Veracruz Garlic Pan Sauce for Fish (Ajillo Jarocho)

Veracruz, the Gulf coast, the port, the Sotavento table. This ajillo jarocho belongs to fish cooked close to the water, where Spanish olive oil and garlic met Mexican dried chiles and the cooks of Veracruz made the sauce their own.

The chile is guajillo. Not ancho, not arbol, not whatever dried chile is hiding in your cabinet. Guajillo gives a clean red color and a warm fruitiness that lets the fish stay in front. The garlic is sliced, not minced, because sliced garlic softens into the oil and gives you flavor without harshness. Preguntale a las señoras del mercado, they will tell you the same thing.

I learned a version like this near the port, from a woman who kept a bottle of salsa bruja on the seafood table and a jar of jalapenos en escabeche on the counter. She cooked the fish first, then built the sauce in the same pan with fumet, vinegar, and patience. The pan remembers. That is the point.

This is not a heavy gravy and it is not a cream sauce. It is a quick Veracruz pan sauce with a Spanish spine and a jarocho chile hand. Cada estado, su propia cocina.