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Sonora's parrillada vegetables, blistered over mesquite alongside the carne asada. Calabacitas, chiles güeros, cebollitas, and corn dressed with lime, chiltepín, and a few drops of Maggi.
This is from Sonora. Specifically from the backyard parrilladas that anchor every Saturday night from Hermosillo to Ciudad Obregón to the cattle ranches of the sierra. The carne asada gets the headline. The vegetables share the same fire and they are not an afterthought.
Northern Mexico is wheat country and cattle country and mesquite country. The mesquite is what makes Sonoran asada taste like Sonora and not like a generic grilled steak. That same mesquite smoke perfumes the calabacitas, the cebollitas cambray, the chiles güeros, the corn, the whole pile of vegetables that comes off the grates and lands on the wooden board next to the meat. You dress them with lime, coarse salt, a pinch of chiltepín, and a few drops of Maggi sauce. That is the seasoning. The smoke did the rest.
The chiltepín is the chile of Sonora. Tiny, round, wild-harvested in the sierra, hot in a clean fast way that disappears as quickly as it arrives. A little jar of crushed chiltepín lives on every Sonoran table the way salt lives on every other Mexican table. Do not substitute crushed red pepper. Do not substitute cayenne. If you cannot find chiltepín, leave it off and serve a salsa de chile de árbol on the side. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
The tortilla is flour, not corn. Sobaquera, the giant thin flour tortilla pressed and stretched over the cook's forearm and slapped onto a hot disco. Corn tortillas belong to central and southern Mexico. In the north, where the wheat grows and the cattle ranches feed people who work in the sun all day, the flour tortilla is the bread. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
The carne asada tradition of Sonora developed alongside the state's cattle industry, which expanded in the 18th century when Jesuit missions and later private ranches introduced large-scale European cattle ranching to the Sonoran desert. Mesquite, a desert hardwood used by the indigenous Yaqui, Mayo, and Pima peoples for centuries before the conquest, became the wood of Sonoran cooking because it grows in abundance across the state's arid interior and burns hot and fragrant. The chiltepín, the only chile native to Sonora and the wild ancestor of all domesticated Capsicum annuum varieties, has been harvested from the sierras of Sonora and Chihuahua for over nine thousand years and is recognized today as a protected wild crop, with rural families still gathering it by hand from August through October.
Quantity
6 medium
halved lengthwise
Quantity
4 ears
husks removed
Quantity
6
Quantity
4
whole
Quantity
2
peeled and cut into thick rounds
Quantity
2 bunches
trimmed
Quantity
8
whole
Quantity
1
halved crosswise
Quantity
3 tablespoons
melted
Quantity
to taste
Quantity
to taste
Quantity
for serving
crushed
Quantity
4
halved, for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
warmed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| calabacitas (Mexican gray squash) or zucchinihalved lengthwise | 6 medium |
| fresh white cornhusks removed | 4 ears |
| chiles güeros (yellow Caribe or banana peppers) | 6 |
| chiles poblanoswhole | 4 |
| large white onionspeeled and cut into thick rounds | 2 |
| cebollitas cambray (knob green onions)trimmed | 2 bunches |
| Roma tomatoeswhole | 8 |
| head of garlichalved crosswise | 1 |
| manteca de cerdomelted | 3 tablespoons |
| coarse sea salt | to taste |
| cracked black pepper | to taste |
| chiltepín (optional)crushed | for serving |
| limones agrios (optional)halved, for serving | 4 |
| Maggi sauce (optional) | for serving |
| salsa de soya (optional) | for serving |
| hand-pressed flour tortillas (sobaqueras) (optional)warmed | for serving |
Light a chimney of mesquite charcoal, or better, a few split mesquite logs, and let them burn down until the flames die and the coals glow red under a thin coat of ash. This takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Mesquite is the wood. Not oak, not hickory, not briquettes soaked in lighter fluid. The desert flavor of Sonoran asada lives in the smoke of mesquite, and the vegetables pick up that perfume the same way the meat does. If you cannot get mesquite, use lump charcoal and add a few mesquite chunks. Briquettes will give you a chemical aftertaste that no amount of lime will fix.
Lay the calabacitas, corn, chiles güeros, poblanos, onion rounds, cebollitas, tomatoes, and garlic halves on a sheet pan. Brush everything lightly with melted manteca. Yes, lard. La manteca es el sabor. Olive oil is for the Mediterranean. Manteca de cerdo is what they use on Sonoran ranches and it carries the flame the way no vegetable oil can. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. That is the whole seasoning at this stage. The smoke does the rest.
Place the corn, poblanos, onion rounds, tomatoes, and garlic halves cut-side down directly on the grates over the medium coals. The corn needs 12 to 15 minutes, turning every few minutes, until the kernels blister and darken in patches and a few turn deep amber. The poblanos blister and blacken in spots, about 8 to 10 minutes a side. The tomatoes split and char, the onions soften with dark grill marks, the garlic turns golden inside the papery skin. No me vengas con atajos. Each one comes off the grill when it is ready, not when the timer says so.
Lay the halved calabacitas cut-side down on the grates and arrange the cebollitas crosswise so they do not fall through. The calabacitas need 4 to 5 minutes a side, until the cut face shows dark grill lines and the flesh gives slightly when pressed. The cebollitas blister fast, 2 to 3 minutes a side, until the white bulbs turn translucent and the green tops scorch and curl. Pull them off the moment the bulbs soften.
The chiles güeros go on last because their thin skins blister in seconds. Roll them around on the grates for 2 to 3 minutes total, until the yellow skin shows brown bubbles and the flesh slumps a little. They stay whole. Do not peel them. The skin is part of the texture. In Sonora these are the chiles that go straight into the fold of a flour tortilla with a strip of grilled onion and a piece of carne. That is the bite.
Pile everything onto a wide platter or directly onto the wooden board where the carne asada is resting. Squeeze the limones agrios over the whole spread while the vegetables are still warm. Sprinkle with crushed chiltepín, but lightly, the chiltepín is small and looks innocent and it will surprise anyone who has not met it before. A few drops of Maggi and salsa de soya across the top, the way they do it on Sonoran ranches and at the carne asada gatherings every Saturday night from Hermosillo to Caborca. Serve with warm sobaqueras, the thin flour tortillas as wide as a forearm. Each person builds their own taco. Asi se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 330g)
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