Foods of Campeche are described in this chapter.
Chapter 2. Campeche
The state of Campeche is still rather lightly populated. Until recently, it was marine-oriented. A few Maya in the deep interior were virtually the only people making their living solely from the land. The wealth of the province was based in trade, seafaring and fishing. This centered on the historic and vitally important ports of Campeche and Ciudad del Carmen. Several fishing and resort towns dot on the coast between these two.
The Spanish found it in 1517, when it centered on the Maya domain of Aj K’iin Pech (whence “Campeche”). Lacking gold, but having fierce warriors, it was not a great prize for the Spanish, and was slow to be settled. It did, however, eventually produce the great Andres Quintana Roo, who was elder statesman and lawgiver to the Mexican independence movement that led to freedom from Spain in 1821. Quintana Roo’s name was later given to the adjacent state on the east.
For centuries, from the Spanish conquest through the 19th century, Campeche was the main port for the Yucatan Peninsula, exporting honey, wax, dyewoods, cotton, sugar, and other country products in exchange for cloth, wine, oil, tools, religious items and the other needs of a sleepy rural society. Notably important was logwood (Haematoxylon campechianum), the premier black dye of the pre-synthetic era, and still used for some specialized purposes. Cutting logwood was a major occupation. The trees regrew from their bases, forming impenetrable spiny thickets that now make refuges for jaguars and jaguarundis.
Campeche’s trade, small though it was by modern standards, seemed opulent at the time, and made Campeche and Carmen choice prizes for pirates and buccaneers. These gentlemen of fortune are the height of Romance today; every supermarket has its counter of tawdry romance novels and DVD’s featuring noble pirates and lovely ladies. In reality, the pirates were nothing but gangsters, interested in little beyond violence, looting, drinking and rape. They repeatedly sacked Campeche. For years they occupied Carmen and used it for a base. Today, the traditional woman’s costume of Campeche features a white blouse exquisitely decorated with blackwork embroidery portraying ships and marine motifs. The use of black instead of color arose because so many women were widowed or orphaned by the pirates.
Finally, in the 18th century, the pirates were more or less successfully kept out by the huge fortifications that still ring the city. The walls went right out into the water, and a sea gate was constructed, big enough to accommodate sizable ships, but small enough to close with chains. (The gate is now inland, due to recent landfill.) Unfortunately, Campeche’s fortunes were soon to be devastated again: Yucatan developed ports at Sisal and then Progreso. These were nearer Mérida and the other principal Yucatan towns. Campeche lost almost all its trade, and became a country fishing-town dreaming of its romantic past.
Rice and oil brought new life to the state. Rice, grown from early times in the far south on the Tabasco border, exploded into a major crop, though it later declined. Oil has been a more stable income source. Oilfields reach from Tabasco to the area of Carmen. Today, mixed agriculture is expanding, and nature reserves attract ecotourists. The Campeche coast is still an undiscovered paradise where a visitor can still find a private beach. Its low-key, gentle beauty is less dramatic than the stunning white cliffs and deep blue water of the Cancun area; this have saved Campeche’s coast–so far–from the rampant urbanization that has affected the Quintana Roo coast.
History gave Campeche a cuisine based on Yucatan’s, but differing in its emphasis on fish cookery. The most distinctive seafood item of Campeche city is very much an acquired taste. This is the cazón (dogfish or small shark). The rather muddy waters of the Gulf of Mexico lack the Caribbean’s treasure trove of colorful fish, but they abound in small sharks, especially hammerheads. These are quickly cleaned, salted and roasted after they are caught, to prevent spoilage. The roasted chunks of dogfish or shark sit in the market, shaded from the hot sun, awaiting purchasers. They develop an odd flavor rather reminiscent of the canned mackerel of an earlier era in the United States. They are most commonly made into a product known as “dogfish bread” (pan de cazón), which is considered the “national” dish of Campeche (see recipe below). Most of the dogfish recipes are more to the taste of non-Campecheans if the cook substitutes cod, red snapper, or fresh good-quality shark. Dogfish bread, however, remains an “acquired taste” even with heavy substitution.
The most elaborate of Mexico’s seafood cocktails is called “Campechana” throughout Mexico. However, seafood cocktails are monotonously the same everywhere, even in Campeche, and need no recipes here.
Campeche is a paradise of tropical fruits, and these are preserved in sugar syrup or made into liqueur by steeping the fruit in sweetened rum. These products are exquisite, and are well known far beyond the state’s borders. Often the bottles are put over the forming fruit on the trees, so that the fruit grows to fill the bottle. Few things are more arresting to the traveler’s eye than an orchard bearing a lavish crop of liqueur bottles. Mexico is missing a turn by not exporting these products to the United States; they would command a ready market at almost any price.
