Tabasco Gar in Green Sauce (Pejelagarto en Verde)

Tabasco, the lowland river country around Villahermosa, Nacajuca, Centla, and the Grijalva, is where this dish lives. Pejelagarto is not catfish. It is pejelagarto, the long-snouted armored fish of the rivers and wetlands, and a Chontal cook will hear the difference before the pot even reaches the table.

This green sauce does not behave like a central Mexican salsa verde. Do not come here looking for tomatillo and serrano to do all the work. The Maya south leans on herbs: chaya for its deep green body, chipilin for that wild bean-leaf perfume, momo, also called hierba santa, for the aniseed shadow that tells you you are in the Gulf lowlands. The chile amashito is small and sharp, but it does not own the pot. Not all Mexican soups are chile-forward. Learn that and you'll cook Tabasco with more respect.

I learned versions of this caldo from women who cooked by the river, not from restaurant menus. They browned the fish lightly in manteca de cerdo, loosened fresh masa in broth with their fingers, and simmered the sauce until it clung softly to the pejelagarto. Masa is masa, not cornstarch. La manteca es el sabor. The ceramic on the table should be barro, the tortillas should be warm, and the pozol should be cold in a jicara. Cada estado, su propia cocina.