Name: Short Ribs in Rich Soup (Caldo Guisado)
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 4 garlic cloves, minced; 1 tablespoon achiote seeds; 1½ teaspoons dried Mexican oregano, crumbled; 4 scallions, white and part of the green tops, chopped; One 2-inch piece canela; ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds; 2 large ripe tomatoes (about 1½ pounds), chopped; One 6½-ounce jar pimiento-stuffed green olives, drained; 5 pounds beef short ribs; 1½ pounds beef marrow bones; 1 large ripe plantain, peeled and sliced into ½-inch rounds; 4 pickled jalapeño chiles, thinly sliced; One 3½-ounce jar capers, drained; ⅓ cup dark raisins; 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns, bruised; 1 large onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation info

6 to 8
servings

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

The Food and Life of Oaxaca

By Zarela Martínez

Published 1997

About

This is definitely a one-dish meal—it assaults your senses with so many flavors you’d never be able to taste anything else afterward! I found it in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where they love the sweet-sour combination of raisins with pickled ingredients. If possible, make the soup a day ahead and refrigerate it. Not only can you degrease it more easily when it is cold, but it has more flavor when reheated the next day.