Recados and sauces in Campeche are generally the same as in Yucatan, so refer to recipes in the previous chapter.
SEAFOOD
Black Rice Soup (a “dry soup”)
1/2 lb. rice
1 oz. lard or vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves
1 onion
2 quarts stock from cooking black beans (one could use the liquid from a few cans of black beans)
2 serrano chiles
4 epazote leaves
Salt to taste
Soak the rice; drain; fry in the lard or oil. Add the garlic, onion and chiles (chopped), the bean stock, the epazote and the salt. Cook over a very low flame.
Alternative method (not traditional but good): fry the onion and garlic first, then add the rice. This requires more lard or oil.
This can be made with seafood—crab meat, shrimp, squid—in which case one can leave out the black bean liquid.
Compare the similar recipe in the Yucatan chapter.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:24)
Bricklayer’s Dogfish (cazón de albañil)
1 roast dogfish
3 sprigs epazote
Salt
4 tomatoes
1 onion
2 xcatic chiles
Oil for frying
Boil the dogfish with the epazote. Bone and shred. Fry up the shreds with the vegetables (chopped). Add the stock in which the dogfish was cooked–enough to make a sauce rather than a soup.
I admit I included this dish only because the name is irresistible. Still, it’s great if you use some more hopeful fish. Actually, it is a version of a common Caribbean dish using salt cod (presoaked and washed to remove the salt).
Campeche Caviare
Roes from one esmedregal
1 tbsp. oregano
8 garlic cloves, mashed
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
Salt to taste
2 onions
1 head of garlic
4 large tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
Boil the roes with some oregano, garlic and salt. Chill. Peel the membrane off the roes. Roast the onion, garlic head, and tomatoes, blend them, and fry them in the olive oil. Season. Add the roes and boil 15-20 minutes.
Fish roes are widely used in mixed seafood dishes in eastern Mexico.
Fried Flaked Dogfish
If you are not into the cult of cazón, try this with any firm white-fleshed fish, such as cod. It is then really excellent.
2 lb. fresh dogfish, in pieces
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 green onion
Epazote
Lime
1 lb. tomatoes
1 chile habanero
1/2 regular onion
oil
Cook the dogfish in water to cover, with the salt, green onion and epazote.
Bone and skin the dogfish. Rinse and break up into small pieces. Season with the lime, and with more salt and epazote.
Roast the tomatoes, chile and onion. Blend up. Fry this salsa in oil.
Add the dogfish to the salsa and fry till this sauce thickens.
Dogfish Bread (pan de cazón)
This universal Campeche delicacy is even more an acquired taste than its main ingredient. I present a recipe purely for ethnographic interest.
2 lb. roasted dogfish
1 tbsp. salt
10 sprigs epazote
1 lb. lard
1/2 onion
2 lb. tomatoes
Refried black beans (boil the beans; mash; fry in lard)
Tortillas
Habanero salsa (chopped habaneros in bitter orange or lime juice)
Wash and cut up the dogfish. Boil with salt for thirty minutes. Add some epazote. Remove skin and bones and fry.
Stir-fry the onion and the rest of the epazote, chopped, in lard. Add the tomatoes, cut up, and the pieces of dogfish.
Cover and cook for fifteen minutes. Retire from the flame. Break up the fish into flakes and mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Heat the tortillas and the beans. Moisten the tortillas in the dogfish sauce. Cover with a layer of beans. Cover this with the dogfish mix. Then add another layer (tortilla, beans, sauce). Keep building, by layers, as much as desired. (About six layers is typical.) Serve with the salsa.
Variants abound, but the basic model above is pretty standard.
This is more or less the national dish of Campeche. If it is made (as it usually is) with the dogfish that has been sitting in the marketplace for a while, outsiders may find it reminiscent of school-cafeteria tuna casserole.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:33)
Esmedregal in Orange Juice
Esmedregal is a term for various large fish with firm white flesh. Anything from albacore to red snapper works well for this one.
2 lb. esmedregal fillets, or other firm, juicy, white-fleshed fish
1 quart water with lime juice
Parsley, 1 bunch
Garlic, 2-3 cloves
Oregano, about 1 tsp dried
Cumin seeds
Black pepper
Salt
1 cup bitter orange juice or vinegar
1 cup olive oil
1/2 white onion
1 sweet chile
1 lb. tomatoes, sliced
1 hot chile
Juice of two sweet oranges
Bread crumbs (optional)
Cut the fish in small pieces and wash in the water.
Blend the herbs and spices into a paste with the bitter orange juice or vinegar. Marinate the fish in half of this, for an hour or so.
