Relleno negro

As tradition built it

Relleno negro

The but' cooks about 1 hour in the broth. Making the recado means soaking the chiles overnight.

Ingredients

Recado negro, if you make it

• 50 dried chiles, chile seco yucateco or cha'wa
• 1 litre water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 4 allspice berries
• 4 black peppercorns
• 4 cloves
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 3 cloves garlic, roasted
• ½ onion, roasted

The broth

• 1 chicken, quartered and trimmed of fat
• 250g recado negro paste
• 500ml water
• ½ bunch epazote
• to taste salt
• 1 onion, cut in strips
• 1 chile xcatik, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, cut in strips
• 25g plain flour, dissolved in water

The but'

• 250g pork, minced
• 250g beef, minced
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 1 chile dulce, finely chopped
• to taste salt, pepper and garlic
• 50g recado negro paste
• 1 egg, raw
• 3 eggs, hard-boiled, whites and yolks apart
• 1 sprig epazote, finely chopped

Method

The recado

1. Lay the chiles on a hot comal and set them alight with a match until they are burnt through.
2. Turn off the heat and drop them into the salted water. Leave them 24 hours, or at least overnight, to take off the bitter, ashy edge.
3. Drain them and grind them with the spices, garlic and onion to a smooth, even paste.

The broth

4. Put the chicken in a pot. Blend 250g of recado with the water and pour it over, with the epazote and salt.
5. Fry the onion, add the xcatik, then the tomato, and tip it into the broth. Stir in the dissolved flour to thicken it and boil 10 minutes.

The but'

6. Mix the pork and beef with the onion and chile dulce, and season with salt, pepper and garlic. Knead in 50g of recado and the raw egg, then the chopped egg whites and the epazote.
7. Shape it into a log with the whole yolks down the middle. Wrap it tightly in cheesecloth, tie it, and cook it in the boiling broth for about 1 hour.
8. Slice the but' and serve it in the black broth with the chicken.

Notes

The recado is TOP Yucatán's, from Mérida; most Yucatecan cooks buy it ready made at the market. The broth and the but' are Yucatán Today's. TOP Yucatán rubs the boiled chicken with recado and browns it over charcoal before it goes back in the broth, makes the but' as small pork meatballs with tomato, onion and xcatik and no egg, thickens with masa, and serves with fresh tortillas and chopped habanero.

What a modern chef changes

Smoke-toasted recado, sous vide meatballs, chile dust

Method

1. Toast the dried chiles for the recado in a Big Green Egg run hot and closed, rather than on a stovetop comal, for a more even, smoke-carried char across the whole batch.
2. Poach the but' meatballs sous vide before their final finish in the broth, holding them properly tender rather than risking the tougher result direct simmering can give a delicate egg-bound mixture.
3. Grind a portion of the toasted chile separately in the spice grinder into a finishing dust for the plate, putting recado negro's own char back on top of the dish.