Pollo Relleno Jarocho

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Sharp boning knife or a trusted butcher for boning the chicken
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles
• •Wide heavy skillet for the picadillo
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Cotton kitchen twine and skewers
• •Clay cazuela or heavy roasting pan
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the chicken

   Lay the boned chicken skin side down on a board. Rub the inside and outside with salt, black pepper, and lime juice. Refrigerate uncovered while you make the filling. If you are not comfortable boning a whole chicken, ask a real butcher to do it and tell them to keep the skin intact. That is not a shortcut. That is knowing where the skilled hands are.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skin softens and smells sweet. Toast the chile chipotle briefly, closer to 10 seconds per side, because it is already smoked and turns harsh if burned. Cover the toasted chiles with hot water and soak for 20 minutes.

   The ancho gives body and dark fruit sweetness. The chipotle gives smoke. This dish is not supposed to punish anybody with heat. Veracruz food knows balance.
3. 3

   Blend the chile base

   Drain the chiles and blend them with the roasted tomatoes and 1/2 cup chicken broth until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Press hard on the solids. You want a smooth red base that will cling to the pork and later stain the chicken skin.

4. 4

   Build the picadillo

   Melt 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the ground pork and cook until it loses its raw color and begins to brown at the edges. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion turns translucent. Stir in the strained chile-tomato base and cook until the fat starts to separate, about 6 minutes. La manteca es el sabor, and here it carries the chile into the meat.

5. 5

   Finish the filling

   Add the diced plantain, raisins, almonds, olives, capers, hoja santa, cinnamon, clove, oregano, and wine or broth. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture is thick and almost dry, 10 to 12 minutes. Taste for salt carefully because the olives and capers already speak. Let the picadillo cool completely before stuffing the chicken. Hot filling inside raw poultry is bad kitchen discipline.

6. 6

   Stuff and tie

   Heat the oven to 375F. Spoon the cooled picadillo down the center of the boned chicken. Do not pack it like cement. Fold the sides of the chicken over the filling, skin side out, and tie every 1 1/2 inches with cotton kitchen twine until it holds a firm oval shape. Close any openings with skewers. If filling spills out now, it will spill out worse in the oven.

7. 7

   Roast the chicken

   Rub the outside with the remaining 1 tablespoon manteca de cerdo. Place the chicken seam side down in a clay cazuela or roasting pan with the bay leaves and remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth. Roast for 45 minutes, basting twice with the pan juices. The skin should begin turning red-brown and glossy.

8. 8

   Finish safely

   Lower the oven to 350F and continue roasting until the thickest part of the chicken and the center of the stuffing both reach 165F, usually 30 to 45 minutes more. Add a splash of broth if the pan dries out. Do not guess with stuffed poultry. Use the thermometer. The old cooks knew by touch because they had made it a hundred times. You have a tool, use it.

9. 9

   Rest and slice

   Transfer the chicken to a board and rest 20 minutes before cutting. Skim excess fat from the pan juices but leave enough sheen to make the sauce taste alive. Slice crosswise into thick rounds so every piece shows chicken, skin, and picadillo. Serve on a clay platter with black beans, arroz blanco, corn tortillas, lime halves, and the pan sauce spooned over the top. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for green olives with pits from a Mexican or Spanish grocery if you can, then pit them yourself. The flavor is stronger than the tired sliced olives in jars. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Hoja santa, also called acuyo in Veracruz, tastes like anise, pepper, and green earth at once. If you cannot find it, leave it out. Do not replace it with basil. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado before you invent nonsense.
• •The filling must be almost dry before it goes into the bird. Wet picadillo leaks, tears the skin, and makes the slices collapse. Cooking is engineering, not decoration.
• •Serve this with black beans, not pinto beans. Veracruz kitchens know their frijol negro. Pinto belongs more naturally to the north.
• •Corn tortillas belong at this table. Flour tortillas are a northern tradition. Good tradition, wrong region for this plate.

Advance Preparation

• •The picadillo can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Cool it completely before storing, then bring it close to room temperature before stuffing the chicken.
• •The chicken can be seasoned and refrigerated uncovered up to 12 hours ahead. This tightens the skin and helps it roast with better color.
• •The stuffed raw chicken can be assembled 4 hours ahead and refrigerated, loosely covered. Do not hold it longer. Stuffed poultry is not where you practice carelessness.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 525g)