Fry lightly.
Separately fry the vegetables, cut up. Add the fish. Cook, adding the rest of the herb paste, and finally the sweet orange juice. Add bread crumbs to thicken, if needed. (I prefer it without the bread crumbs.)
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:36)
Fish casserole
2 lb. white, firm-fleshed fish
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup oil
1 onion, in thin slices
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 lb. bell pepper, chopped
1 lb. tomato, blended
2 peppercorns, crushed
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tbsp. fresh oregano (dried oregano can be substituted, in which case use less, about 1 tsp.)
1 tbsp. parsley, chopped
1 tsp. nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Wash the fish, cut in medium-sized pieces, and marinate in the lime juice for 15 minutes. Heat the oil. Fry in it the onion and garlic. Then add the bell pepper, blended tomato, pepper, cumin seeds, oregano, nutmeg, parsley and salt. When this has cooked a short time, add the fish and cook till done.
Fish Makum
A classic favorite, also very popular in Yucatan.
Cherry Hamman explains: “The words mak, ‘to close’ and kum ‘cooking pot,’ explain the title of this ancient hearthrite.” (Hamman 1998:251; her recipe is for a meat makum, also an excellent dish).
6 garlic cloves
2 roasted onions
1/2 tbsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 tbsp. achiote paste
5 cloves
8 black peppercorns
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup oil
Juice of 2 limes
Salt to taste
Oil for oiling the dish
1 banana leaf
2 lb. fish fillets (snapper, pompano or the like)
3 tomatoes, sliced
4 whole güero chiles (medium-sized, hot, yellow chiles)
1 red bell pepper or 1-2 fresh red chiles, roasted, peeled and sliced
Blend the garlic, one of the onions, and the cumin seeds, oregano, achiotes, cloves, and peppercorns. Mix with the vinegar, some oil, and the salt and lime juice. Alternatively, you can just use a cube of red recado dissolved in lime or bitter orange juice.
Oil a casserole dish and line with the banana leaf. Put on some of the sauce (above), then the fish, then the rest of the sauce, well rubbed onto all the fish.
Decorate with the tomatoes and the other onion, sliced; the whole chiles; and the pimentos. Bend the banana leaf around to cover all. Bake, or cook over slow fire, till done.
Parsley or cilantro for garnish is allowed.
Serve with white rice and black beans.
Variant: Nutmeg (pinch) and bay leaves are sometimes added. More tomatoes can be used.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:34)
Pampano in Escabeche
Pampano is a medium-sized, roundish fish with firm white flesh and a very delicate flavor. Red snapper would work (but the real thing is better). I can even imagine doing this dish with trout.
1 grilled or fried pampano
1 large onion
1 carrot
1 jalapeno pepper
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. cumin seeds
Few black peppercorns
1/2 cup vinegar
Salt and other spices to taste
Oil
Chop and fry the onion. Add the other vegetables and spices. Cook briefly (a few minutes). Pour this sauce over the pampano.
Pampano in Green Sauce
The medieval Arab-Andalusian green sauce appears yet again. This is a particularly good form of it.
2 lb. pampano fillets
Lime
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch cilantro
1 green chile (xkatik preferable)
Black pepper
Oregano to taste (about 1 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
Salt
Vinegar to taste (a small amount)
6 cloves garlic
Lard for frying
1 small onion
2 tomatoes
2 mild yellow chiles
Wash the fish and rub with lime.
Blend the parsley, cilantro, green chile, oregano, pepper, cumin seeds, salt, vinegar and garlic.
Marinate the fish in this sauce.
Fry all in lard (or oil). One way to do this is to put the fish in, then cover with the sauce. Another way is to fry the sauce first, then put the fish in (this works only with quite thin fish, or fillets).
Then add the onion and tomatoes, chopped, and the chiles, chopped or whole. When all has fried somewhat, add water and cook till sauce is thick.
Variants: One can dispense with either the parsley or the cilantro, or even the green chile, and use instead hojasanta leaves, or tomatillos (green husk-tomatoes).
Pampano Pohchuc
1 pampano, ca. 1 lb.
1 tbsp. achiote paste
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
24 garlic cloves
2 tbsp. olive oil
Stuffing:
Oil, for frying
1 lb. cooked small shrimp
1 lb. chopped octopus
3 garlic cloves
2 chopped tomatoes
2 laurel leaves
Salt and pepper
Banana leaves
Wash the fish and marniate for two hours in a marinade of the achiote, pepper, oregano, cumin seeds, garlic and olive oil (plus enough water to make a thin paste).
