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Villa de Álvarez's sopitos are small lard-fried masa discs layered with seasoned beef, col, radish, onion, dry queso añejo, and a warm jitomate caldillo that soaks the edges.
Colima, especially Villa de Álvarez, is where these sopitos live. Not Guadalajara. Not Ciudad de México. Villa de Álvarez, with its cenadurías, its evening antojitos, and that small plate of masa, meat, col, radish, dry cheese, and caldillo set down like the cook has made it a thousand times. She probably has.
The caldillo is the point. It is not a thick salsa trying to show off. It is a warm, loose jugo de jitomate, seasoned with comino, pimienta, oregano, garlic, and the broth where the meat cooked. That is why the sopito has a rim. The rim is not decoration, it is engineering. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.
The masa must be small, about six centimeters, pressed by hand or with a tortilla press, cooked first on the comal, pinched hot, then fried in manteca de cerdo. In Colima they ask, blanditos or dorados. Soft or crisp. That question is part of the dish. I learned this from a señora who corrected my first batch because the rim was too high. "No es volcán," she told me. It is not a volcano. Fair.
My mother was from Jalisco, so her notebook had pozole rojo and birria before it had sopitos. But she wrote one line under a Colima recipe she copied from a market woman: "la salsa debe correr." The sauce must run. She was right. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Sopitos villalvarenses are tied to Villa de Álvarez, Colima, where local accounts credit a vendor known as Minga with making them popular around the main garden in the 20th century. Colima tourism descriptions identify them as small nixtamalized masa sopitos with a rim, topped with meat, cabbage or lettuce, jitomate, onion, dry cheese, and bathed in seasoned jitomate juice. The debate over red jitomate versus tomate verde in the caldillo shows how living cenaduría food changes from stall to stall while the Colimense structure stays fixed.
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
cut into large pieces
Quantity
1/2 medium
for the beef broth
Quantity
3
divided
Quantity
2
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
8
for the caldillo
Quantity
2 cups, plus more as needed
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
6
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons
divided
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for seasoning the beef
Quantity
1/3 cup
finely chopped, for the beef
Quantity
1 3/4 pounds
or 2 cups masa harina nixtamalizada mixed with warm water
Quantity
1 teaspoon
for the masa
Quantity
1 1/2 to 2 cups
for frying
Quantity
1 cup
for sopitos gorditos
Quantity
2 cups
finely shredded
Quantity
1/2 cup
thinly sliced
Quantity
6
thinly sliced
Quantity
2
thinly sliced, for serving
Quantity
3/4 cup
crumbled
Quantity
for the table
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| falda de res or beef chuckcut into large pieces | 1 1/2 pounds |
| white onionfor the beef broth | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovesdivided | 3 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| ripe Roma tomatoes (jitomate guaje)for the caldillo | 8 |
| reserved beef broth | 2 cups, plus more as needed |
| whole cumin seeds | 1/2 teaspoon |
| black peppercorns | 6 |
| dried Mexican oreganodivided | 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo)for seasoning the beef | 1 tablespoon |
| white onionfinely chopped, for the beef | 1/3 cup |
| fresh nixtamalized corn masaor 2 cups masa harina nixtamalizada mixed with warm water | 1 3/4 pounds |
| fine sea saltfor the masa | 1 teaspoon |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo)for frying | 1 1/2 to 2 cups |
| refried beans (optional)for sopitos gorditos | 1 cup |
| green cabbagefinely shredded | 2 cups |
| white onion ringsthinly sliced | 1/2 cup |
| radishesthinly sliced | 6 |
| ripe Roma tomatoesthinly sliced, for serving | 2 |
| queso añejo or queso Cotijacrumbled | 3/4 cup |
| salsa de chile de árbol (optional) | for the table |
Put the beef in a heavy pot with the half onion, 2 garlic cloves, bay leaves, and salt. Cover with water by two inches. Bring to a simmer, skim the gray foam, then lower the heat and cook gently for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the meat pulls apart with a fork. Do not boil it hard. A rough boil gives you rough meat.
During the last 10 minutes of the beef cooking, add the 8 Roma tomatoes to the same pot. Pull them out when the skins split and the flesh softens. Set the tomatoes aside and strain the broth. This broth is the spine of the caldillo. Water makes a thin sauce. Broth tastes like someone paid attention.
Let the beef cool enough to handle, then shred it very finely and chop it once or twice so it sits neatly on the small sopitos. Melt 1 tablespoon manteca de cerdo in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent, then add the beef and 1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, just until the meat tastes seasoned and the edges take a little color. Keep it moist with a spoonful of broth if needed.
Toast the cumin seeds in a dry skillet for 20 to 30 seconds, just until fragrant. Put the poached tomatoes in a blender with the toasted cumin, black peppercorns, 1 garlic clove, 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, and 2 cups reserved beef broth. Blend until completely smooth. The caldillo should be loose, more like seasoned tomato broth than thick salsa.
Pour the blended caldillo into a cazuela or saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring now and then, until the tomato sharpness relaxes and the oregano comes forward. Taste for salt. If it gets thick, add more beef broth. Sopitos colimenses need enough caldillo to bathe them. No me vengas con a little spoonful on top.
If using fresh masa, knead in the fine sea salt and a few tablespoons of warm water until the masa feels soft and pliable. If using masa harina, mix it with about 1 1/2 cups warm water and the salt, then rest it covered for 15 minutes before adjusting with more water. The masa should not crack at the edges when pressed. Corn tells you when it needs water. Listen.
Divide the masa into 24 small balls. Press each one between plastic in a tortilla press or under a flat plate until it is about 2 1/2 inches wide, roughly 6 centimeters, and a little thick. Cook on a hot comal for about 45 seconds per side. While each piece is still hot, pinch a low rim around the edge using a folded clean towel to protect your fingers. That rim holds the caldillo. Without it, you made a small tostada.
Heat the manteca de cerdo in a heavy skillet until a tiny bit of masa sizzles steadily when it touches the fat. Fry the sopitos in batches. For blanditos, give them about 45 seconds per side. For dorados, give them 1 to 2 minutes per side, until the edges are golden and crisp. In Villa de Álvarez they will ask which one you want. Both are Colima. La manteca es el sabor.
Set the fried sopitos on a tray. If making gorditos, spread each with a thin swipe of refried beans. Add a spoonful of the seasoned shredded beef, then cabbage, onion rings, radish slices, and a slice of fresh jitomate. Spoon warm caldillo generously over each one so it pools at the rim. Finish with crumbled queso añejo or queso Cotija. Serve right away, with salsa de chile de árbol at the table if your people ask for it. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
1 serving (about 460g)
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