Chef Lupita
Asado Chiapaneco de Comitán
Comitán's special-occasion pork asado, cubed pork loin browned in manteca and braised in a thick chile ancho adobo with tomato, vinegar, olives, raisins, and warm spices.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Postas de Robalo Fritas Tabasqueñas
Created by
Tabasco's everyday Gulf and river fish, cut thick through the bone, rubbed with sour orange and garlic, then fried in manteca until the skin is crisp and the flesh stays juicy.
Main Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Comfort Food
25 min
Active Time
20 min cook•45 min total
Yield4 servings
Tabasco, especially the coast around Paraíso, Sánchez Magallanes, and the waters feeding into the Laguna de Mecoacán, knows robalo as everyday food, not luxury. This is a fish from mangrove edges, river mouths, and Gulf water. You cut it in postas, thick crosswise steaks through the bone, because the bone protects the flesh in hot fat and gives you something serious to eat with your hands.
The defining chile here is chile amashito, small, hot, and stubborn, the kind of chile women in Tabasco crush in a molcajete with sal, limón, and sometimes a little ajo. It doesn't make the whole plate burn. It wakes up the fried fish. Not all Mexican food is built on heat. This plate is built on clean fish, manteca de cerdo, sour orange, and the sharp bite of that little chile.
I learned this version from a señora near the Villahermosa market who told me to stop treating fish like it needed a costume. Salt it. Acid it. Dry it well. Fry it hard enough to crisp the skin and leave the center moist. Serve it with arroz blanco, plátano macho frito, lime halves, and the salsa on the side. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Tabasco's cooking is shaped by the Grijalva and Usumacinta river systems, the Gulf coast, and the Chontal Maya foodways that long depended on freshwater fish, turtles, cacao, plantains, and native chiles. Robalo, or snook, became a common market fish in coastal Tabasco because it moves between saltwater and brackish river mouths, making it practical for home cooks far beyond the beach towns. Chile amashito, a small wild chile associated with Tabasco and neighboring Chiapas, remains one of the state's clearest regional markers, especially in table salsas served with fish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
robalo steaks
Quantity
4 steaks, about 8 ounces each
cut 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick through the bone
sour orange juice
Quantity
1/3 cup
or 1/4 cup orange juice mixed with 2 tablespoons lime juice
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
finely grated
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
masa harina or fine corn flour
Quantity
1/2 cup
for dusting the fish
pork lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
3/4 cup, plus more if needed
for frying the robalo
ripe plantains
Quantity
2
peeled and sliced on the diagonal
pork lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
for frying the plantains
cooked arroz blanco (optional)
Quantity
2 cups
lime halves (optional)
Quantity
for serving
hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warmed
fresh chile amashito
Quantity
12
stemmed
small garlic clove
Quantity
1
kosher salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
fresh lime juice
Quantity
3 tablespoons
fresh cilantro
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
white onion
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| robalo steakscut 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick through the bone | 4 steaks, about 8 ounces each |
| sour orange juiceor 1/4 cup orange juice mixed with 2 tablespoons lime juice | 1/3 cup |
| garlic clovesfinely grated | 3 |
| kosher salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| masa harina or fine corn flourfor dusting the fish | 1/2 cup |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo)for frying the robalo | 3/4 cup, plus more if needed |
| ripe plantainspeeled and sliced on the diagonal | 2 |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo)for frying the plantains | 3 tablespoons |
| cooked arroz blanco (optional) | 2 cups |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)warmed | for serving |
| fresh chile amashitostemmed | 12 |
| small garlic clove | 1 |
| kosher salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| fresh lime juice | 3 tablespoons |
| fresh cilantrofinely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide cast iron skillet or heavy clay cazuela for frying
- •Volcanic stone molcajete for salsa de amashito
- •Wire rack or brown paper-lined tray for resting the fried fish
- •Comal for warming corn tortillas
Instructions
- 1
Season the fish
Pat the robalo steaks dry. Mix the sour orange juice, grated garlic, salt, and black pepper in a shallow dish. Turn the fish in this mixture and let it sit for 15 minutes, no longer. Sour orange perfumes the fish and tightens the surface just enough. Leave it too long and the acid starts cooking the flesh before the pan does.