For the stuffing, stir-fry the onion, chopped. Add the shrimp and octopus. Then add the rest and boil briefly.
Stuff the fish with this. Wrap all in banana leaves, put in a casserole dish and bake in a moderate oven for 25 minutes.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:33
Panuchos, Campeche style
2 lb. masa
4 oz. flour
Salt to taste
1 lb. cooked black beans
1 lb. fried dogfish (see above in introduction to section)
1 onion, quartered
2 bitter oranges
Habanero chile, to taste
Mix the masa, flour and salt with enough water to make a dough. Make small tortillas (two for each panucho). For a panucho, cover one tortilla with beans, one with shark meat, put them together (beans and fish inside), and seal around the edges. Fry (either deep fat or in a bit of oil in skillet).
Chop the onion and habanero and mix into the juice of the bitter oranges. Eat as topping for the panuchos.
Red Snapper in Green Sauce
This is a much simpler version of the recipe for pampano in green sauce, above.
1 red snapper
Olive oil for frying
1/2 onion
1 bunch parsley
1 cup vinegar
Onion, cut in sections
Parsley sprigs
Clean the fish and slash sides. Fry in oil. Put in baking dish; brush with more oil.
Blend the onion and parsley, fry in oil and add in the vinegar.
Pur this sauce over the fish, decorate with the onion slices and parsley sprigs, and bake till done.
Obviously, one can use the green sauce recipe above (Pampano in Green Sauce), which really is better. But, if you are in a hurry, this is awfully good.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:37)
Salt Cod
Not content with their wealth of local seafood, the Campechanos have adopted this Caribbean staple.
1/2 lb. salt cod, cut in pieces, soaked and washed thoroughly
2 oz. oil
2 oz. lard
1/2 lb. tomatoes, roasted, peeled, chopped
1 onion, ditto
5 or more sprigs of parsley, cut up
2 garlic cloves, roasted
20 black peppercorns
2 ancho chiles, boiled with salt
1/2 cup water
1 lb. potatoes, boiled, cut up
2 roasted red peppers, peeled and cut up
Fry the cod in the oil and lard. Add the tomatoes, onion and parsley. Grind the garlic and spices and add. Then add the water and boil. Finally, when almost done, add the potatoes.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:37
Seafood Rice
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 tomato
1 lb. rice
2 bay leaves
Sprig of thyme
Sprig of oregano
Mixed seafood: shrimps, clams or other shellfish, cut-up octopus, and bits of fish
Fish stock
2 oz. peas
Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Chop the onion and garlic. Fry in a bit of oil. Add the tomato, chopped. Add the rice and herbs. Fry till rice begins to stick. Add the seafood. Then add enough fish stock to cover all to a depth of 1/2 to 3/4″. Add peas and cook.
Chopped peppers can be added too. In fact, almost anything can be added. This dish naturally calls for improvisation and substitution. You can use any odd bits of seafood available. Important is to achieve a contrast of textures, such as that produced by fish, clams, and octopus bits.
Seafood Salad
Shrimp, conch, octopus, bits of fish, shredded carrot, chopped onion, cilantro, sliced cucumber, sliced tomato, sliced avocado, salt, and pepper, in lime juice.
Basically a glorified fish cocktail. As with the foregoing, the critical thing is to achieve a contrast of textures as well as tastes.
Snook in Mole Sauce
The snook is a large silver fish of warm Caribbean and Atlantic waters. It has white flesh and a unique, rich taste that can become addictive. A snook cooked this way is truly unique and unsurpassed, but, lacking a snook, you can use any white-fleshed fish. Relatively firm, oily ones work best.
1 snook, ca. 3 lb.
Salt
4 tbsp. lard
8 ancho chiles (dried)
2 cups water
1/2 lb. cooked potatoes, cut up
Sprig of epazote
Clean the fish. Rub with lard. Roast on a grill.
Soak the chiles to rehydrate them. Then blend and fry in lard. Add salt to taste.
Add in the water, the fish (cut in pieces), and the potatoes and epazote. Cook till flavors blend.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:37)
MEAT
Campeche Sausage
1 lb. pork loin
1 lb. pork leg (fresh ham)
1/2 lb. fresh bacon, chopped
1 onion
8 garlic cloves
25 black peppercorns
20 cumin seeds (or more)
3 cloves
1 tbsp. achiote paste
Salt
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. bitter orange juice
Sausage skins
Grind the meat fine. Add the other ingredients (grinding the spices). Leave eight hours in the refrigerator, then stuff the mix into the sausage skins.
