Chef Lupita
Atápakua Purépecha de Quelites y Pepita
Michoacán's Purépecha atápakua is a chile-red, masa-thickened stew from the Lake Pátzcuaro region, built with guajillo, pasilla, toasted pepita, and quelites until the broth turns sturdy and alive.
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Pátzcuaro Bean Soup (Sopa Tarasca)
Created by
Michoacán's lake-country bean soup from Pátzcuaro, built from pinto beans, roasted tomato, chile pasilla, and tortillas fried crisp enough to stand up to the bowl.
Soups & Stews
Mexican
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
Weeknight
30 min
Active Time
2 hr 15 min cook•2 hr 45 min total
Yield6 servings
Michoacán, the lake region of Pátzcuaro, is where this soup belongs. Not a generic bean soup. Sopa Tarasca carries the taste of frijoles from the olla, tomato roasted until the skin blisters, and chile pasilla toasted just enough to darken the broth without turning it bitter.
The Purépecha country around Pátzcuaro has always known what beans can do. A pot of frijoles is not poverty food when the cook understands it. It is body, flavor, supper, breakfast tomorrow, and the base for a soup elegant enough to serve guests. The restaurant version came later. The intelligence was already in the kitchens.
Use manteca de cerdo to fry the tomato sauce and tortillas. Use chicken broth if you have it, bean broth if that is what the olla gives you. The soup should be smooth but not thin, creamy from the beans, not from a quart of cream. Crema goes on top. The beans do the work underneath.
I learned a version of this from a señora near the Pátzcuaro market who told me, very calmly, that people ruin it by treating the tortilla strips like decoration. No. They are structure. They soften at the edges and stay crisp in the middle. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Sopa Tarasca is widely credited to Felipe Oseguera Iturbide, who introduced it in 1966 at his restaurant in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, drawing on local bean cookery and the tomato-chile-tortilla logic of central Mexican soups. The name refers to the Tarascan people, the older Spanish term for the Purépecha, whose state centered around Lake Pátzcuaro resisted Mexica control before the Spanish conquest. Modern versions vary by household and restaurant, but the recognizable Pátzcuaro pattern is pureed beans, roasted tomato, chile pasilla, fried tortilla strips, crema, cheese, and avocado.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried pinto beans
Quantity
1 pound
picked over and rinsed
water
Quantity
8 cups, plus more as needed
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
for cooking the beans
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
peeled, for cooking the beans
epazote
Quantity
1 large sprig
kosher salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
dried chile pasilla
Quantity
4
stemmed and seeded, divided
ripe Roma tomatoes
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
white onion
Quantity
1/4 medium
for roasting
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
unpeeled, for roasting
manteca de cerdo (pork lard)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chicken broth or bean cooking broth
Quantity
4 cups
dried Mexican oregano
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
corn tortillas
Quantity
8
preferably day-old, cut into thin strips
pork lard or neutral oil
Quantity
1 cup
for frying the tortilla strips
Mexican crema (optional)
Quantity
1/2 cup
cotija or queso fresco (optional)
Quantity
3/4 cup
crumbled
ripe avocado (optional)
Quantity
1
diced or sliced
limes (optional)
Quantity
2
cut into wedges
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried pinto beanspicked over and rinsed | 1 pound |
| water | 8 cups, plus more as needed |
| white onionfor cooking the beans | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovespeeled, for cooking the beans | 3 |
| epazote | 1 large sprig |
| kosher salt | 2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| dried chile pasillastemmed and seeded, divided | 4 |
| ripe Roma tomatoes | 1 1/2 pounds |
| white onionfor roasting | 1/4 medium |
| garlic clovesunpeeled, for roasting | 2 |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard) | 2 tablespoons |
| chicken broth or bean cooking broth | 4 cups |
| dried Mexican oregano | 1/2 teaspoon |
| corn tortillaspreferably day-old, cut into thin strips | 8 |
| pork lard or neutral oilfor frying the tortilla strips | 1 cup |
| Mexican crema (optional) | 1/2 cup |
| cotija or queso fresco (optional)crumbled | 3/4 cup |
| ripe avocado (optional)diced or sliced | 1 |
| limes (optional)cut into wedges | 2 |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy clay cazuela or 4-quart Dutch oven
- •Cast iron comal for roasting tomatoes and toasting chile pasilla
- •High-powered blender
- •Fine-mesh strainer if your blender leaves chile skin behind
- •Small skillet for frying tortilla strips
Instructions
- 1
Cook the beans
Put the pinto beans in a heavy pot with the water, onion, garlic, and epazote. Bring to a boil, then lower to a steady simmer. Cook until the beans are completely tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on their age. Salt them in the last 30 minutes. Old beans take longer. That is not your fault, that is the market telling you its truth.
