Veracruz Shrimp Chilpachole (Chilpachole de Camaron)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry cast iron comal for toasting chiles and dried shrimp
• •5 to 6 quart clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Volcanic stone molcajete or spice grinder for the camaron seco

Instructions

1. 1

   Make shrimp stock

   Peel and devein the shrimp, keeping the shells. Refrigerate the cleaned shrimp while you build the broth. Put the shells in a pot with the water, half onion, and crushed garlic. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 25 minutes. Do not boil hard. Shrimp shells give quickly, and a violent boil makes the stock taste harsh. Strain and reserve 6 cups of stock.

2. 2

   Toast dried shrimp

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the dried shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes, turning often, until they smell deeply savory and look a shade darker. They should smell like the sea and the market stall, not burned salt. Let them cool, then grind them in a blender or molcajete to a coarse powder.

   Taste one dried shrimp before salting the pot. Some camaron seco is very salty. If it bites like pure salt, rinse quickly, pat dry, then toast it. A compromise, not an upgrade, but better than ruining the broth.
3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Wipe the comal clean. Toast the chile ancho and chile guajillo one at a time, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skins puff and the color deepens. Toast the chile de arbol for only a few seconds if using it. Burned chile turns bitter. Put the toasted chiles in a bowl, cover with hot water, and soak 15 minutes.

4. 4

   Char the vegetables

   On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, sliced onion, and unpeeled garlic until the tomatoes slump and the skins are blackened in spots, about 12 to 15 minutes. Peel the garlic. This char is not decoration. It gives the chilpachole the rounded sweetness Veracruz cooks expect against the dried shrimp.

5. 5

   Blend the sauce

   Drain the soaked chiles and discard the soaking water. Blend the chiles with the roasted tomatoes, roasted onion, peeled garlic, ground dried shrimp, and 1 cup of the shrimp stock until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing hard on the solids. A good chilpachole has body from masa, not scraps of chile skin.

6. 6

   Fry the base

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a heavy cazuela or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the strained chile-shrimp puree. It will sputter, so stir with authority. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, until the paste darkens to brick red and the fat begins to show at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This is where the raw chile taste leaves the pot.

7. 7

   Thicken with masa

   Whisk the fresh masa with 1 cup of warm shrimp stock until smooth. If using masa harina, hydrate it first with warm water, then loosen it with stock. Pour the remaining shrimp stock into the fried chile base and bring to a gentle simmer. Whisk in the masa slurry slowly so it does not clump. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring often, until the broth lightly coats a spoon. Chilpachole is thickened, not turned into porridge.

8. 8

   Add epazote and shrimp

   Add the epazote sprigs and simmer 3 minutes. Add the fresh shrimp and cook 2 to 3 minutes, just until they turn pink and curl. Turn off the heat. The shrimp will finish in the hot broth. Taste for salt only now, because the dried shrimp has already spoken. Remove the tough epazote stems before serving.

9. 9

   Serve Veracruz style

   Ladle the chilpachole into deep bowls or bring the cazuela straight to the table. The surface should be brick red with a light sheen from the fried chile base, and the shrimp should be tender, not tight. Serve with lime halves and warm corn tortillas. No me vengas con atajos. This is how the pot earns its place.

Chef Tips

• •Buy shell-on shrimp. Peeled shrimp gives you no stock, and then you start reaching for bouillon powder. That is how a good pot becomes ordinary.
• •Good camaron seco smells clean and concentrated, not rancid. Look for dried shrimp with an orange-pink color and no gray dust. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
• •The chile ancho should be flexible and smell like raisins and tobacco. The chile guajillo should be shiny, red, and leathery. Brittle chiles have been sitting too long, and old chiles make tired food.
• •Fresh masa from a tortilleria is best. Masa harina works when it has to, but it is a compromise, not an upgrade. The corn is what gives chilpachole its Veracruz body.
• •Epazote goes near the end. Boil it for half an hour and it turns muddy. Replace it with cilantro and you are making a different soup. Así se hace y punto.
• •Many modern coastal kitchens use vegetable oil for seafood stews. This version uses manteca de cerdo because it fries the chile paste properly and gives the broth roundness. If you cannot eat pork, use a neutral oil and know exactly what you are losing.

Advance Preparation

• •The shrimp stock can be made one day ahead. Chill it quickly and keep it refrigerated.
• •The toasted chile, tomato, and dried shrimp puree can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Fry it in manteca de cerdo on the day you serve.
• •Do not add the fresh shrimp until the last minutes before serving. Reheated shrimp tightens and loses the sweetness you paid for.
• •Leftover chilpachole keeps for 2 days in the refrigerator, but reheat it gently and do not let it boil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)