One can, of course, simply fry the spiced ground meat instead of making sausages with it. This is a lot easier (I have never been able to get energetic enough to make sausages at home) and is extremely good.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:42)
Pork Loin with Black-eyed Peas
A rather striking recipe with a distinctly Cuban flavor. I suspect Campeche’s long, close trade connections with Cuba are behind this dish somewhere.
2 garlic cloves
10 black peppercorns
1 onion
1 tbsp. achiote seeds
1/2 lb. tomato, chopped
10 sprigs epazote
1 1/2 lb. pork loin, cut in small pieces
1 quart water
Salt to taste
3/4 lb. black-eyed peas
2 lb. masa
1 habanero chile, green (unripe)
1/3 lb. lard, melted
1 banana leaf
Grind the spices. Miix with the tomato, epazote and meat. Make a soup with the water and salt, and cook till meat is done. Cook the peas separately.
Mix the chile (cut up) and the lard into the masa. Add the meat stew and the beans. Cook till it forms a solid paste. Grease a baking dish and line with banana leaf. Add in the paste and bake at 350o till golden.
Tamales, Campeche feast style
4 lb. masa
4 quarts water
Salt to taste
3/4 lb. lard
3 sprigs of epazote
10 banana leaves
Filling:
1 lb. jowl of pork (or other relatively firm, meaty cut)
1 1/2 lb. pork loin
1 chicken
Salt to taste
8 cloves garlic, roasted
10 black peppercorns
1/4 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. achiote seeds
1 quart broth
1 1/2 lb. tomato, chopped
6 leaves or sprigs of epazote, chopped
Mix the masa with water. Strain through cheesecloth or sieve. Let stand till masa settles; pour off water. Add salt, lard and epazote (chopped). Simmer, stirring constantly, till thick. Turn off flame and let stand 15 minutes.
Cook the meats in the stock, cut into small pieces, and add salt and garlic. Grind the peppercorns, cumin seeds and achiote seeds. Add to the stock. Mix in the chopped meat and boil again till reduced. Add the tomato and epazote. Retire from the flame when cooked fairly dry.
Toast lightly the banana leaves and cut in quarters. Cover with a layer of masa dough. Put on a chunk of stuffing and roll up. Steam for half an hour.
VEGETABLES
Campeche Salad
1/2 lb. chickpeas, cooked
1/2 lb. green beans
3 carrots
2 turnips
3 potatoes
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Boil the carrots and turnips. Boil the potatoes separately. Do not overcook–they should be firm. Cool. Chop and mix with the tomato and seasonings.
A very standard restaurant dish, and thus subject to infinite variation. It is possible to add cooked rice to this. It is also possible to add almost anything else interesting; corn kernels are particularly welcome. The creative cook will want to experiment with herbs, chiles, and even flaked fish (this salad often accompanies fish, and there seems no reason not to add some fish in).
Vegetables in Marinade
1 cauliflower
1/2 lb. green beans
4 summer squash
4 carrots
1 red onion
4 small potatoes
Jalapeno chile (optional)
2 tbsp. olive oil
Vinegar
Herbs
Oregano, salt, and pepper to taste
Cut up the vegetables. Blanch them by putting in boiling water, turning it off and leaving for 15 minutes (i.e., till the vegetables soften a bit but do not actually cook). Wash them and put in vinegar to cover. Add in the other ingredients and marinate at least 12 hours.
The herbs would typically be powdered thyme, marjoram and perhaps others. One can easily use fresh herbs instead. Be creative. The irrepressible will no doubt want to add a habanero.
Cooked sea foods, especially shellfish and octopus, can be added.
DESSERTS
Preserved ciricotes
The ciricote is the small fruit of a tree (Cordia sebestina) also noted for its incredibly beautiful wood. The value of the wood leads to cutting many a ciricote tree, and the fruit is correspondingly rare. Tough and even woody, like small quinces, ciricotes have to be cooked.
4 lb. ciricotes
Juice of 4 limes
1 lb. sugar
2 quarts water
3 fig leaves
Cook the ciricotes. If tough, use some baking soda–or, to be really traditional, ashes–to tenderize and sweeten.
When the ciricotes are cool, peel and put in water and lime juice. Wash, soak and drain.
Make a syrup with the sugar, water and a bit more lime juice. Add the ciricotes and fig leaves, and boil half an hour. Bottle.
Campeche is famous for its fruit preserves and liqueurs. This recipe will have to stand for all of them. The recipe is standard, except for the fig leaves, which are used only when their tenderizing and thickening action is desirable, as with the tough ciricote.
Ciricote wood is yellow and brown, with a richly figured grain. There is a great future for this tree. If the better varieties were propagated, they could produce fruit until the tree was mature; the tree could then be harvested for its wood.
(Conaculta Oceano 2001a:50)
