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From the Istmo de Tehuantepec, a dark, earthy salsa built on the rare chile chocolate, charred tomato, and red onion ground on the metate and finished in pork lard. The Istmeñas of Juchitán made this their own.
This is a salsa from the Istmo de Tehuantepec, the narrow strip of Oaxaca where the Pacific almost reaches the Gulf and where the women of Juchitán, Tehuantepec, and Salina Cruz run the markets, the kitchens, and most of the politics. The salsa belongs to them.
The chile that defines it is chile chocolate del Istmo. Not chocolate the candy. Chocolate the color, dark, wrinkled, with an aroma that pulls cocoa, dried tobacco, and old earth out of a single dried pod. It is part of the chilhuacle family but it is its own chile, grown in small quantities by farmers around the Istmo and dried in the sun on petates. If your chile vendor does not know what state your chile came from, you do not have the right chile. This is the kind of ingredient that disappears if cooks stop asking for it. So ask for it.
The technique is straightforward and unforgiving. Toast the chile light, soak it in hot water, char the tomato and onion on the comal, grind everything on a metate or in a molcajete, and finish in lard. There is no shortcut that does not change the dish. A blender pulse is acceptable. A blender puree is not. Smooth is the wrong texture. This salsa should hold the shape of a spoon and stain the plate.
My mother never made this salsa. Jalisco does not have chile chocolate. I learned it from a senora named Doña Berta at the Mercado Jesús Carranza in Juchitán, who watched me try to peel the tomatoes after charring them and corrected me without raising her voice. The skin is the reason the salsa is dark, she said. Leave it alone. I wrote that in the margin of my notebook. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and inside Oaxaca, the Istmo is its own world.
The chile chocolate del Istmo belongs to the chilhuacle family, an heirloom group of dark Oaxacan chiles cultivated since pre-Columbian times in the Cañada and the Istmo de Tehuantepec, and not commercially farmed outside Oaxaca. The Istmo de Tehuantepec has been a matriarchal commercial society for centuries, with Zapotec and Ikoots women controlling the markets of Juchitán, Tehuantepec, and Salina Cruz, and the regional cuisine reflects this lineage of women-led culinary authority that resisted both colonial and post-revolutionary attempts to standardize a national 'Mexican' kitchen. Chile chocolate has become endangered as a cultivated variety in the 21st century, and Oaxacan chefs and conservationists at institutions like the Centro Cultural San Pablo have organized to preserve seed stock with Istmeño farmers.
Quantity
8 to 10
stemmed and seeded
Quantity
4 medium (about 1 pound)
Quantity
1
halved, skin on
Quantity
4
unpeeled
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
1/4 cup, plus more as needed
Quantity
1 tablespoon
only if tomatoes are flat
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried chile chocolate del Istmostemmed and seeded | 8 to 10 |
| ripe tomatoes | 4 medium (about 1 pound) |
| small red onionhalved, skin on | 1 |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 4 |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard) | 2 tablespoons |
| sea salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| dried Mexican oregano (oregano de monte preferred) | 1/2 teaspoon |
| chile soaking water | 1/4 cup, plus more as needed |
| fresh lime juice (optional)only if tomatoes are flat | 1 tablespoon |
Chile chocolate del Istmo is not chile chipotle and it is not the pasilla you find on a US grocery shelf. It is a dark, wrinkled chile from the Istmo de Tehuantepec, related to the chilhuacle family of Oaxaca but with its own deep, earthy, almost cocoa-like aroma. The Istmeñas at the Mercado Jesús Carranza in Juchitán dry them on petates in the sun. If your chile vendor cannot tell you what state your chile came from, you do not have the right chile. Substituting chilhuacle negro is acceptable. Substituting ancho is not.
Heat a dry comal over medium. Open each chile flat and press it skin-side down for about 15 seconds, then flip for another 10. The chile chocolate is delicate and burns fast. You want the inside to turn from matte to glossy and to release a smell of cocoa, dried leaves, and old earth. That smell is the recipe. The second it shows a black blister, pull it off.
Place the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot tap water. Hot, not boiling. Boiling water cooks the skin and turns the salsa bitter. Weigh them down with a small plate so they stay submerged. Soak for 15 minutes, until they are soft and pliable. Reserve the soaking water. The pigment and aroma are in there.
On the same comal over medium-high, place the whole tomatoes, the red onion halves skin-side down, and the unpeeled garlic. Char the tomatoes turning every couple of minutes until the skins blister and split and the juices begin to weep, about 8 to 10 minutes. Pull the garlic when the papery skin browns, about 4 minutes. The onion goes longer, until the cut side is dark and softened. The char is not damage. It is flavor.
Asi se hace en el Istmo: peel the garlic, slip the onion out of its skin, and work everything down on a metate or molcajete. Start with the salt, garlic, and oregano. Add the soaked chiles, then the charred onion, then the tomatoes last. Grind in slow circular passes until you have a thick, textured paste streaked dark red and deep brown, the color of wet bark. If you use a blender, pulse only. A smooth puree is the wrong texture. This salsa should have body.
Heat the manteca in a small clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium until it shimmers. Add the salsa all at once. It will sputter and protest. Stir with a wooden spoon for 8 to 10 minutes, until the color darkens, the fat starts to separate at the edges, and the smell shifts from raw to cooked. La manteca es el sabor. This step is what turns ground ingredients into salsa.
Loosen with a tablespoon or two of the reserved chile soaking water if the salsa is too thick to spoon. Taste. The chile chocolate carries a natural sweetness, almost cocoa, that needs salt to come forward. Add more salt if it tastes flat. If your tomatoes were watery and out of season, a tablespoon of lime juice will lift it. Let the salsa rest for 15 minutes before serving. The flavors marry. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
1 serving (about 60g)
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