Tatemar

Tatemar — from the Nahuatl word meaning 'to toast' or 'to char' — is the practice of placing raw aromatic vegetables and chiles directly on a bare, ungreased comal or under a broiler flame (or over live fire) until their skins blister, blacken, and char in patches. The vegetables most commonly treated this way are roma tomatoes, tomatillos, morita or pasilla chiles, white onion halves, and unpeeled garlic cloves. The process accomplishes several things simultaneously: it drives Maillard browning reactions on the cut or skin surfaces; it caramelizes the sugars inside the flesh; and it produces genuine char — pyrolyzed carbon — whose bitter, smoky edge becomes a flavor component in the finished sauce rather than an accident to be eliminated. After charring, the blackened skins are typically left on when blending, contributing color (deep burgundy-brown or near-black) and a low, earthy bitter note that modulates sweetness and acidity. Tatemar is the critical opening step for countless Mexican preparations: salsa negra, salsa tatemada, mole negro, chileatole, and birria de chivo all depend on the flavor base assembled through this technique. It is distinct from toasting dry spices or chiles (which uses low, dry heat to volatilize essential oils) and from roasting in an oven (which produces moisture evaporation without direct carbon char). The technique is intimately tied to the comal — the flat, unglazed clay or cast-iron griddle that is the oldest and most essential cooking surface in Mexican cuisine.

“Before she touched the blender, she tatemared the tomatoes and chiles on the comal until the skins were leopard-spotted with char, knowing the blackened bits would give the salsa its signature bitterness.”

• ConceptCharring
• TechniqueComal Cookery
• CuisineMexican

1. 1.Authentic Mexican — Rick Bayless & Deann Groen Bayless
2. 2.Mexico: The Cookbook — Margarita Carrillo Arronte
3. 3.Nopalito: A Mexican Kitchen — Gonzalo Guzmán & Stacy Adimando
4. 4.The Food of Mexico — Susan Trilling

Confidence: high