Exploring Mexican Soups

[Panosmex]

How many authentic Mexican soups are there?

I am interested in sopas aguadas, not sopas secas, which is perhaps another topic entirely.

What is the difference between Sopa Azteca and Caldo Tlalpeño, if any?

How does Sopa de Milpa differ from Sopa Comadre?

Is Sopa de Ajo customarily made with or without tomatoes?

Who took the beans out of the Sopa Tarasca in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, and why; and is the soup an invention, or an ethnic development?

Do pozole and menudo qualify as soups, stews or something else entirely?

When is it appropriate to serve wedges of limón with soup, put crema atop, and, Cilantro, ¿Sí o No?

Are Saltines ever acceptable with Mexican soups?

My first post here, amigos. Gracias por su amabilidad.

¡Buen Provecho!

Panosmex

[Anna N]

My first post here, amigos. Gracias por su amabilidad.

¡Buen Provecho!

Panosmex

←

Can't help you with any of your questions but can say "Welcome". I am sure you will get loads of responses from others who know much more about Mexican dishes than I do.

[caroline]

Welcome Panosmex. Great to be in Patzcuaro. I'm in Guanajuato.

The answer is hundreds. I'm not sure it's even worth trying to count because often they depend on what is in the kitchen.

The whole crema family, for example, which as you know does not usually contain cream but is actually a vegetable puree, comes in as many variants as the cook has imagination. Pretty much the same is true for the caldo family.

If you search this site, you will discover that Esperanza has told the story of sopa de tarasco.

And then there's black bean soup and sopa de medula (spinal cord) and all those soups with little balls or rings of masa, and crema de chicharron, and sopa de milpa with the vegetables whole, and jugo de carne for when you are sick.

enjoy your search!

Rache

[esperanza]

Hey Panos! Congratulations on your first post on eGullet.

Caroline and Jaymes, meet Panos, a good friend of mine. Panos, meet Jaymes and Caroline--good friends of mine.

About a year and a half ago I was present (as interpreter) during a NYTimes interview with Don Rafa (owner of the eponymous restaurant in Pátzcuaro). He told the whole story of how he and a colleague invented Sopa Tarasca about forty years ago. He gave me a hand-written copy of his original recipe.

That recipe contains no beans (and never did contain beans). It's thickened with a flour roux.

Sopa Tarasca has taken on a life of its own in Mexico. Some cooks thicken Sopa Tarasca with a bean purée; some thicken it with roux, and some don't thicken the broth at all.

Diana Kennedy offers recipes for Sopa Tarasca with both bean-thickened broth (The Cuisines of Mexico, p. 150) and clear broth (The Art of Mexican Cooking, p. 115).

The myriad of soups in Mexico is endless. Caroline started a goodly list, but we could wreck eGullet's bandwidth with an answer.

The soups particular to your region of Michoacán that I like best are:

Atápakua de epazote con cilantro y chile

Churipo

Atole de grano

Caldo Michi

Sopa Tarasca estilo Don Rafa

It's great that you've joined us here on eGullet. You'll find many members on this board who are incredibly knowledgeable about the cuisines of Mexico.

Edited January 8, 2006 by esperanza (log)

[Panosmex]

Gracias a todos por la bienvenida. Mucho gusto.

It looks as if there is far greater depth to the theme of Mexican soups than I could have imagined, even here in Michoacán, apart from the rest of La República.

I'm going to be looking to try a Caldo Michi, of which I have read but have never tasted. The combination of a catfish soup with a sour xoconostles fruit plus bolitas de masa sounds like a cross-cultural transfusion, although that is just one of my imaginary flights. This is not a soup I have ever seen offered in a Pátzcuaro restaurant nor did we spot it at El Segundo Encuentro de las Cocineras de Michoacán

Do you know of a restaurant that offers it? We did have a Caldo de Charales while at Lago Zirahuén, but although it was pleasant, it didn't make us want to ask for seconds. (We disliked deboning each tiny fish.)

I have had churipo but once, at the Hotel Casino in Morelia, and it was good. But that was many years ago, and I don't recall the details. Is it similar to Mole de Olla?

Atole de Grano is a favorite of ours, seemingly sold only at night by a few Señoras on the Plaza Bocanegra here. I get a feeling of warm peacefulness whenever I sit down and enjoy a bowl or two of this simple, homey soup.

Atápakua de epazote con cilantro y chile is unknown to me. There were some atápakuas offered at the Encuentro, etc, but some of them seemed to me to resemble lukewarm baby food. Maybe it was the venue. The Atápakua de epazote con cilantro y chile sounds more appealing. Does it have meat, fish or fowl in it? Where can one try such soups?

In regard to the beanless Sopa Tarasca; it may be more authentic, but I vastly prefer the richness of the bean version. Also, what has happened to the porky component of the soup? When we tried it recently, in a few different places, including Don Rafa's, we found it thin, and not as substantial as we remember it from visits here in the early 90s.

This has made me hungry. We need to get out and get some Birria at the mercado, before it all runs out.

Hey Panos!  Congratulations on your first post on eGullet.

Caroline and Jaymes, meet Panos, a good friend of mine.  Panos, meet Jaymes and Caroline--good friends of mine. 

About a year and a half ago I was present (as interpreter) during a NYTimes interview with Don Rafa (owner of the eponymous restaurant in Pátzcuaro).  He told the whole story of how he and a colleague invented Sopa Tarasco about forty years ago.  He gave me a hand-written copy of his original recipe.

That recipe contains no beans (and never did contain beans).  It's thickened with a flour roux.

Sopa Tarasca has taken on a life of its own in Mexico.  Some cooks thicken Sopa Tarasca with a bean purée; some thicken it with roux, and some don't thicken the broth at all. 

