A Stew that Stains the Tablecloth -- Manchamanteles

Lately I have been exploring Encarnación's Kitchen, a book of "Mexican Recipes from Nineteenth-Century California".  Its recipes are a portion of those in La Cocinero Español, "The Spanish Cook," written in Spanish by Encarnación Pinedo and published in 1898.  Encarnación's Kitchen was edited and translated by Dan Strehl.

ISBN 0-520-23651-3

Ms. Pinedo's book is important because it is the first published book of Californio recipes.  It gives us insight into the culture of the people who lived and thrived in California during its Mexican period, pre-Gold Rush.  There are decidedly Mexican recipes but you can also find ones with Spanish, Basque, French, and Italian influences.  She also includes recipes that use more locally specific ingredients, like the candied fruit of the barrel cactus.  

Mr. Strehl's translation includes an essay and an introduction which put Ms. Pinedo's work into historical context.  Well worth the read!

There are many recipes that are appealing.  What drew my attention were those with chiles.  I have lived most of my life in Southern California but I have never truly cooked with chiles.  This was an opportunity to experiment and improve my knowledge.

I chose Manchamanteles, which is on page 108 of Strehl's translation.

Manchamanteles  -- Stew That Stains the Tablecloth

Take some ripe tomatoes and remove the seeds.  Grind them with soaked, toasted dry chiles, cinnamon, and pepper.  After they are ground, fry in lard, mix with warm water, and add chickens or pork, cooked sausages, olives, vinegar, salt, a lump of sugar, yams, or peanuts.

My Redaction

2 ounces dried California type chiles

2 pounds, 9 ounces Roma tomatoes

1 scant teaspoon peppercorns

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 ounces beef chorizo

1 pound, 6 ounces braised boneless pork

1 pound, 2 ounces yam

1/2 cup chopped peanuts, roasted and lightly salted

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped black olives

And the chiles.  See below.

My Notes

The tomatoes, chiles, pepper, and cinnamon form the sauce in which all the other ingredients simmer to make the stew.  My challenge was learning how to handle the chiles.

I read a lot about the different dried chile types and decided to pick the least "hot", the California or anaheim type.  That way my newbie taste buds received an easy introduction.

If you look carefully, you can see some red highlights.

To learn how to toast them, I found this website, How to Toast Dry Chile and Spices:

Heat a heavy-duty skillet (such as cast iron) over medium-high heat until you can feel the heat radiate from the surface. Working with one type of spice or chile at a time, add it to the skillet. Flip or stir frequently for even toasting, until browned for spices or lightly charred—not scorched—for chiles. Immediately transfer to a cool container.

So I heated up my cast iron skillet and tried toasting one chile, watching it carefully so it didn't char.  I used tongs to regularly flip and turn the chile.

I noticed that the chile originally was stiff, easily broken, and flat.  While it was heating, it became noticeably softer, flexible, and began to puff.

It was hard to see any changes in the color because it was originally so dark, but after toasting several, I noticed those changes as well as a slight change in the way the surface looked.  Just the parts that touched the pan seemed to toast.

I started gaining confidence and so started putting in two and sometimes three chiles at a time.  The bag I purchased contained three ounces of chiles.  I toasted them all but only used two ounces in the stew.

One puffed so much it popped!

Further reading across a variety of sources told me that to soak them, I needed to remove the stems, veins, and seeds and also to rinse the chiles well of any dust or grit.  After some experimenting, I found that I could break off the stem area, where most of the seeds where, then break the rest of the chile into pieces while rinsing out the seeds or pushing them out with my fingers.

The broken, seeded chiles were placed in a bowl and covered with boiling water.

I let them soak for an hour while I prepared the rest of the ingredients.  Then I drained them.

They were soft, flexible, and smelled good.  I noticed a few seeds but didn't worry about it.

I removed the stems and seeds of the tomatoes and cut them into big pieces.  Then I processed them in the blender to make four cups of puree.

Pretty in pink!

Once the chiles were ready, I put them into the blender along with some of the tomato puree and the cinnamon and pepper.  I blended them until the mixture was smooth.  I poured some of it out and added in the rest of the tomato puree so it was all well mixed.  The taste was of raw tomato with a mild chile bite.  I could taste the spices but they weren't overwhelming.  

The sauce went into my Dutch oven that was heated and had about 1 tablespoon olive oil in it (I was out of lard).

I decided that "frying it in lard" really meant to heat the sauce and cook it a little before the other ingredients went in.  I brought it to bubbling over medium heat and then let it simmer over a lower heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The braised pork chunk was cut into bite-sized cubes, the yam was peeled and diced, the chorizo was cooked in the skillet and then drained of its fat.  The whole olives were sliced and the peanuts were coarsely chopped.  

Once the sauce was ready, all the other ingredients were added and the mixture was stirred.  It looked too thick so I added a little hot water so it stirred easily.

I adjusted the heat to low, covered the pot, and let it simmer for about an hour, which is what it took to make the yam cubes soft.  Occasionally I stirred it.

The Verdict

I served it with a garnish of chopped peanuts and with warm flour tortillas on the side.

My guest taster and I were a little wary because neither of us are experienced hot chile eaters.  We both knew - intellectually - that I had chosen mild chiles but the chorizo certainly had a kick.  

So we took experimental bites and were pleasantly surprised at the flavor.  The chile heat was mild enough for us but it was there.  The pepper and especially the cinnamon were good background support flavors.  The chunks of ingredients -- pork, yams, olives, and peanuts -- were tender and had absorbed enough of the sauce flavors to be interesting.  The yams came across as slightly sweet.  The raw tomato taste was gone and the spices and other flavors had blended into a nice balance.

The sauce itself had a light sweetness to it, which we enjoyed.  We both decided it needed more vinegar, although we liked it as it was, too.  We ended up putting some aged balsamic vinegar on top and that was wonderful.  I think I would increase the apple cider vinegar to 2 tablespoons and perhaps put the second tablespoon in just before serving it.

The flour tortillas were a good accompaniment and actually the historically correct choice.  Ms. Pinedo lived in Northern California where it was easier to grow wheat than corn.  We each tore off pieces of the tortilla and spooned the stew onto it.  

Success!  I was pleased I handled processing the chiles well and that I didn't blast out our taste buds with too much heat.  If you want more heat, you could use the entire 9 ounce roll of chorizo or you could choose hotter dried chiles, like a pasilla ancho or more.  I bought some pasilla anchos for more experimenting.

For the record, my table did not have a tablecloth, so it was not stained.   

We had the leftovers the next day and found it was even better.  No more vinegar was needed; all the flavors had melded and balanced.  It was excellent.