Mexican soups and broths for the British winter

The culture of broth in Mexico

In Mexico, soup is not a first course eaten out of obligation before the main. Soup is an event. Mexican broths are complete, substantial and comforting dishes that hold a central place in the country's daily cooking.

Every Mexican grandmother has her secret broth recipe. Every region has its emblematic soups. And every Mexican has a favourite broth that reminds them of home. In the British winter, which can be surprisingly cold for those of us who come from milder climates, these broths are the best remedy against homesickness and the chill.

Caldo tlalpeño

Caldo tlalpeño originates in Tlalpan, an area to the south of Mexico City. It is a clear, aromatic chicken broth with a subtle heat that comes from the chipotle chilli.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken cut into pieces
• 200 g of cooked chickpeas
• 2 chipotle chillies in adobo
• 2 sprigs of epazote (or coriander as a substitute)
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 chayote in cubes (or courgette)
• 100 g of green beans
• Avocado and fresh cheese to serve

Cook the chicken with onion, garlic and salt to make a golden, aromatic broth. Add the vegetables and the chickpeas. The chipotle is blended and added to the broth, giving it its slightly orange colour and its characteristic heat. It is served with diced avocado, panela cheese (or a fresh white cheese) and fresh epazote.

It is the perfect broth for a cold Sunday: comforting, nutritious and with that smoky touch of chipotle that warms you from within.

Sopa azteca (tortilla soup)

Sopa azteca is probably the best-known Mexican soup internationally. It is a tomato broth with pasilla chilli, served with strips of crisp fried tortilla, avocado, sour cream and fresh cheese.

The key is the contrast of textures: the hot, smooth broth against the crisp tortillas that gradually soften. Sopa azteca is an exercise in perfect balance between the spicy, the tangy and the creamy.

For the broth:

• 6 ripe tomatoes, roasted
• 1/4 onion, roasted
• 2 garlic cloves, roasted
• 2 pasilla chillies (toasted and rehydrated)
• 1 litre of chicken stock
• 1 sprig of epazote

To serve:

• 8 corn tortillas cut into strips and fried
• 1 avocado in cubes
• Sour cream
• Crumbled fresh cheese
• Pasilla chilli fried in strips (to garnish)

Caldo de res (Mexican beef broth)

Mexican caldo de res is the equivalent of a hearty pot-au-feu: a long stew of beef with vegetables that produces a golden, comforting broth. The vegetables vary by region, but the classics include corn, chayote, squash, carrot, green beans, potato and cabbage.

It is a weekend dish cooked for hours and served in enormous deep bowls, accompanied by red rice, lime, chopped serrano chilli and warm tortillas.

Ingredients for 8 people:

• 1 kg of beef shin (or shank)
• 1 marrow bone
• 2 corn cobs cut into rounds
• 3 medium potatoes in quarters
• 2 carrots in large pieces
• 2 courgettes in pieces
• 200 g of green beans
• 1/4 cabbage in large pieces
• Coriander, onion, garlic

The meat is cooked for 2-3 hours over a low heat until tender. The vegetables are added in stages: first those that take longest (corn, carrot, potato) and at the end the most tender (courgette, cabbage).

Sopa de lima (Yucatecan lime soup)

Sopa de lima is one of the treasures of Yucatecan cooking. It is a chicken broth scented with lima (a Yucatecan citrus fruit different from the Persian lime) and spices, served with strips of fried tortilla and shredded chicken.

In the UK, you can approximate the flavour using grated Persian lime or, even better, a combination of lime and a little Seville bitter-orange zest.

Menudo (pancita)

Menudo is a tripe broth cooked in a salsa of guajillo and ancho chillies. It is the ultimate anti-hangover dish in Mexico: it is eaten on Sunday mornings, especially after a night of partying.

Tripe is easy to find at British butchers. The difference is in the salsa: Mexican menudo is based on dried chillies and oregano.

Menudo is served with chopped onion, dried oregano, lime and tostadas. It is a dish that divides opinion because of its texture, but those who love it, love it deeply.

Chicken consommé with rice

Mexican chicken consommé is different from the European consommé: it is less refined but more flavoursome. It is made with a whole chicken (including the feet, which add gelatine), aromatic vegetables, and served with cooked rice in the broth, chickpeas, avocado and serrano chilli.

It is the most common home-made soup in Mexico, the one eaten midweek when there is no time for elaborate preparations. And in winter, a good consommé with its rice and its avocado is pure medicine.

Sopa de fideo

Sopa de fideo is perhaps the most everyday soup in Mexico. It is made by toasting fine noodles in oil until golden, then adding a blended-tomato salsa and chicken stock. It is simple, quick and extremely comforting.

In the UK, you can use fine soup noodles (vermicelli) and the result will be very similar. The secret is to toast the noodles well before adding the liquid: they should be golden and crisp.

Pozole (a special mention)

Although pozole deserves an article of its own for its complexity and cultural importance, we cannot talk about Mexican soups without mentioning it. Pozole is a broth of cacahuacintle maize with pork (or chicken) served with lettuce, radishes, onion, oregano, tostadas and lime.

It exists in three versions: red (with ancho and guajillo chillies), green (with tomatillo, pumpkin seed and green chillies) and white (just the base broth without chilli). It is the festive dish par excellence and is eaten especially on Thursdays and during the September independence celebrations.

Tips for Mexican soups in the UK

• Home-made stock makes the difference: avoid commercial stock cubes. Make your own chicken or beef stock.
• Epazote is hard to find: substitute with fresh coriander, although the flavour is not identical
• Tinned chipotle chilli is your friend: it brings smoke and heat to any broth
• Home-made fried tortillas: cut corn tortillas into strips and fry them yourself. Bagged ones do not compare.
• The accompaniments matter: a Mexican soup without lime, coriander and fresh chilli loses half its charm

Mexican soups and broths are the perfect culinary hug for British winters. Try these recipes and discover why in Mexico the phrase “I made you a little broth” is a synonym for love. Find more comforting recipes in our recipe collection and visit our blog to keep exploring Mexican cooking.