Diana Kennedy offers recipes for Sopa Tarasca with both bean-thickened broth (The Cuisines of Mexico, p. 150) and clear broth (The Art of Mexican Cooking, p. 115).

The myriad of soups in Mexico is endless.  Caroline started a goodly list, but we could wreck eGullet's bandwidth with an answer. 

The soups particular to your region of Michoacán that I like best are:

                     Atápakua de epazote con cilantro y chile

                     Churipo

                     Atole de grano

                     Caldo Michi

                     Sopa Tarasca estilo Don Rafa

It's great that you've joined us here on eGullet.  You'll find many members on this board who are incredibly knowledgeable about the cuisines of Mexico.

←

Edited January 8, 2006 by Panosmex (log)

[esperanza]

Look more closely at the restaurant menus in Pátzcuaro. Caldo Michi is a local specialty and is offered in many places.

When I saw your photos of mole de olla, I thought--wait, that is churipo. The best churipo I've eaten is at the annual Feria de Artesanías in Uruapan, at the Muestra de Gastronomía. That fair starts this year on Palm Sunday (April 9). Maybe we can meet there!

That fair is also where I ate the atápakua I mentioned. It was one of those OH MY GOD experiences--what a friend calls a mouthgasm. I took a bite and had to put down the spoon and swoon. There's nothing in it except chicken broth, epazote, cilantro, and chile perón. It's thickened with a bit of masa.

Charales are meant to be eaten head, bones, and all.

In 25 years in Mexico, I have never heard of Sopa Tarasca made with any kind of pork.

YMMV.

Edited January 8, 2006 by esperanza (log)

[Jmahl]

This is a photo of my Mother in Law's Caldo de Res from the birthplace of one of the fathers of the Mexican Revolution, Cuatro Cienegas de Carranza, Coah.

For the linguistly challenged, this is ox-tail soup.

Does this "caldo" qualify?

[Panosmex]

Look more closely at the restaurant menus in Pátzcuaro.  Caldo Michi is a local specialty and is offered in many places.

When I saw your photos of mole de olla, I thought--wait, that is churipo.  The best churipo I've eaten is at the annual Feria de Artesanías in Uruapan, at the Muestra de Gastronomía.  That fair starts this year on Palm Sunday (April 9).  Maybe we can meet there!

That fair is also where I ate the atápakua I mentioned.  It was one of those OH MY GOD experiences--what a friend calls a mouthgasm.  I took a bite and had to put down the spoon and swoon.  There's nothing in it except chicken broth, epazote, cilantro, and chile perón.  It's thickened with a bit of masa.

Charales are meant to be eaten head, bones, and all.

In 25 years in Mexico, I have never heard of Sopa Tarasca made with any kind of pork.

YMMV.

←

I broke down and actually bought a whole chicken in the mercado, so that I could make a proper atápakua de epazote, cilantro y chile. The chicken is simmering now for the stock. I have some ideas for the cooked chicken meat, but I may start another thread on this.

[Panosmex]

A couple of days ago, I made the Atápakua de Epazote, etc. I made one little change: I had two ears of corn in the fridge which needed to be used , so I scraped them, and put the white kernels into the simmering caldo.

I followed Esperanza's outline after that. I was hesitant to put a full handful of epazote in the soup, but when I tasted it with only half, I added all that I had. I limited the chiles perón to only two, but chopped another to be added by the diners, along with some chopped onion.

Adding the masa was a bit tricky, as it tended to lump up in the simmering broth. After futile whisking, I put the lumpy part in the blender.

It came out a nice shade of green. It was delicious.

The cooked chicken today became a Chinese style hacked sesame chicken salad. That's a different story and post.

Buen provecho,

Panosmex

[Darienne]

For next week's suppers I'm making Sopa de Albondigas this afternoon from my old stand-by Mexican cookbook by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz. The poor book is basically falling apart from use.

Does anyone have a favorite recipe for this? I'm adding celery and carrots to the called for onion, along with 89 tiny albondiguitas (yes, counted them as I tossed them into the cooking broth.) I have no zucchini on hand. What else? I found a recipe that calls for potatoes...but I don't know...

Later: DH has taken it upon himself to dash off to the nearest grocery store and buy some zucchini.

Edited May 2, 2010 by Darienne (log)

[Darienne]

Yesterday I made some Poblano soup: roasted Poblanos, chicken stock, roux, cream, etc.

It was delicious but it was SO hot. I have never tasted such hot Poblanos.

So I added some more cream. And some yogurt. And more chicken stock. And some sugar. And finally a large can of tomatillos, brought back from Moab. Finally we could eat it.

What other ingredients could I have added to this too hot soup? Yes, I know...taste the chiles before you use them.

We're having the soup for supper tonight.

[rancho_gordo]

I might try a potato. I think it would taste great and possible mellow out the heat.

[Darienne]

Will do. Actually I received that same advice from two other eG members in my correspondence. Thanks for your help.

[Jaymes]

Actually, I was going to say a potato, too. Or, thin it out with some chicken broth or milk or cream, and turn it into more of a soup base. To which you will then add some things to make a sort of vegetable soup - potatoes, carrots, etc. Corn - maybe a can of creamed corn. Perhaps chicken. A dollop of sour cream on top?

I raised three kids and often found myself heading for the table with food that had turned out too spicy. When that happened, I usually wound up turning it into a slightly different dish from what I had originally intended.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Jaymes (log)

[Darienne]

Froze half the poblano soup in early April and ate the rest tonight with two finely shredded potatoes in it. Lessened the heat factor substantially. And was good. Thanks all.

[alanjesq]

Any chance of someone posting an authentic Menudo Soup Recipe?

alanjesq

[patrickamory]

What about sopa de lima? One of my absolute faves. There's a recipe in Kennedy.