Sopa de Pan Coleta

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large 8-quart stockpot for the chicken broth
• •Cast iron comal for roasting tomatoes, onion, and garlic
• •Blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wide barro de Amatenango clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the broth

   Place the chicken, water, quartered onion, smashed garlic, bay leaves, tomillo, Mexican oregano, canela, cloves, pimienta gorda, black peppercorns, and salt in a large pot. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam during the first 15 minutes. Do not boil it hard. A violent pot gives you cloudy broth and tired chicken.

2. 2

   Simmer and strain

   Lower the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and tender, 45 to 55 minutes. Lift out the chicken and strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer. Measure 8 cups of broth for the soup. Reserve the meat for another meal, or shred 1 cup into the cazuela only if that is how your house serves it. The coleta soup is built first on broth and bread.

3. 3

   Roast the recado

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Roast the tomatoes, half onion, and unpeeled garlic, turning until the tomatoes slump, the onion chars at the edges, and the garlic softens inside its skin. Peel the garlic. Put the azafrán del país in a small bowl with 2 tablespoons of hot broth and let it bloom for 5 minutes. Blend the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, bloomed azafrán, and 1 cup of the broth until smooth.

   Azafrán del país is usually safflower, not Spanish saffron. It gives color and a gentle floral note. If a vendor in San Cristóbal sells you bright orange threads, ask her if it is azafrán del país. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
4. 4

   Fry the broth base

   Melt 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a heavy pot over medium heat. Pour in the blended tomato recado. It will sputter, so stir with respect. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, until the raw tomato smell leaves and the color deepens. Add the remaining 7 cups broth and simmer 15 minutes. Taste for salt. The broth should be a little stronger than you think, because the bread will soften it.

5. 5

   Fry the bread

   Heat 4 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a wide skillet. Fry the pan francés slices in batches, about 45 seconds per side, until the edges turn gold and the crumb firms up. They should not be soaked in fat. This coating is what lets the bread hold its shape under the broth. Fresh bread turns to paste. Day-old bread knows its job.

6. 6

   Fry the plátano

   Add the remaining 2 tablespoons manteca to the skillet as needed. Fry the plátano macho slices until deep golden on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Move them to a plate. The plátano should be ripe enough to smell sweet when it hits the fat, but still firm enough to slice cleanly.

7. 7

   Layer the cazuela

   Set a wide barro de Amatenango cazuela over low heat, or use a heavy Dutch oven. Lay in one layer of fried bread. Scatter over some plátano, raisins, almonds, olives, capers, and sliced hard-boiled egg. Repeat the layers until everything is used, saving a few egg and plátano slices for the top. Pour the hot broth around the edges, not straight down the middle, until the bread is just covered. Do not stir. No me vengas con atajos.

8. 8

   Settle and serve

   Cover the cazuela and warm over low heat for 10 minutes, just long enough for the bread to drink broth without falling apart. Rest off the heat for 5 minutes. Serve from the cazuela into deep bowls, lifting down through the layers so every serving gets bread, plátano, egg, and broth. This is holiday soup, not a stirred porridge. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •This is not a chile-forward soup. Do not add chile guajillo because you think every Mexican soup needs a red chile base. San Cristóbal builds this pot with canela, clavo, pimienta gorda, tomillo, oregano, and azafrán del país.
• •Pan francés coleta is not a baguette. It is a small, sturdy local bread with enough body to survive broth. Outside Chiapas, use a dense day-old bolillo as a compromise, not soft sandwich bread. Soft bread gives you paste.
• •La manteca es el sabor. Some strict Lenten houses use oil, and that is their observance. For the flavor of the highland kitchen, fry the bread and plátano in manteca de cerdo.
• •Chipilín and momo are Chiapas, yes, but not every Chiapas pot uses them. This dish belongs to the highland bread-and-broth table of San Cristóbal. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and inside each state, every region has its own hands.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken broth and tomato recado can be made up to 2 days ahead. Refrigerate them separately, then combine and simmer before assembling the soup.
• •Slice the pan francés the day before and leave it loosely covered so it dries slightly. Stale bread is not a flaw here. It is structure.
• •Assemble the soup shortly before serving. Once the bread sits too long in the broth, it softens past the point of pride.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 550g)