Looking to spice up your chicken routine AND impress your friends with your international culinary knowledge? Look no further than this Adobo Chicken recipe (not to be confused with the Filipino dish) which hails from central Mexico. Despite the widespread presence of Mexican cuisine in our cities, this delectable dish has remained unknown to most of us to my greatest surprise as it is insanely good!
What is commonly referred to as ‘mixiote’ in Mexican cuisine is a traditional pit-barbecued meat dish. The meat is first seasoned with chili peppers, herbs and spices before being wrapped in small packages of parchment paper and then slowly cooked.
The slightly sweet chilies are first seared in a really hot pan which helps develop the flavor and adds a delightful smokiness.
Puréed with the rest of the spices and herbs, they form a thick chili spread which you liberally cover your meat with, in this case chicken thighs.
The real mixiote is actually wrapped in the membrane obtained from maguey leaves (agave Americana), which has the texture of parchment paper, but most people these days use the commercially available baking parchment. Wrap your precious packages well and tie tightly with kitchen string to enclose all that deliciousness while slowly steaming them.
After carefully transferring each package to a shallow bowl, you’re ready for the unveiling…
Opening the package, you’ll immediately get hit with a huge whiff of big spices and chilies which have been simmering for hours, turning the bird into a silky richness you’ve rarely experienced before.
The wrapping will have trapped all the wonderful juices and flavors and you’re not going to want to waste any drop of it, so serve over rice or tortillas to soak it all.
The fork-tender chicken will blow your mind and you’ll wonder how on earth this has flown under the Mexican cooking radar for so long. I count on you to start spreading the news…
- 8 dried guajillo chiles, wiped clean
- 8 dried chiles de árbol, wiped clean, stemmed, leaving seeds
- 1 tablespoon plus 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
- 10 garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
- 1 teaspoon anise seeds
- 8 whole cloves
- 1 (2-inch) piece cinnamon stick (preferably Mexican/Ceylon canela)
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 6 whole chicken legs
- kitchen string
- Slit guajillo chiles lengthwise, then stem and seed. Heat a dry cast-iron skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat until hot, then toast chiles in batches (with guajillos opened flat), turning and pressing with tongs, until more pliable and slightly changed in color, about 30 seconds per batch. Transfer to a bowl and soak in boiling-hot water until softened, about 15 minutes.
- Drain chiles, then purée in a blender with 1 tablespoon sea salt and remaining ingredients except chicken and remaining sea salt until adobo is very smooth, about 1 minute.
- Sprinkle chicken with remaining 3/4 teaspoon sea salt. Place 1 chicken leg in center of a sheet of parchment paper (about 20 by 15 inches) and cover with 1/3 cup adobo. Gather parchment up around chicken and tie tightly with kitchen string. Repeat with remaining chicken and adobo.
- Arrange packages in 2 steamer racks and/or pasta-pot inserts. Set steamer racks (on top of each other) over boiling water in a pasta pot (use 2 pots if you can't layer your racks) and steam, covered tightly, until chicken is very tender and starting to fall off the bone, 1 3/4 to 2 hours. (Replenish water as necessary.)
- Carefully transfer each package to a shallow bowl. Remove kitchen string and slowly slide parchment out from underneath chicken and broth. Season with salt.
- Parchment packages can be assembled and chilled up to 1 day before steaming.
