Topotes en Tapicte de Los Tuxtlas

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Tamalera or wide steamer with rack
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet
• •Blender or volcanic stone molcajete
• •Clay cazuela or heavy skillet for frying the recado
• •Kitchen twine or softened leaf strips for tying

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the topotes

   Rinse the topotes in cold water and drain well. If they are tiny, leave them whole. If any are longer than 3 inches, slit the belly with a small knife and remove the guts and gills. Toss the fish with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the lime juice. Let them sit 10 minutes, then drain again. The lime brightens the fish. It is not a marinade, so do not leave them soaking until the flesh turns chalky.

   Topotes are delicate. Handle them with your fingers, not tongs. If you crush them now, the tapicte will eat like fish paste.
2. 2

   Soften the leaves

   Wipe the berijao leaves clean with a damp cloth. Pass each leaf quickly over a gas flame or hot comal until it turns glossy and flexible, a few seconds per side. Keep it moving. Do not burn it. Wipe the acuyo leaves and leave them whole, except for 2 leaves, which you slice finely for the sauce. Berijao holds the package. Acuyo gives the flavor.

3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho for about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skin puffs and the smell deepens. Toast the chipotle meco more briefly, 10 to 15 seconds per side. Put the chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes. Hot water, not boiling. Boiling pulls bitterness from the skins.

   Taste a drop of the soaking water before using it. If it tastes bitter, throw it out and blend with clean water or light fish stock.
4. 4

   Roast the vegetables

   On the same comal, roast the jitomates, onion, and unpeeled garlic until the tomato skins blister, the onion has browned edges, and the garlic softens inside its skin. Peel the garlic. This is where the sauce gets depth before it ever touches the fish.

5. 5

   Blend the recado

   Drain the softened chiles. Blend them with the roasted jitomates, roasted onion, peeled garlic, and 1/4 cup of water or light fish stock. Add more liquid only if the blender refuses to move. The texture should be thick and rough-smooth, not watery. This recado has to cling to the fish inside the leaf.

6. 6

   Fry the recado

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the blended recado carefully. It will sputter. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until the color turns brick red and small dots of fat show at the edge. Stir in the sliced jalapeno, green olives, capers, epazote, the finely sliced acuyo, and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Cook 2 minutes more. La manteca es el sabor, but here it works as a carrier, not a flood.

7. 7

   Fill the packages

   Lay 1 softened berijao leaf on the work surface. If it is narrow, overlap 2 leaves. Place 2 whole acuyo leaves in the center. Add one-sixth of the topotes in a loose mound, then spoon over one-sixth of the recado with olives and capers. Fold the sides of the berijao over the fish, then fold the top and bottom into a tight rectangular package. Tie with strips of leaf or kitchen twine. Repeat to make 6 packages.

   Do not pack the fish down. Air and sauce need room to move inside the leaf. A tapicte is a bundle, not a brick.
8. 8

   Cook the tapictes

   Set a tamalera or wide steamer with 2 inches of water below the rack. Line the rack with torn leaf scraps. Bring the water to a steady simmer, then place the packages seam side down in a single layer or a loose stack. Cover and cook 35 to 40 minutes, checking the water level once. Open one package to test: the fish should be opaque, the sauce should smell of acuyo and chile, and there should be no raw fish smell. If using a thermometer on larger fish, the center should reach 145F.

9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Let the packages rest 10 minutes before opening. Set them family-style in a terracotta cazuela or on a clay platter and open the leaves at the table so the juices stay with the fish. Serve with warm corn tortillas, frijoles negros de olla, and lime halves. No cheese. No crema. This is Veracruz, and the leaf already did the work. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Topotes are the point. In Los Tuxtlas, ask at the Catemaco market or from fish vendors who sell small local freshwater catch. Outside Veracruz, charales or very small whole sardines are a compromise, not an upgrade. A thick white fillet will cook, but it will not behave like topote.
• •If you cannot find berijao, use banana leaves for the outer wrapper and acuyo for the inner leaf. If you cannot find acuyo, wait until you can. Without it, the dish loses the smell that tells a Veracruz cook where she is.
• •Use chile ancho for body and dried chipotle meco for smoke. Chipotle morita will work if that is what your chile vendor has, but it is sweeter and darker. Ask before you buy. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •The olives and capers should taste clean, not harsh from the jar. Rinse the capers and use firm green olives. This is not pescado a la veracruzana, but Veracruz cooks know what the port pantry does to fish.
• •If the jitomates are pale and hard, do not pretend the sauce will fix itself. Buy ripe Roma tomatoes instead, or cook something else that day. Mexican grandmothers cook with what the mercado is selling today.

Advance Preparation

• •The recado can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Warm it gently before assembling so it loosens and coats the fish properly.
• •The berijao or banana leaves can be wiped, softened, folded, and refrigerated 1 day ahead inside a clean towel.
• •The assembled raw tapictes can be refrigerated up to 6 hours before cooking. Keep them cold. Fish is not patient.
• •Cooked tapictes keep refrigerated for 2 days. Reheat them in the steamer until the sauce is glossy again and the fish is hot through. Do not microwave them unless you enjoy punishing leaves.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 360g)