Salsa de Chile Chocolate del Istmo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet
• •Volcanic stone molcajete or, ideally, a metate
• •Small clay cazuela for frying the salsa
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Know your chile

   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.

   These chiles are scarce outside Oaxaca. Ask the chile vendors at La Merced in Mexico City or Mercado 20 de Noviembre in Oaxaca. If you must mail-order, buy from a vendor who names the producer and the town.
2. 2

   Toast the chiles on a comal

   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.

3. 3

   Soak in hot water, not boiling

   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.

4. 4

   Char the tomatoes, onion, and garlic

   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.

   Do not peel the tomato skins after charring. The blackened skin gives the salsa the smoky depth that defines the Istmo version. Peeling is a Tex-Mex habit. No me vengas con atajos.
5. 5

   Grind, on metate or in the molcajete

   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.

6. 6

   Fry the salsa in lard

   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.

7. 7

   Adjust and rest

   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.

Chef Tips

• •Chile chocolate del Istmo is not interchangeable with chile chocolate from other regions, and it is not the chocolate-colored chile labels you sometimes see on US shelves. If you cannot find the real thing, chilhuacle negro is the closest substitute and chilhuacle rojo will work in a pinch. Pasilla oaxaqueño shifts the salsa toward smoky territory, which is a different dish, but defensible. Ancho is not a substitute. Do not use it.
• •The lard matters. Use rendered pork lard from a butcher who renders it himself, not the hydrogenated white brick from the supermarket. If you have rendered lard left over from carnitas or chicharrón, that is the lard for this salsa. La manteca es el sabor.
• •This salsa is built for the Istmeño table: with totopos de Tehuantepec (the large, thin, pricked tortillas toasted dry), with garnachas istmeñas, with grilled fresh fish or pollo asado, or simply spooned over black beans and rice. It is not a dipping salsa for restaurant chips.

Advance Preparation

• •The salsa can be made up to four days ahead and refrigerated in a glass jar. The flavor deepens by day two as the chile, onion, and lard finish marrying. Bring to room temperature before serving, or warm gently in a clay cazuela.
• •Toasted chiles can be prepared a day ahead and kept in a sealed bag at room temperature. Once soaked, use within a few hours.
• •This salsa freezes well in small jars for up to two months, which is how the Istmeñas keep it on hand year-round. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)