Escamoles

Moved by shaking the pan and never with a spoon, because they are soft-bodied and a spoon bursts them.

Not vegetarian — contains escamoles, which are ant larvae.

Ingredients

• 300 g escamoles (ant larvae)
• 60 g butter
• ½ small white onion, very finely chopped
• 1 serrano chilli, very finely chopped
• a sprig of epazote, leaves only
• 1 teaspoon salt
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve
• guacamole, as on its own page, to serve

Method

1. THEY ARE MOVED BY SHAKING THE PAN AND NEVER WITH A SPOON, because they are soft-bodied and a spoon bursts them. An escamol is a pale larva about the size of a grain of rice with a very thin skin, and the whole pleasure is that each one is intact and pops slightly -- the texture is often compared to a soft nut. Dragged across a pan with a wooden spoon they rupture, release their contents, and within thirty seconds the pan holds a cloudy scrambled mass rather than distinct larvae. So the pan is held by the handle and jerked, which rolls them without crushing them, and nothing goes into the pan but butter and the aromatics.
2. THE AROMATICS ARE COOKED FIRST AND THE LARVAE GO IN LAST. Onion and chilli softened in the butter for five or six minutes until they are done, because once the escamoles are in the pan there is no stirring and no time -- they need three minutes at most. Added together, the onion is still raw when the larvae are ready.
3. IT IS BUTTER AND NOT OIL, AND THERE IS A REAL QUANTITY. Sixty grams for three hundred of escamoles. They are delicate and faintly nutty and butter is the only fat that does not talk over them; and enough of it means they are effectively poached in it rather than fried.
4. THEY ARE RINSED GENTLY AND DRAINED ON A CLOTH. In a bowl of cold water, swirled with the fingers rather than a sieve under a tap, which tears them. Then laid on a cloth -- wet larvae in hot butter spit and seize.
5. THREE MINUTES AND THEY ARE DONE, AND THEY GO FROM TRANSLUCENT TO OPAQUE. That colour change is the whole test. Past it they shrink, toughen and lose the softness that is the point; and because there is no stirring, the pan has to be shaken often enough that none sit still.
6. The escamoles tipped into a bowl of cold water and swirled GENTLY WITH THE FINGERS. Any debris floated off.
7. Lifted out with the hands onto a cloth and left to DRAIN and dry 10 minutes.
8. The butter melted in a wide frying pan over a medium-low heat.
9. The onion and chilli added and cooked 5 to 6 MINUTES until soft and not coloured. The epazote leaves added for the last minute.
10. The escamoles tipped in in ONE LAYER and the salt scattered over.
11. THE PAN SHAKEN by the handle to roll them. NO SPOON TOUCHES THEM at any point.
12. Cooked 3 MINUTES, the pan shaken every 20 seconds or so.
13. WATCHED for them to turn from translucent to OPAQUE and faintly golden. That is done.
14. The pan taken off the heat at once and tasted.
15. Tipped straight into warm tortillas with guacamole, or served from the pan.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes