In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef Saúl Montiel demonstrates how to eat the Mexican breakfast of champions with this ultimate guide to making the best chilaquiles at home.
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00:00 Hi, I'm Sabor Montiel, I'm a professional chef,
00:02 and today I'm gonna show you how to make
00:04 the best chilaquiles.
00:05 Spicy, lots of flavor that wakes you up
00:08 and cures your hangover.
00:09 This is chilaquiles uno and uno.
00:12 The perfect chilaquiles to me,
00:14 the sauce has to be a little bit spicy.
00:16 If it's not spicy, it's not chilaquiles.
00:18 Chile, chilaquiles.
00:20 The tortillas has to be soaked enough
00:21 without being over-soaked.
00:23 Just a little bit of crunch, and it has to be on point.
00:26 This is the Mexican breakfast for champion.
00:28 You don't need none of those peels to cure your hangover.
00:31 You just need this.
00:32 Who is ready to make some chilaquiles?
00:34 [upbeat music]
00:37 Chilaquiles are corn tortilla chips,
00:40 soaked in a spicy salsa.
00:42 I'm gonna do chilaquiles verdes,
00:43 which are green chilaquiles,
00:45 and I'm gonna be using tomatillos.
00:47 So for my tomatillos, I'm going to remove the husk.
00:50 So how do you know you have a really good tomatillo?
00:52 The firmness and the color.
00:53 If it's too yellow, that means it's getting too ripe.
00:56 So it has to be nice and green.
00:58 Now I'm gonna rinse, because they're so sticky.
01:00 Look how sticky they are.
01:01 Now I'm gonna bring this to a boil,
01:05 but before I do that, I need to add some onions,
01:08 serrano, and garlic.
01:09 For a pound of tomatillos, I'm gonna use half an onion.
01:12 I cut it the same size as the tomatillos,
01:13 so they cook almost at the same time.
01:15 And now for the serrano, it's just gonna go right in there.
01:18 I'm going to smash the garlic
01:19 to bring the flavors of the garlic even brighter.
01:24 Now it's time to learn some Spanish.
01:27 Cebolla, chile, tomatillo, ajo.
01:31 We need mas ajo.
01:33 Epicures in Spanish coming up soon.
01:35 So that's plenty of garlic.
01:37 Once it's boiling, I'm gonna lower the heat
01:39 and simmer it for like, you know, eight to 10 minutes.
01:42 I'm just gonna wait for the tomatillos
01:44 to change the color to a little light brown.
01:46 This is what we're looking for.
01:47 Nice, light brownish, yellowish tomatillos.
01:50 The skin is still nice, still whole.
01:53 So do what I say.
01:55 Now I'm going to remove this gently with the spider.
02:00 If you don't have a spider, you can use tongs.
02:02 Now I'm gonna add a little bit of salt,
02:04 a whole cilantro with stems,
02:06 because the stems has a lot of cilantro flavor.
02:09 See when I'm squishing it, how much liquid came out?
02:11 So that's why do the vegetable first.
02:14 If you need more liquid, you add it later.
02:16 But if you add liquid now and you blend it
02:18 and it's very watery, you're not listening.
02:20 Always taste as you go.
02:24 (sizzling)
02:26 Ah, this is ready.
02:27 My tomatillos just look nice and smooth,
02:30 just like it should be.
02:31 Next step, sofreír.
02:33 We're going to cook some of these onions.
02:36 I'm doing dice because I don't want
02:38 to have big chunks of onions.
02:39 The reason why I don't want to brown the onions
02:41 because I want to keep it nice and white.
02:43 That's why we're going low heat.
02:44 I add a little bit of salt here for sure,
02:46 and this will sweat the onions and help them cook it too.
02:50 So I have the onions already cooked.
02:52 Now I'm going to add the sauce.
02:53 (sizzling)
02:55 And I'm going to simmer this sauce.
02:56 Now I'm going to stir it.
02:58 And I'm going to add some chicken bouillon.
03:00 Why I'm using chicken bouillon, not chicken stock?
03:02 It's because I don't want this to be watery,
03:04 but I want the chicken flavor.
03:05 Half a cube for one pound of tomatillos.
03:08 Okay, now we're going to lower the heat.
03:10 So the sauce cooks a little bit longer,
03:12 so it's a little thicker.
03:13 And also we get rid of some of the acidity
03:15 from the tomatillos.
03:16 I'm going to let this cook for 10 to 15 minutes,
03:19 and I'm going to make some crispy tortilla chips.
03:21 (upbeat music)
03:24 The perfect tortilla to use for chilaquiles
03:27 is always going to be corn.
03:28 Because if you use flour, they will be soggy and gooey.
03:31 Using a pre-made tortilla chips is a no-go.
03:34 I think you should fry your own tortillas.
03:35 So the size of cutting the tortillas is very important
03:38 because that's going to determine
03:40 how long you're going to fry them for.
03:41 So we're going to cut them in half,
03:43 half a moon, and then we're going to cut this in four.
03:46 So it will be one,
03:47 two,
03:51 three.
03:52 So for frying tortillas, I'm using neutral oil.
03:54 Now, your oil has to be at least 350 or more.
03:58 375, you get nice and cold tortillas.
04:01 If you don't have a thermometer, you can use a chip.
04:03 Lot of bubbles, it's really hot.
04:05 Not enough bubbles, it's cold.
04:07 So this looking perfect.
04:11 We want bubbles.
04:12 We don't want to put a lot of tortillas in
04:14 because the tortillas are cold.
04:16 And by adding a lot of tortillas,
04:17 you will make the oil cold.
04:19 So it will take longer to fry.
04:21 Always stir because you don't want the tortillas
04:23 to get stick together.
04:25 How do you know when they're done?
04:26 Well, there's no bubbles.
04:28 Right now, this is ready.
04:29 They're nice and brown.
04:31 Now, very important, you have to season
04:32 as soon as they come out
04:34 because that's when the salt gets stick to the chip.
04:36 I'm going to make another batch.
04:38 Remember to stir, always stir.
04:40 They're just making sure all the tortillas
04:42 are cooking evenly.
04:43 Take your time.
04:45 The reason why I'm using a sheet pan and a rack
04:47 is because I don't want my chips to be oily.
04:50 Salt, very important.
04:51 That's it.
04:52 Our crispy tortilla chips are ready.
04:54 Now let's add the delicious tomatillo sauce.
04:56 When mixing the sauce and the tortillas,
05:01 you can do it in a bowl,
05:02 but I like to use a pan
05:03 because I feel like I have better control of things.
05:05 I'm going to put a little bit of sauce here
05:07 and I'm going to be mixing the sauce and the tortillas
05:11 as we go.
05:12 'Cause we don't want to have soggy tortillas,
05:15 but not too crispy tortillas.
05:17 Now I'm going to add more sauce.
05:19 Now I'm going to wet them.
05:22 The reason why I'm adding sauce as we go
05:26 because I want to control the sauce portion
05:29 'cause we don't want to be too wet.
05:30 We don't want to be all about tortillas.
05:32 It's kind of a balance of both.
05:34 Again, you want to make sure every single tortilla chip
05:40 is nice and wet.
05:41 Okay, I think it's good.
05:42 Now it's time to put on a plate some queso,
05:45 crema, onions, and egg.
05:47 Delicious.
05:48 So our chilaquiles, they look nice.
05:53 They kind of have a little bit of a crunch, but not a lot.
05:56 We're not making nachos.
05:57 We're making chilaquiles.
05:58 Basically, this is like my Mexican lasagna.
06:01 Now, crema fresca.
06:03 If you don't have crema fresca, use sour cream.
06:06 Just add a little bit of milk
06:07 and a little bit of lemon and salt.
06:10 Now, the crema, I'm gonna put it all over the chilaquiles
06:12 so to make sure every bite of chilaquiles
06:16 have crema fresca.
06:17 Now I'm gonna sprinkle some queso fresco.
06:19 Queso fresco is a crumbly, salty cheese.
06:23 I think we have plenty of queso.
06:24 I'm gonna do some onions.
06:26 And now I'm gonna add the egg 'cause it's a breakfast thing.
06:31 Now, this is optional, right?
06:33 Some people like to have chorizo.
06:34 Some people like to add beans to it.
06:37 You can add whatever you want.
06:39 But this is how I do my chilaquiles.
06:41 I'm gonna garnish it with a little bit of serrano.
06:45 This is just to add a little bit more heat.
06:46 I'm gonna garnish it with a little bit of cilantro leaves.
06:49 The reason why I'm using leaves,
06:51 it's because I don't want this to taste a lot like cilantro.
06:55 And also, I already add cilantro into the sauce.
06:58 So this is more like for garnish.
07:00 And there you have my chilaquiles con salsa verde y huevo.
07:04 Just by looking at it, it looks beautiful.
07:06 I think it's already a winner.
07:08 So now I'm gonna cut a little bit of chilaquiles.
07:11 I'm gonna add a little bit of avocado.
07:12 I'm gonna break the egg.
07:13 I want the egg yolk all over the place.
07:16 And an extra serrano because I like spicy.
07:19 Layers and layers and layers of pure love.
07:23 Amor.
07:24 Ready?
07:25 Mm.
07:28 The tortilla, it's nice and soft without being soggy,
07:32 with a little bit of crunch.
07:33 The crema kind of cuts a little bit of spiciness
07:36 and balance everything out.
07:37 And the onions, it's just like a pop-up in your mouth.
07:41 And the egg, you can't go wrong with that.
07:43 It just makes everything really good.
07:45 Excuse me, I'm gonna take another bite.
07:47 Mm-hmm.
07:50 Wow.
07:51 This is how you make the best chilaquiles.
07:56 Simple y delicioso.
07:58 Two years ago, when I was back home in Mexico,
08:01 I overdrank, and my mom would make me this.
08:04 This is like the best solution.