Sopa de pan (Chiapas bread soup)

Ingredients

• 4 bolillos or pan de yema, day-old, sliced 2 cm thick
• 60 ml lard, for frying bread and sauce
• 2 ripe plantains, peeled, sliced on the diagonal
• 2 mulato chiles, dried, stemmed and seeded
• 400 g tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 80 g raisins, divided between sauce and layering
• 2 cloves, whole
• 1 cinnamon stick, approximately 5 cm
• 1 litre chicken broth, hot, well-seasoned
• 40 g capers, drained
• 60 g green olives, pitted
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• 1 tsp dried thyme

Method

1. 1
   Slice the day-old bolillos or pan de yema 2 cm thick. Heat the lard in a wide pan over medium heat and fry the bread slices in batches, turning once, until each side is deep golden and the crust is crisp. Lift onto a rack. The bread is ready when it holds its shape and resists pressure — this crust is its only defence against the broth.
2. 2
   In the same lard, fry the plantain slices until caramelised on both sides and amber at the edges. Remove and set aside. In the remaining fat, briefly fry the mulato chiles for no more than 30 seconds per side until they darken one shade and release their fragrance — do not scorch them.
3. 3
   Blend the fried mulato chiles with the tomatoes, half the raisins, the cloves, and the cinnamon to a rough purée. Pass back into the pan with the residual lard over medium-high heat and fry the sauce, stirring constantly, until it thickens, deepens in colour, and the fat visibly separates around the edges — this is the point at which the sauce is cooked through and will not taste raw.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies. In a cazuela, build the layers: a ladle of tomato-spice sauce on the base, then a layer of fried bread, then plantain slices, the remaining raisins, capers, and olives, then more sauce. Repeat until the ingredients are used, finishing with sauce. The capers and olives are structure, not garnish — every layer must carry them. Pour the hot chicken broth slowly and evenly over the assembled cazuela until the bread is fully saturated but not floating; the surface should glisten with broth absorbed into the layers, not pool above them.
5. 5
   Cover the cazuela tightly and leave to rest undisturbed for 15 minutes. At the end of the rest, press the surface gently — the bread should give like a soaked sponge, yielding and cohesive, not sloshing. Scatter toasted sesame seeds and dried thyme over the top before serving directly from the cazuela.