Caldo de Camarón de Cantina, 1994

by Del de la Cruz 

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Marshall, Katarin, El Gran Libro de la Cocina Navidadeña. México: Editoial Libra, 1994. Pp. 28.

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As with many of the cookbooks featured here, this recipe lacks detailed instructions for novice cooks (such as myself), and perhaps due to my unfamiliarity with this type of dish, mine did not turn out visually aesthetic. The flavors, however, were quite good, as I was able to eat a couple of servings.

When I see or hear the word “caldo”, I think “soup”, but my dish turned out quite thick – it could even be eaten with a fork. It had a very strong shrimp flavor as well as a hefty Mexican sauce flavor. As you can imagine from a sauce made with garlic, cumin, chiles, onion, and shrimp bouillon – the flavor was a little more intense than some of the TexMex sauces I’m familiar with in these parts.

I can see why this dish is served in Mexican cantinas, as I thought it went well with a couple of beers. The carrots and rice came out soft and fluffy, respectively, but the shrimp was a bit chewey, somewhat like a jerky – I’m still not sure if this is a result of the way I cooked it, or if it is the nature of dried shrimp. Lastly, this recipe also uses the ingredient “epazote”, which was featured on our November 19th blog post.

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Original Recipe/Receta Original:

Caldo de Camarón de Cantina

300 gr. de camarón seco, limpio
1 ½ l. de agua
6 zanahorias limpias, cortadas en rodajas de ½ cm
1 taza de arroz lavado
2 jitomates
3 chiles morita
4 dientes de ajo
½ cebolla picada
1 pizca de cominos
1 cubito de consomé
1 cucharada de manteca de cerdo
1 manojito de epazote

En una olla grande se pone el agua a hervir, se ponen los camarones. A medio cocimiento se agregan las zanahorias. Cuando estén blandas, se agrega el arroz y se deja hervir.

Mientras tanto, se asan los jitomates, los chiles, la cebolla y el comino, se muele todo. La salsa resultante se fríe en manteca caliente y se sazona con el cubito de consomé. Cuando espesa la salsa se pone en la olla y se deja hervir hasta que esponje el arroz. Se añaden unas ramitas de epazote y se sirve bien caliente.

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Translated Recipe/Receta Traducida:

Cantina style shrimp broth

For For 10 people (I used half of these quantities):
300 grams of dried shrimp, cleaned
1 ½ liters of water
6 carrots, cleaned and cut in ½ cm slices
1 cup of rice, washed
2 tomatoes
3 dark, dried chiles
4 cloves of garlic
½ onion, diced
1 pinch of cumin
1 bouillon cube (I used shrimp flavor)
1 tablespoon of lard (since I did not have any lard, I used vegetable oil)
1 handful of epazote

In a large pot get water to boiling, add the shrimp. When halfway cooked add the carrots. When the carrots are soft, add the rice and let boil.

While that is going on, get the tomatoes, chiles, onion, cumin, [and garlic – the use of the garlic is not mentioned in the original instructions, but I assume you use them in this step also], blend (or purée) all of these ingredients. This will result in a salsa, which then is sautéed in lard and seasoned with the bouillon cube. After this salsa (sauce) thickens, add it to the pot of boiling shrimp, carrots, and rice, and let boil until the rice becomes fluffy. Add a few sprigs of epazote and serve hot.

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