Recado de Chilate Guerrerense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy clay comal
• •Metate, volcanic molcajete, or electric spice grinder
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Small red clay cazuela or clean glass jar for storage

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the chiles

   Wipe the chile costeño rojo with a dry cloth. Pull off the stems, shake out most of the seeds, and tear the chiles open. Keep a pinch of seeds if you want a sharper bite. Do not rinse them. Water dulls the toast and makes the skin tough.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium-low. Toast the chile costeño in small batches, 8 to 12 seconds per side, pressing each piece flat with a spatula until the skin blisters and the color deepens. This chile is thin and fast. If it turns black, throw it out. Burned chile makes bitter recado, and no piloncillo will save it.

   Chile costeño is not guajillo. Guajillo is sweeter, larger, and from a different cooking logic. Use it and you have another adobo, not this one.
3. 3

   Toast the dry goods

   Toast the cacao beans on the same comal until the shells crack and the smell turns deep and bitter. Toast the rice until pale gold, then the sesame until golden and nutty. Toast the canela, cloves, pimienta gorda, and black pepper for less than one minute, just until fragrant. Everything has its own timing. Pile it all together and something will burn.

4. 4

   Peel and cool

   Rub the toasted cacao beans in a clean towel to loosen the husks, then pick away as much shell as you can. Let everything cool completely before grinding. Hot sesame and cacao smear into the grinder too early. You want powder first, paste later.

5. 5

   Grind the recado

   Grind the rice first on a metate or in a spice grinder until sandy and fine. Add the toasted chiles, canela, cloves, pimienta gorda, and black pepper. Grind again. Add the cacao and sesame last, because they release oil. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and regrind the coarse bits. The powder should smell like cacao, chile, and toasted canela, not like sweet chocolate.

   A metate gives the best texture. A spice grinder works if you grind in small batches and stop before the oils turn everything gummy. No me vengas con atajos, but use the machine correctly when it helps.
6. 6

   Make the paste

   Put the ground mixture in a molcajete or bowl. Add the coarse sea salt and 1/3 cup warm water, one spoonful at a time, working it into a dense brick-red paste. Add more water only if the recado refuses to come together. It should be thick enough to hold the mark of a spoon. Rest it for 20 minutes so the rice, cacao, and chile settle into each other.

7. 7

   Dilute for chilate

   For a cold chilate, whisk 2 tablespoons recado with 2 cups cold water and piloncillo to taste. Strain if you want a cleaner drink, then pour it between two clay jars or jícaras until the surface looks lively and light. This is not supermarket chocolate milk. It is cacao, chile costeño, rice, and canela, carried by the Costa Chica.

8. 8

   Use as adobo

   For 2 pounds of pork, chicken, or firm fish, mix 3 tablespoons recado with 1/4 cup naranja agria juice and 2 tablespoons melted manteca de cerdo. Rub it into the meat with enough salt to season it properly. Pork and chicken can rest overnight. Fish gets 20 to 30 minutes, no more. Cook on a comal, in a clay cazuela, or over charcoal until the recado darkens and grips the surface. La manteca es el sabor.

9. 9

   Store the batch

   Spoon the recado into a clean glass jar, press a piece of parchment against the surface, and refrigerate. Use within 10 days. For longer storage, keep the ground mixture dry and add water only when you need paste. The dry recado keeps its strength for about 6 weeks in a cool cupboard.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chile costeño rojo from a vendor who can tell you it comes from Guerrero or the Costa Chica. If the bag only says 'dried red chile' and nobody knows more, keep walking. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Do not use Mexican chocolate tablets for the cacao. They already contain sugar, cinnamon, and fat, and they flatten the recado. Whole cacao beans are right. Unsweetened cacao nibs are a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Keep the base recado free of lard if you plan to drink it as chilate. When it becomes adobo for meat, then use manteca de cerdo. Vegetable oil will carry the paste, yes, but it will not give the same body. La manteca es el sabor.
• •The paste should taste assertive before it touches meat or water. Bitter cacao, direct chile, toasted canela, salt. A shy recado disappears when diluted.
• •If your chile costeño is very hot, remove all the seeds and veins. Heat changes by harvest. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. They know which sack is gentle and which one bites.

Advance Preparation

• •The dry ground recado can be made up to 6 weeks ahead and stored airtight in a cool cupboard. Add water only when you need paste.
• •The hydrated paste keeps refrigerated for 10 days. Press parchment directly onto the surface to keep it from drying out.
• •For pork or chicken adobo, rub the meat the night before and refrigerate. For fish, marinate only 20 to 30 minutes or the citrus will tighten the flesh too much.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 64g)