Pipián Costeño con Ajonjolí

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy dry skillet
• •High-powered blender
• •Volcanic stone molcajete or spice grinder
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy saucepan
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the sesame

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-low. Add the sesame seeds and stir constantly until they turn pale gold and smell nutty, 4 to 6 minutes. Do not walk away. Ajonjolí burns from the bottom before the top warns you. Pour the seeds onto a plate immediately so the comal's heat does not keep cooking them.

   If the sesame turns dark brown, start again. Burned sesame makes the whole pipián taste dirty and bitter. No me vengas con atajos.
2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Wipe the comal clean and keep it over medium heat. Toast the chile costeño in batches for 10 to 15 seconds per side, just until the skin softens, the color deepens, and the chile smells fruity and sharp. Toast the ancho a little longer, about 20 seconds per side. They should never blacken. Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes.

3. 3

   Char the vegetables

   On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, onion slices, and unpeeled garlic. Turn them until the tomato skins blister, the onion edges brown, and the garlic softens in its paper, 8 to 10 minutes. Peel the garlic. This char is not decoration. It gives the sauce the taste of a coast kitchen with a working comal.

4. 4

   Grind the spice

   In a molcajete or spice grinder, grind the clove, black peppercorns, and cinnamon into a fine powder. Use only one clove. More does not make the sauce better. It makes it taste like a dentist's drawer.

5. 5

   Blend the paste

   Drain the chiles and discard the soaking water. Add the chiles, toasted sesame, roasted tomatoes, onion, peeled garlic, ground spices, salt, and 1 cup of warm stock to a blender. Blend until very smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. The paste should be thick, red-brown, and glossy, with no gritty sesame texture left. Add a little more stock only if the blades refuse to move.

6. 6

   Fry the sauce

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide clay cazuela or heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the blended paste carefully. It will sputter. Stir with a wooden spoon for 6 to 8 minutes, scraping the bottom, until the paste darkens slightly and the fat begins to show at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Oil will cook the sauce, but lard gives it the roundness the coast cooks expect.

7. 7

   Simmer to body

   Stir in the remaining warm stock. Lower the heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce coats the spoon and falls in a slow ribbon. Taste for salt. If the tomatoes are too sharp, add the teaspoon of piloncillo and simmer 3 minutes more. The finished pipián should taste of toasted sesame first, chile costeño second, and clove only as a shadow.

8. 8

   Finish and serve

   Scatter the extra toasted sesame over the surface. Spoon the pipián over pan-seared fish, grilled shrimp, poached chicken, roasted squash, or boiled vegetables. For fish, use warm fish stock in the sauce. For chicken, use chicken stock. Match the broth to what you are serving. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chile costeño from a Mexican market with real turnover, especially vendors who source from Guerrero or Oaxaca. If the chiles are dusty, brittle, and smell like cardboard, leave them. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Chile guajillo is not the same as chile costeño. If you absolutely cannot find chile costeño, use 5 guajillos and 2 chile de árbol as a compromise. It will make a good sesame chile sauce. It will not be the same Costa Chica pipián.
• •Use white sesame seeds, not black sesame, tahini, or sesame oil. Tahini is already ground and tastes like another kitchen. This sauce needs seeds toasted on a comal.
• •For fish, keep the sauce medium-thick so it can cling without burying the flesh. For chicken, simmer it a little tighter. For vegetables, loosen it with a splash of hot water right before serving.
• •Not all Mexican food is hot. This sauce has heat from chile costeño, but the point is sesame, char, and coastal chile flavor. If all you taste is fire, you used the wrong hand.

Advance Preparation

• •The sauce can be made 3 days ahead and refrigerated. It thickens as it rests, so loosen it with warm stock or water when reheating.
• •Freeze the sauce for up to 2 months in small containers. Reheat gently and stir in a spoonful of warm stock to bring back the body.
• •Toast the sesame and chiles the same day you blend the sauce. Pre-toasted seeds lose their fragrance quickly, and this pipián depends on that smell.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 165g)