Purépecha Beef Stew (Churipo)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart olla de barro or stockpot
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and roasting aromatics
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Deep green-glazed Michoacán barro bowls for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the broth

   Put the beef shank and short ribs or neck bones in a heavy 8-quart pot. Add the cold water, halved onion, halved head of garlic, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises during the first 20 minutes. Do not boil it hard. Churipo should have a clean red broth, not a cloudy pot that tastes tired.

2. 2

   Simmer the beef

   Lower the heat until the broth moves with slow, steady bubbles. Cover partially and cook for about 2 hours, until the shank meat is tender but still holds together on the bone. Add a little hot water if the liquid drops below the meat. The marrow and collagen are doing the work here. Lean stew meat will not give you the same body.

3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile guajillo one or two at a time, about 15 to 20 seconds per side, just until the skins darken slightly and smell fruity. Toast the chile ancho the same way. Do not blacken them. Burned chile gives bitterness, and bitterness in a broth spreads everywhere.

   Chile guajillo is the spine of churipo. It gives the broth its clean red color and gentle fruit. The ancho adds body. Do not replace the guajillo with a random dried chile and expect the same dish.
4. 4

   Roast the aromatics

   On the same comal, roast the Roma tomatoes, half onion, and unpeeled garlic cloves until the tomatoes blister, the onion has browned edges, and the garlic softens inside its skin. Peel the garlic. This is not decoration. The comal takes the raw edge off the sauce before it enters the broth.

5. 5

   Soak and blend

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 20 minutes. Hot water, not boiling. Drain them and blend with the roasted tomatoes, roasted onion, peeled garlic, and 1 cup of the beef broth until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly on the solids. The broth should taste like chile, not chile skin.

6. 6

   Fry the chile

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a small cazuela or skillet over medium heat. Add the strained chile puree. It will sputter, so stir with respect. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, until the sauce darkens to brick red and the fat begins to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This step makes the guajillo taste round instead of raw.

7. 7

   Redden the broth

   Remove the spent onion and garlic head from the beef broth. Stir in the fried chile base. Simmer 15 minutes so the chile and beef stop tasting like separate things. Taste for salt now. The broth should be assertive because the vegetables and corundas will soften it at the table.

8. 8

   Cook the vegetables

   Add the corn, chayote, and carrots first. Simmer 12 minutes. Add the calabacitas and cabbage wedges and simmer 8 to 10 minutes more, until the cabbage is tender but not collapsing. The women who make churipo for fiestas know this order. If you throw everything in together, the squash dies before the chayote is ready. No me vengas con atajos.

9. 9

   Add the herbs

   Add the tied cilantro, hierbabuena lisa, and epazote during the last 5 minutes of cooking. The mint should lift the broth without turning it into tea, and the epazote should sit in the background. Remove the herb bundles before serving. Taste again for salt. A good churipo has beef, chile, and green herb in balance.

10. 10

    Serve with corundas

    Warm the plain corundas in their leaves until soft. Put one whole corunda, or a few torn pieces, into each deep bowl and ladle the red broth, beef, and vegetables over it. Scatter a few cilantro leaves on top if you want them. In some Purépecha communities the corunda is eaten from the side like bread; in this bowl it goes in to drink the broth. Do not serve this with flour tortillas. Flour tortillas are northern. This is Michoacán. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chambarete de res, beef shank with the bone. The bone and marrow give the broth its body. Boneless stew meat will cook, yes, but it will not give you churipo with shoulders.
• •The chile guajillo must be flexible and deep red, not brittle and dusty. At the market, bend it. If it cracks like old paper, leave it there. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Plain corundas matter. They are not sweet tamales and not filled tamales. They are the Purépecha companion to the broth. If you cannot get corundas, a plain corn tamal is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Some cooks in the Meseta use chile pasilla instead of ancho, some add garbanzos, some use more hierbabuena. The constant is the red guajillo broth, beef with bone, vegetables cooked in order, and corundas on the table.
• •Churipo is not hot for the sake of being hot. Chile guajillo gives color, fruit, and depth more than fire. Calling every Mexican dish hot is lazy. This is a 32-state cuisine.

Advance Preparation

• •The beef broth can be made one day ahead. Refrigerate it with the meat in the broth, then lift off any hardened fat you do not want before reheating.
• •The chile base can be toasted, blended, strained, and fried one day ahead. Refrigerate it separately and stir it into the simmering broth when you finish the stew.
• •Add the vegetables the day you serve. Cabbage and calabacita do not improve overnight. They turn soft and give the broth a tired flavor.
• •Corundas can be made up to two days ahead and reheated in a steamer. Keep them wrapped so they do not dry out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 750g)