Tostada Chiapaneca Zoque

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal for roasting chile simojovel and vegetables
• •Heavy skillet for frying tostadas
• •Wooden spoon or bean masher
• •Blender or volcanic stone molcajete
• •Wire rack for draining fried tortillas

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the beef

   Place the beef in a pot with the half onion, 2 garlic cloves, bay leaf, kosher salt, and enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a gentle simmer, skim the foam, then cover partially and cook 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the meat pulls apart with a fork. Do not boil it hard. Tough meat on a tostada is bad planning.

2. 2

   Shred the meat

   Lift the beef from the broth and let it cool just enough to handle. Shred it with your fingers or two forks into thin strands. Moisten it with 2 or 3 tablespoons of its broth and taste for salt. The meat should be savory and loose, not dripping. A tostada needs control.

3. 3

   Make the curtido

   Toss the shredded cabbage, grated carrot, sliced onion, lime juice, and sea salt in a bowl. Massage it for one minute with your hands, then let it sit while you finish the rest. The cabbage softens but keeps its bite. This is acidity, not salad decoration.

4. 4

   Fry the beans

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent. Add the remaining garlic clove, minced, and cook for 30 seconds. Add the black beans, 1/2 cup bean broth, and the epazote sprig. Mash with a wooden spoon until thick and spreadable, adding more broth only if the beans seize. Remove the epazote before serving. La manteca es el sabor, and black beans know it.

5. 5

   Fry the tostadas

   Heat 1/2 inch of oil or manteca in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the tortillas one at a time, pressing gently with tongs so they stay flat, until crisp and golden, about 45 to 60 seconds per side. Drain on a rack and salt lightly while warm. If the tortilla bends, it is not done. It must hold the beans without surrendering.

6. 6

   Toast the salsa base

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile simojovel for a few seconds per side, just until fragrant. Do not blacken it. Roast the tomatoes, tomatillo, onion, and unpeeled garlic on the same comal until blistered and softened. The tomatoes should slump and the garlic skin should char in spots.

   Chile simojovel is small and fierce. It burns quickly. If it turns black, throw it out and start again, because burned chile makes bitter salsa.
7. 7

   Blend the salsa

   Peel the roasted garlic. Blend the toasted chile simojovel, tomatoes, tomatillo, onion, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt until slightly coarse. Add a spoonful of water only if the blender refuses to move. Taste. The salsa should be sharp, smoky, and direct, with the chile leading. No me vengas con atajos. Jarred salsa does not belong here.

8. 8

   Build the tostadas

   Spread each tostada with a firm layer of hot black beans. Add shredded beef, a small handful of drained curtido, crumbled queso doble crema chiapaneco, a thin line of crema if using, and chile simojovel salsa. Serve at once, before the beans soften the tortilla. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for queso doble crema from Chiapas if you have a Mexican market with a serious cheese counter. If they only have queso fresco, use it and know what you are missing: doble crema is softer, richer, and more tied to the dairy country of Chiapas.
• •Chile simojovel is not the same as chile de arbol. If you cannot find it, use dried chile de arbol as a compromise, not an upgrade. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado before you give up.
• •Cook the black beans from dried beans if you can. Use epazote. Canned black beans will work on a weeknight, but they need manteca and patience in the skillet or they will taste like the can.
• •Assemble only what you will eat immediately. A tostada is crisp until it meets beans, then the clock starts. The women who sell these know that timing better than any cookbook.

Advance Preparation

• •The beef can be cooked and shredded one day ahead. Store it with a few spoonfuls of its broth so it stays moist.
• •The black beans can be cooked two days ahead, then fried with manteca and epazote just before serving.
• •The chile simojovel salsa keeps refrigerated for two days, but it is strongest the day it is made.
• •Fry the tostadas up to 6 hours ahead and keep them uncovered at room temperature. Do not refrigerate them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)