brown and tastes like dust. At the Villahermosa market, ask the women selling chiles and recados which sack came in last.
• •Chile amashito is the little Tabasco chile, fresh green or ripe red, sometimes dried. It is not chile piquín. If you cannot find amashito, leave the chile out and add fresh serrano to the final dish if you must. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Chiapas has its own achiote work, often with chile simojovel. Chile simojovel is not pasilla, and it does not belong in this Tabasco paste. This is a 32-state cuisine. Pay attention.
• •Sour orange is the backbone. If you cannot find naranja agria, mix 1/2 cup fresh orange juice with 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice and 1 tablespoon white vinegar. It will work. It is not the same.
• •Do not add oil to the jar. Oil dulls the citrus and makes the paste heavy. When a dish later asks you to fry the paste, use manteca de cerdo. La manteca es el sabor. The storage paste itself is seed, chile, garlic, spice, and acid.
• •Momo is hoja santa. In Tabasco and Chiapas, people call it momo because that is the regional name. Use it fresh in mone tamales, fish wraps, and river dishes. Do not dry it and pretend it is the same leaf.
• •This paste stains plastic, wooden spoons, counters, aprons, and careless hands. Use glass, stainless steel, or clay. The red mark is honest kitchen work, but do not complain after you were warned.

Advance Preparation

• •The paste is better after 12 hours in the refrigerator. The achiote softens, the garlic settles, and the sour orange stops shouting.
• •Refrigerate in a clean glass jar for up to 7 days. Use a clean spoon every time. Do not leave the jar on the counter while you cook.
• •Freeze in 2-tablespoon portions for up to 3 months. Leave momo out of any paste you plan to freeze, then add fresh momo when you cook.
• •If the refrigerated paste thickens, loosen it with sour orange juice or the sour orange compromise blend. Do not loosen it with water unless you want a thinner, flatter recado.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 26g)