Toqueras Saladas de la Meseta P'urhépecha

Michoacán, the Meseta P'urhépecha and the lake country around Pátzcuaro and Uruapan, is where these toqueras live. Not in a generic tamal category. Not as a cute little corn cake. A toquera salada is maíz nuevo worked with masa nixtamalizada and manteca de cerdo, wrapped in hoja de maíz fresca de la planta, then browned on a comal de leña until the leaf marks the masa with smoke and memory.

The tamal family in Michoacán is not one dish. Corunda is triangular, plain or with cheese. Charicorunda is smaller and carries chile in the masa. Jahuácata layers masa and beans for Candelaria. Chápata is the sweet piloncillo-bean tamal. Tsïkanarhikata belongs to the Meseta and the outside world has almost forgotten it. Nacatamal is the Day of the Dead offering of Angahuan. Toquera is the maíz nuevo tamal-gordita hybrid. Each has its own masa, its own wrapper, its own occasion. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

The chile on the table should be chile perón, called chile manzano in some markets, thick-fleshed and carrying those black seeds that tell you it is the right chile. The charal should be the small dried fish from Pátzcuaro, Chirostoma jordani and its relatives, toasted quickly and eaten with lime. The leaf must be fresh from the plant, not a dried corn husk. Those two leaves do different work. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.

I learned this register of cooking from cocineras tradicionales who work in cocina de humo, not from a restaurant line. They know how much salt the masa wants by the feel of it under the palm. They know when the comal is ready by the sound the leaf makes when it touches clay. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. Make these with patience and they will taste like Michoacán, not like a shortcut wearing a costume.