- 2
Make salsa amashito
In a molcajete, crush the chile amashito, small garlic clove, and salt until the chiles break into a rough paste. Stir in the lime juice, cilantro, and white onion. Taste it. It should be bright, sharp, and direct. This is a table salsa, not a soup. If you blend it smooth, you lose the little bursts of chile that make it Tabasqueña.
Chile amashito is small but serious. Start with eight if your chiles are very hot, then crush in the rest after tasting. The chile should wake the fish up, not bury it. - 3
Dry and dust
Lift the fish from the marinade and pat it very dry with towels. Spread the masa harina on a plate and dust each posta lightly on both sides, shaking off the excess. You are not breading the fish. You are giving the surface a thin coat so the skin crisps and the flesh does not stick. No me vengas con a thick crust.
- 4
Heat the manteca
Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide cast iron skillet or heavy cazuela over medium-high heat. The fat should be about 1/4 inch deep. When a pinch of masa sizzles immediately and turns pale gold, the fat is ready. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil will fry the fish, yes. It will not taste like the coast kitchens of Tabasco.
- 5
Fry the robalo
Lay the fish steaks into the hot fat without crowding the pan. Fry 4 to 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness, until the skin is crisp, the edges are deep gold, and the flesh near the bone turns opaque but still juicy. Turn the steaks only once if you can. Too much moving tears the skin. Work in batches if needed and add a little more manteca between batches.
- 6
Fry the plantains
While the fish rests on a rack or a brown paper-lined tray, heat 3 tablespoons manteca in a second skillet. Fry the plantain slices 2 to 3 minutes per side until caramel-brown at the edges and soft in the center. Plantain belongs on this plate because Tabasco cooks from humid lowland abundance: fish, banana, cacao, chile, corn. That is geography on the table.
- 7
Serve Tabasqueño
Set the robalo on a large terracotta plate with arroz blanco, plátano frito, lime halves, warm corn tortillas, and the salsa de amashito in a small clay bowl. Spoon the salsa over each bite, not over the whole fish in advance. The fried surface should stay crisp. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Buy robalo steaks cut thick through the bone. Thin fillets overcook before the skin crisps. If the fish smells strong or looks dull at the market, walk away. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
- •If you cannot find robalo, use huachinango steaks or corvina steaks. That is a compromise, not an upgrade. Robalo has a clean, firm flesh that suits this Tabasco treatment.
- •Ask for chile amashito at Mexican markets that serve people from Tabasco or Chiapas. If you cannot find it, chile piquín is the closest substitute, but it is sharper and less green in flavor.
- •Do not drown the fish in salsa before serving. Fried fish needs its surface. Put the salsa on the table and let each person season each bite.
- •Corn tortillas belong here. Flour tortillas are a northern tradition. This plate is Tabasqueño.
Advance Preparation
- •The salsa de amashito can be made up to 2 hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature. Add the cilantro just before serving so it stays bright.
- •The arroz blanco can be cooked earlier in the day and reheated gently with a spoonful of water.
- •Do not marinate the robalo ahead for more than 15 minutes. Acid changes the texture of fish quickly, and a good posta deserves better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 430g)
Calories
820 calories
Total Fat
35 g
Saturated Fat
13 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
20 g
Cholesterol
120 mg
Sodium
1280 mg
Total Carbohydrates
77 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
14 g
Protein
49 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Chiapas & Tabasco Main Dishes
Browse the full collection
Chef Lupita
Carne Salada con Chaya Tabasqueña
Tabasco's salt-cured beef braised with chaya, ripe plantain, chile dulce, and epazote, a humid lowland dish built for the pot, the patio garden, and a stack of warm corn tortillas.
Chef Lupita
Chiapas Chipilín Rice (Arroz con Chipilín)
Chiapas rice from the warm central valleys, fried first in manteca, then cooked with fresh chipilin leaves and tender white corn until the pot smells green, grassy, and unmistakably southern.
Chef Lupita
Chirmole de Gallina Tabasqueño
Tabasco's Chontal Maya hen stew, built from burned tortilla, chile amashito, ancho, roasted pumpkin seeds, and a slow broth that turns an older bird into a dark, serious family pot.