Pata de Pajaro Guisada (Terekua Kuin Jatsiri)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Comal de barro set over lena, or a heavy comal if that is all you have
• •Medium clay cazuela from Capula or Tzintzuntzan
• •Wooden cuchara
• •Damp cotton cloth for cleaning the mushrooms

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the mushrooms

   Trim only the gritty ends from the pata de pajaro, terakua kuin jatsiri, and pull away pine needles with your fingers. Do not soak them like laundry. Wipe them with a damp cloth and rinse quickly only where dirt clings. They should smell like wet pine forest, clean earth, and rain. If they smell sour, leave them alone.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Set a comal de barro or heavy comal over a live wood fire or steady medium heat. Toast the guajillo and pasilla briefly, about 20 seconds per side, until they darken slightly and smell sweet. They must not blacken. Burned chile makes the whole cazuela bitter, and no amount of onion will forgive you.

   The pasilla is thinner than the guajillo. Toast it last and watch it closely.
3. 3

   Warm the lard

   Set a clay cazuela over the comal and add the manteca. Let it loosen until glossy. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil makes the dish flatter and thinner. This is P'urhepecha cooking from the Meseta, not a supermarket saute.

4. 4

   Cook the onion

   Add the sliced onion and cook, stirring with a wooden cuchara, until the onion softens and starts to turn golden at the edges, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. The smell should be sweet and sharp at the same time.

5. 5

   Add chile and mushrooms

   Stir in the toasted guajillo, pasilla, and grated chile poncho peron. Add the cleaned pata de pajaro and salt. Toss gently so the coral branches do not break into crumbs. The mushrooms will give off their own liquid after a few minutes. Let that happen before you decide anything is dry.

6. 6

   Guisar slowly

   Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the mushrooms relax, the onion clings to the branches, and the chile-stained lard coats the bottom of the cazuela. If the pan catches before the mushrooms release liquid, add one or two tablespoons of hot water. No more. This is guisado, not soup.

7. 7

   Finish with epazote

   Add the epazote for the last minute only. Quelites and herbs are cooked here, never thrown raw on top like decoration. Taste for salt. Serve straight from the cazuela with warm corn tortillas from the comal. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •This dish is July and August food. Outside the rains, the cocinera tradicional waits. That is not inconvenience, that is the calendar doing its job.
• •Do not replace pata de pajaro, terekua kuin jatsiri, with white button mushrooms. Champinon has no forest aroma, no branching texture, and no place in this cazuela.
• •If you cannot identify the mushroom with certainty, do not cook it. Buy only from a trusted P'urhepecha forager or market vendor who knows the local names: trompa de puerco, pashakua, pata de pajaro, charamakua, iarini terekua, terekua kuin jatsiri, shakua, and chilke.
• •The fat is manteca de cerdo. Vegetable oil will cook the onion, yes, but it will not carry the chile into the mushroom the same way. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Serve with corn tortillas, not flour. This is corn country.

Advance Preparation

• •Clean the mushrooms up to 4 hours ahead and keep them spread on a towel in a cool place. Do not seal them in plastic, or they will sweat and sour.
• •Toast and tear the guajillo and pasilla up to 1 day ahead. Keep them dry in a covered clay bowl or glass jar.
• •This guisado is best eaten the day it is made. Reheat gently in a cazuela with a spoonful of lard, but do not expect the branches to stay as lively the second day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 165g)