Do not drain the beans. The cooking liquid has starch, garlic, onion, and epazote in it. That broth is part of the soup. - 2
Toast the pasilla
Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast 2 of the chile pasilla for the soup, pressing them flat for 10 to 15 seconds per side until they soften and smell deep and raisiny. Do not let them blacken. Pasilla is thin and turns bitter fast. Cover the toasted chiles with hot water and soak for 15 minutes.
- 3
Roast the tomato
On the same comal, roast the Roma tomatoes, the onion piece, and the unpeeled garlic until the tomatoes are blistered and soft, the onion has browned edges, and the garlic feels tender inside its skin. Peel the garlic. This roasting is where the soup gets its roundness. Raw tomato gives you a thin, sharp soup.
- 4
Blend the base
Drain the soaked pasilla chiles. Blend them with the roasted tomatoes, roasted onion, peeled roasted garlic, 3 cups cooked beans, and 1 cup bean broth until completely smooth. Work in batches if your blender is small. A smooth soup is the Pátzcuaro style. Grainy beans mean you stopped too soon.
- 5
Fry the sauce
Melt the 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a clay cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. Pour in the blended bean and tomato base. It will sputter. Stir and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the color deepens and the lard leaves a faint orange sheen on the surface. La manteca es el sabor. This step changes blended beans into soup with authority.
- 6
Simmer the soup
Add the chicken broth or bean broth and the Mexican oregano. Simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often so the beans do not catch on the bottom. The texture should coat a spoon but still pour easily. If it is too thick, add more broth. If it is thin, simmer longer. Taste for salt at the end.
- 7
Fry the garnish
While the soup simmers, heat the cup of lard or oil in a skillet to 350F. Fry the tortilla strips in batches until crisp and golden, then drain on paper towels and salt lightly. Tear the remaining 2 chile pasilla into thin rings or strips and fry them for only a few seconds, just until they darken and crisp. Watch them. Burned chile is punishment.
- 8
Serve Pátzcuaro style
Ladle the soup into deep bowls. Top each bowl with fried tortilla strips, fried pasilla, crema, crumbled cotija or queso fresco, and avocado. Put lime wedges on the table. The tortilla strips should hit the soup at the last moment so they keep their crisp center. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •Use frijol pinto, flor de mayo, or flor de junio if that is what your Mexican market carries fresh. Pinto is the common version outside Michoacán. A good bean cooked well is better than a fancy bean that has been sitting in a bin for three years.
- •Chile pasilla is the dark, long, wrinkled dried chilaca. It tastes raisiny and earthy. Do not confuse it with ancho. Ancho will make a good soup, but it will not taste like the Pátzcuaro bowl.
- •Mexican crema belongs on top, not inside the pot. The body of the soup comes from the beans. If you pour cream into the base to make it rich, you're hiding weak cooking.
- •If you use canned beans on a weeknight, use 4 cups drained pinto beans and 1 cup of their liquid, then season carefully. It is a compromise, not an upgrade. Cooked-from-dry beans have better broth.
Advance Preparation
- •The beans can be cooked up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated in their broth with the epazote removed.
- •The soup base can be blended and fried 1 day ahead. Reheat gently and thin with broth before serving.
- •Fry the tortilla strips the same day you serve the soup. Store them uncovered or loosely covered so they stay crisp.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 550g)
Calories
640 calories
Total Fat
28 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
15 g
Cholesterol
40 mg
Sodium
1650 mg
Total Carbohydrates
77 g
Dietary Fiber
18 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
25 g
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