Shining a spotlight on Capirotada

(Published in Pacific Pearl magazine March 2019)

Carnaval has come and gone! After the banda has finally stopped playing and all the confetti has been cleaned off the streets, it’s time to gear up for Easter. Catholics in Mexico observe Lent for 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Usually Lent is a time to reflect and give up specific pleasures such as sweets, alcohol or social media. In Mexico there are specific food restrictions: no beef, pork or chicken on Fridays during Lent. However you’re allowed to eat fish and (drumroll…) bread pudding. You would say, bread pudding isn’t really meal, it’s more like dessert. Here’s the catch: during Lent the Mexican bread pudding or ‘Capirotada’ as it’s known, is served as a dish in itself. So bring your sweet tooth and start eating!

Ask any local to recommend the ‘best’ capirotada in town, the most likely answer is: “The one that my grandma/mom/aunt makes!” Don’t bother to ask for the recipe, because it’s all memorized by heart and passed on from mother to daughter.

There are several ways to prepare Capirotada. But at its most basic it has four components: toasted bolillos (Mexican baguettes) drenched in piloncillo syrup with clove and cinnamon, dried fruits and cheese.
Capirotada was brought to Mexico by the Spaniards in the 16th century. Back in those days there were two kinds: the savory meat-based and the sweet meat-free option. Both had the same preparation technique: layers of bread, syrup and cheese. The sweet capirotada became the most preferred version during Lent. It symbolizes the Passion of Christ: the bread represents the body of Christ, the syrup is his blood, the cloves are the nails of the cross and the cinnamon sticks are the wood of the cross. The cheese represents the Holy Shroud.

The variations on the theme are limitless. Some cooks add nuts (peanuts, pecans or almonds), fresh fruit (bananas, apples, pineapple, or peaches), butter, condensed milk or lard. The cheese can be creamy Chihuahua, queso fresco, cotija (Mexican feta). Capirotada is good use for stale bread.
Capirotada may include ingredients that seem downright weird in a dessert, such as tomatoes, onions, garlic, bay leaves which are used to ‘flavor’ the syrup, a potpourri of little things to spice it up. The dessert is traditionally made in a ‘cazuela’, a glazed Mexican earthenware dish. The story goes that capirotada in cazuela tastes better.

Is there a ‘right’ way to make capirotada? An authentic version? Don’t try to find it: there are as many different recipes as there are households in Mexico. In Mazatlan you can find two types of Capirotada: sugar-based Piloncillo or milk-based Leche. The most traditional location is the Pino Suarez market down-town. Most vendors will sell both types, so get some of each and decide for yourself!
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