Gluten-free Caldo de Pescado

The Gluten-free Chicano Cooks

Mariscos: Good Gluten-free Cooking

Michael Sedano 

“Make sandwiches, we’re going to hike to the wash.” My brother had the plan that sounded good, a walk across the big street, then pass through orange groves to reach the bluff overlooking the Santa Ana River wash. I am not yet five years old and haven’t walked all the way to the wash, and I haven’t made a sandwich, either. 

This is the very first time I’d been asked to cook real food. Up to that point, my cooking, i.e., making food, consisted in shaking corn flakes out of the box into my breakfast bowl. “Make sandwiches” exhausts my knowledge. When my brother unwraps the wax paper he finds two slices of white bread stuck together with yellow mustard.

I make a pretty good sandwich nowadays, but being gluten-free means I don’t eat bread nor tortillas de harina. 

Celiacs, and other food-sensitive gente, understand the difficulties ordering in a restaurant, so cooking your own food makes good health sense and good money-saving sense.

As with any soup, caldo de pescado takes little effort to get onto the stove.  Patience means time. Simmer soups over low heat to allow flavors to blossom and provide a memorable meal.

Carb Counts in a Recipe for Caldo - <100 grams carbs or 25 g per bowl
6 oz fillet Cod 0 gm
Black peppercorns (ground is just fine) - 1g per tsp
Carrots - 8g per cup, boiled
Celery - 4g per cup raw
Cilantro - .7 per sprig
Garlic - 1g per clove
Elote - 17.12g
Onion - 10g large bulb
Rice - 45g cup cooked (potato instead is good, too)
Salt - 0g
Tomato - 4g each
Bay leaf-.45g
Jalapeño chile-.83g
Serrano chile-.41g
Water to make 4 bowls or canned chicken broth
Butter-.01g

Making Caldo: a process with variations
Soup not only is easily prepared, once you've learned the process, you can make any soup your heart desires. With the right ingredients you can do anything. Once you've made your first or second soup your skills will grow and your repertoire with those prep skills and experience.

You can use as many different vegetables as you wish. String beans, potatoes, chayote, squash, cabbage, aguacate. The more often you get into the kitchen the deeper your interest grows in finding different ways to fix a wondrous meal. And you will.

Work at medium heat with a sharp knife.

Chop, slice, and dice to your personal preference. Chop or slice everything to similar size pieces. Imagine a spoonful will have a bit of everything.

Slice the chiles and use only a few slices unless you like it hot. 

Quarter the tomato or chop it. 

Chop the celery and carrots into uniform pieces. Smaller is better for flavoring caldo. 

Cut the kernels off the cob. 

Pour good olive oil into the bottom of the soup pot. 

Wilt the garlic and onion. 

Place the frozen fish atop. 

Add the remainder of ingredients. 

Add broth or water. 

Cover, simmer on low for an hour. Or, use a higher flame and keep an eye on the fish; when it’s all defrosted and the flesh solid, the soup’s done.

Provecho!