Mexican
Chile Caldo — Cuicatlán, Oaxaca
A robust, multi-meat broth from the hot lowland town of Cuicatlán in the Cañada region of Oaxaca, where the cooking tends toward the hearty and unfussy. Beef short ribs, pork knuckles, and chicken pieces are simmered together with a parade of vegetables — pumpkin, fresh corn, chayote, lima beans — and finished with whole ripe chilhuacle chiles that melt into the broth, coloring and flavoring it without being blended away. This is a dish built for a crowd, a Sunday pot, a table that expects to sit for a while.
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Six in town · ten not yet within reach.
How the 16 are reached
- In town
- 6 · onion, roughly sliced, garlic cloves, unpeeled, salt to taste, pieces of chicken, garlic cloves, roughly chopped, cilantro, to finish
- Not yet within reach
- 10 · lbs (675 g) beef short ribs, cut into small pieces, lbs (675 g) pork knuckles, cut into small pieces, tomatoes, roughly chopped, thick slices pumpkin or large acorn squash, unpeeled, center strands and seeds included, ears fresh corn, each cut into 6 pieces, chayotes (about 1½ lbs / 675 g total), peeled and cut into strips, fresh lima beans in their pods, or shelled fava beans, scallion, roughly chopped, ripe chilhuacle chiles (Capsicum annuum, Oaxacan variety), left whole, corn tortillas, to serve
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
3
quarts (3 liters) water
Your own market
½ medium
onion, roughly sliced
3
garlic cloves, unpeeled
Salt to taste
1½
lbs (675 g) beef short ribs, cut into small pieces
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
1½
lbs (675 g) pork knuckles, cut into small pieces
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
8 small
pieces of chicken
1 lb (450 g)
tomatoes, roughly chopped
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
6
garlic cloves, roughly chopped
6
thick slices pumpkin or large acorn squash, unpeeled, center strands and seeds included
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
2 large
ears fresh corn, each cut into 6 pieces
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
2
chayotes (about 1½ lbs / 675 g total), peeled and cut into strips
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
8 oz (225 g)
fresh lima beans in their pods, or shelled fava beans
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
1 large
scallion, roughly chopped
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
7
ripe chilhuacle chiles (Capsicum annuum, Oaxacan variety), left whole
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
Cilantro, to finish
Corn tortillas, to serve
Not yet within reach of Madeira Park · each reach is counted
Within reach counts in town, delivered, shipped and the nearest city. A staple counts once it has a local seller. Charted from each shop's own pages; not yet vouched by a cook who shops here.
The larder of Madeira Park →Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Bring the water to a simmer in a large, heavy pot. Add the onion, unpeeled garlic, and salt. Add the short ribs and pork knuckles. Maintain a steady simmer — not a boil — and cook for 40 minutes, skimming foam as needed.
2
Add the chicken pieces and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
3
In a blender, combine the chopped tomatoes and chopped garlic. Blend until smooth. Pour directly into the pot without straining.
4
Add the pumpkin or squash slices and the corn. Cook for 10 minutes.
5
Add the chayote strips, lima or fava beans, and scallion. Continue cooking until all vegetables are nearly tender, about 15 minutes more.
6
Taste and adjust salt. Add the whole chilhuacle chiles and a handful of cilantro. Finish cooking until the chiles have softened and the broth is deeply flavored, roughly 10 minutes.
From the canon — The chilhuacle — more widely spelled chilhuacle or chilhuacle negro, rojo, or amarillo depending on colour — is a large, leathery dried chile grown in the Ca… Chilhuacle →
7
Ladle into deep bowls, making sure each serving includes pieces of all three meats and a selection of vegetables. Serve with corn tortillas.
III
Sensory Tests
◇Tilt a ladle of finished broth: it should coat the metal with a faint, oil-sheened film from rendered collagen and fat — a watery, pale broth means the simmer was too short or the bones were lean.
◇Press the side of a whole cooked chilhuacle chile gently with the back of a spoon: it should yield and begin to split without fully disintegrating, releasing a rust-orange blush into the surrounding broth — a chile that holds completely firm was added too late; one that has dissolved entirely was added too early.
◇Taste the broth at the two-hour mark and again at the four-hour mark: the first will be savory but thin at the finish; the second should have a rounding quality on the back of the palate from the gelatin released by the knuckles, with no sharp or raw edges remaining.
◇Where it lives or dies. Chile caldo lives or dies in the timing of the chile addition: the whole chilhuacle chiles must enter the pot late enough to hold their shape and bleed color gradually, but early enough — typically the final forty to fifty minutes — to soften fully and surrender their fruitiness into the broth without cooking down to a bitter, skin-only remnant. Misjudge this window in either direction and the dish loses either its visual identity or its defining flavor register.
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V
What to Pour
The pairing
Agave spirit
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Without alcohol
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The whole pairingPillar VI
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The working kitchen
Sourced through Provenance