Caldo Tlalpeno (Avocado Chicken Soup)

*Sopes* are not soups, they are antojitos. So, if you see sopes on a
menu, don't expect to get soup.

A "sopa" is a soup. A *caldo* is a broth or a stock. I suppose the main
difference is that the broth would remain rather clear. Soups are not
part of the indigenous cooking, they were introduced during the Spanish
colonial period.

This recipe is for a wet *sopa* or soup, not a *sopa seca* or "dry
soup", which may sometimes be called a "pasta", especially if it
contains Italian style pasta which are very available in Mexico.

The whole idea of the *sopa seca* is that something like tortillas or
rice or pasta
absorbs most of the liquid.

My friend Bob the Biker went off to Mexico on his Honda and stayed for
a year. He's a *huero*, a pale-skinned Mexican who knows something
about his culture, but from a California viewpoint. He told me that the
further he got into Mexico, the wetter the "Spanish rice" was. That
surprised him.

Apparently he started getting Sopa de Arroz (Dry Rice Soup) which has
more liquid in it.

The main meal of the day in Mexico is the comida, typically served at
midday. If you are going to serve multiple courses at a formal comida,
a wet soup would be served before a dry soup.

Caldo Tlalpeno (Avocado Chicken Soup)

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 oz of chicken (white meat)
4 cups chicken stock
1 or 2 dried red chiles (chile arbol, e.g.)
1 to 5 teeth of garlic
3 tbsp water
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
1 avocado
half a handful of cilantro

Preparation
Slice the chicken into julienne strips. If the chicken isn't cooked,
bring the stock to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. If the
chicken is cooked bring the stock and chicken to a simmering boil. You
may double the amount of chicken if desired.

De-seed the chiles. Tear into pieces. Grind with a pestle and mortar
with the garlic and 3 tablespoons of water. Strain into the stock. Stir
and simmer for 2 minutes. Salt to taste.

Chop the cilantro and reserve.

Peel the avocado and slice into strips. Separate the slices before
dropping them into the soup. They will sink for a few moments, then
float to the top. Don't allow the avocado to cook, or it will turn
bitter.

Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately

This soup can be made with chicken or vegetable stock. The pepper used
is optional. Gringo versions usually contain little or no garlic.
Mexican versions contain a whole head of garlic. When the head of
garlic is separated, the smaller sections are called "dientes" or
teeth.

Expanding a bit about the Sopa de Arroz

Dry rice usually can be Arroz Rojo (red rice) o Arroz Blanco (white
rice), Arroz rojo is cooked with tomato, some people add dried shrimps,
peas and carrot in small cubes, White rice sometimes is served also
with peas and carrots and sometimes corn kernels witch in my experience
makes it a bit sweeter, some people do something like spanish paella.

Also it is usual to server what you call wet rice as regular red rice
or white rice with some chicken broth, usually in colder climates.

Saludos y Feliz Año Nuevo!

> wrote in message
oups.com...
Expanding a bit about the Sopa de Arroz

Dry rice usually can be Arroz Rojo (red rice) o Arroz Blanco (white
rice),
___________________________

<snip>
A very interesting post. I have encountered many additions to both white and
red rices dishes. I have often wondered where geographical influences leave
off and where family traditions start when it comes to rice inclusions!
Below is my all time favorite Mexican rice dish. Posted in this newsgroup
back in 1998. It has been a staple in my home since then!

Charlie

YUCATAN WHITE RICE

Recipe by: Patrick Delaney, 08JUN98, a.f.m-c

2 tbs. oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped or sliced
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups water
salt to taste

Sauté garlic and onion, over low heat, in the oil until the onion is
translucent. Stir in the rice and add water and salt to taste. Simmer until
the water is evaporated.

"CK" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Caldo Tlalpeno (Avocado Chicken Soup)
>
> *Sopes* are not soups, they are antojitos. So, if you see sopes on a
> menu, don't expect to get soup.
>
> A "sopa" is a soup. A *caldo* is a broth or a stock. I suppose the main
> difference is that the broth would remain rather clear. Soups are not
> part of the indigenous cooking, they were introduced during the Spanish
> colonial period.

This is very interesting and thought provoking! I enjoy and often make or
eat in restaurants frijoles olla. These can be quite "soupy". I have found
that a large batch of frijoles can be served at one meal as beans with no
(or little) liquid, another meal as a kind of bean soup (or very wet
beans!), and a final meal of refritos.

In my experience this is usually in a family setting, but some of the better
Cal-Mex restaurants it is also from the same pot that one can choose
frijoles, frijoles olla, or frijoles rifritos.

When I make beans (and I find this too in most better restaurants) I do add
a variety of other ingredients. For instance I usually add onion, garlic,
chiles [I tend to use 3: fresh Anaheim, dried chipotle and ancho], carrot,
Mexican oregano, and, at the end, salt. If I am using fresh oregano, it too
goes in at the end. Sometimes other things go in, but normally just the
above ingredients. I like pintos, but now-and-then use another bean. I also
make it with plenty of water so it is quite soupy.

With an addition of a few other things or as is, this could be considered a
"sopa" could it not? It isn't far from other peasant type soups found around
the world.

Charlie

Charles Gifford wrote:
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> Expanding a bit about the Sopa de Arroz
>
> Dry rice usually can be Arroz Rojo (red rice) o Arroz Blanco (white
> rice),

> A very interesting post. I have encountered many additions to both white and
> red rices dishes. I have often wondered where geographical influences leave
> off and where family traditions start when it comes to rice inclusions!

Then there is the availability of some items and the scarcity of others
that results in family traditional recipes.

In his cookbook, "Mexican Cooking" (which is mostly pictures) Roger
Hicks nevertheless makes excellent points about the variations in
recipes due to geography, climate, the foodstuffs available, and the
inventive temperate of the Mexican people.

The rule is, "No hay reglas fijas". There are no fixed rules.

And, another point that Hicks makes is that Mexicans tend to cook their
meats longer than Americans would cook the tenderer, aged meats they
find in supermarkets.

Chances are that the beef, pork, mutton, goat, lamb, kid, chicken,
turkey, or whatever they use in one of their *guisos* was a free
ranging animal shortly before it became *comida*.

Therefore it has to be boiled longer, often to the point where the meat
can be shredded with two forks.

And the names of Mexican recipes will confuse Americans who are
unfamiliar with the concepts of naming a dish after the *mole* that it
was finished in, instead of saying that it is actually a *stew* with a
particular *sauce*.

Another very similar dish might be named because it's messy to eat,
like *birria* or a *mancha mantel* (table cloth stainer).

Again a stew might be named after a major vegetable ingredient, such as
the white hominy used in *pozole*.

A stew might also be called a "seco" because it is cooked until there
is very little liquid left, just like a "sopa seca" I referred to
earlier.

When I make pozole quickly in a microwave, it comes out as "pozole
seco", a dish to be eaten with a fork from a plate.

And yet all of the above moles, secos, mancha mantels, birrias and
pozole are made almost exactly the same way. Boil the meat, de-seed and
de-vein the chile, fry the chile, blend it in a blender with other
spices, sautee the result, and add it to the pot for finishing.

"CK" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Charles Gifford wrote:
> > > wrote
>
> > A very interesting post. I have encountered many additions to both white
and
> > red rices dishes. I have often wondered where geographical influences
leave
> > off and where family traditions start when it comes to rice inclusions!
>
> Then there is the availability of some items and the scarcity of others
> that results in family traditional recipes.

Yes. That would be the geographical influences I mentioned above.

<snip the rest of the post which had nothing to do with rice>

Charlie