Queso Relleno Chiapaneco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Sharp paring knife and sturdy spoon for hollowing the cheese
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and roasting vegetables
• •Blender
• •10-inch clay cazuela, preferably barro from Amatenango del Valle, or a heavy baking dish
• •Wide skillet for the picadillo

Instructions

1. 1

   Hollow the cheese

   Work with the queso de bola while it is cold. Cut a round cap from the top, about 2 1/2 inches wide, and keep it. Use a paring knife and a sturdy spoon to scoop out the center, leaving a wall and bottom about 1/2 inch thick. Chop 1 cup of the scooped cheese for the filling and save the rest for another use. Return the shell and cap to the refrigerator while you make the picadillo.

   Do not make the cheese wall thin. Thin walls split in the oven and then you have cheese sauce with ambitions. Leave structure.
2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho one at a time, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skin darkens slightly and smells deep and raisiny. Toast the chile simojovel for only a few seconds, because it is smaller and sharper. Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes. Hot water softens the flesh. Boiling water roughs up the skin and can turn the sauce bitter.

   If a chile turns black, throw it out. Burned chile is not depth, it is bitterness. Asi se hace y punto.
3. 3

   Roast and blend

   On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, the half onion, and the 3 unpeeled garlic cloves until blistered and softened in spots. Peel the garlic. Drain the chiles and blend them with the roasted tomatoes, roasted onion, peeled garlic, broth, and 1/2 teaspoon salt until completely smooth. This caldillo should be red-brown and loose enough to move around the cheese in the cazuela.

4. 4

   Fry the caldillo

   Melt 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Pour in the blended caldillo carefully, because it will sputter. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the color deepens and a light sheen of fat appears at the edge. Frying the sauce wakes up the chile. Raw blended tomato is not a finished sauce.

5. 5

   Cook the pork

   In a separate wide skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo over medium-high heat. Add the pork, 1 teaspoon salt, and black pepper. Cook, breaking it into small pieces, until the liquid evaporates and the pork begins to brown at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil will cook the meat, yes, but it will not give you this flavor.

6. 6

   Finish the picadillo

   Add the finely chopped half onion and the minced garlic to the pork. Cook until the onion softens. Stir in the Mexican oregano, cinnamon, clove, raisins, chopped almonds, olives, capers, and 1/2 cup of the fried caldillo. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, until the mixture is moist but no longer wet. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then fold in the 1 cup chopped Ocosingo cheese.

   The picadillo must be dry enough to mound on a spoon. Wet filling leaks into the cheese shell and breaks it. No me vengas con atajos.
7. 7

   Stuff the cheese

   Heat the oven to 350F. Spoon most of the remaining caldillo into a clay cazuela or heavy baking dish. Lay the hoja santa leaf in the sauce. Pack the picadillo into the hollowed cheese, pressing firmly without cracking the shell. Replace the cap. Set the stuffed cheese in the center of the cazuela and spoon a little caldillo over the top and sides.

8. 8

   Bake in clay

   Cover the cazuela loosely with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, basting once with the caldillo, until the sauce bubbles at the edges and the cheese shell looks glossy and softened but still stands. Do not chase a melted cheese pull. This is a stuffed cheese, not a dip.

9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Let the queso relleno rest for 10 minutes before cutting. Scatter the toasted sliced almonds over the top. Bring the whole cazuela to the table and serve wedges with the chile ancho caldillo spooned around them and warm corn tortillas alongside. This is Chiapas on the table, not Yucatan, not the north, not one single Mexico. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for queso de bola de Ocosingo at a Mexican cheese shop or from Chiapaneco vendors if you have access to them. If you use a small Edam ball, the technique works, but you have left Chiapas and walked toward Yucatan. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Some Ocosingo cheese is sold with wax or plastic coating. Remove all of it before cutting. The natural rind underneath can stay if it is clean and firm.
• •Chile simojovel is a Chiapas chile, small, dark, and pointed in its aroma. Outside Mexico it is hard to find. One chile de arbol gives heat, but it does not give the same regional taste. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
• •The picadillo must cool before it goes into the cheese. Hot filling softens the shell from inside before the oven even begins its work.
• •Do not overbake. The cheese should soften around the filling and hold its shape. If it collapses, you waited too long.

Advance Preparation

• •The caldillo can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Rewarm it gently before assembling so it loosens around the cheese.
• •The picadillo can be made one day ahead. Cool it completely before refrigerating, then bring it close to room temperature before stuffing.
• •The cheese can be hollowed the morning of serving. Wrap the shell and cap tightly and keep them refrigerated.
• •Do not freeze the assembled dish. The cheese texture turns grainy and the picadillo weeps.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 360g)