For all the great variety of Mexican food in Chicago, it’s just not much of a fish taco town. But during Lent—a time of year when multitudes of observant Catholics commit themselves to gustatory sacrifice and denial—crispy breaded pescadillos or tacos de pescado begin to appear all over the city on special Lenten, or Cuaresma, menus. This occurs even in fleshcentric taquerias and birrierias where the idea of a pescetarian meal seems about as appropriate as pork chops on Passover.
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Such things are common on the Fridays in Lent, when restaurants all over town feature especialidades de Cuaresma, meatless or near-meatless dishes for those who observe the traditional end-of-the-week fast. These items range from fairly common mariscos and antojitos easily found most of the year—chiles rellenos, seafood cocteles, fried tilapia and snapper, and big bowls of red-brothed shrimp and fish soups—to more austere little bites. Mushrooms and cactus-stuffed tacos and gorditas appear in profusion, as well as all varieties of potato, shrimp, and vegetable preparations. And markets like Back of the Yards’ Supermercado El Ranchito (2416 W. 47th, 773-927-5252) set up displays showcasing ingredients specific to Lenten dishes—ground shrimp powder, stale rounds of bolillo, canned cactus and tuna, and bags of dried favas and lentils—whose name in fact derives not from Lent but from the Latin botanical designation Lens culinaris.
Last Friday I set out on a Cruzado de Cuaresma with Reader contributor Rob Lopata and Investigator of South-Side Culinary Oddities Dr. Peter Engler to track down some of the more unusual Cuaresma specials running around town. You have just a couple more Fridays to check them out.
Perhaps the most ubiquitous of Cuaresma foods is the scarcest at any other time of year. Tortitas de camaron are spongy fried cakes formed from a mixture of ground dried shrimp and egg. They’re usually served as full platillos, smothered in a brick red guajillo sauce with potatoes, nopales, and sides of rice and refried beans, sans lard. (Pretty much everyone I asked said their beans were lardless year-round—not just during Lent). For beginners these can seem rather aggressively flavored. Texturally they’re not unlike the Thai fish cakes tod mun, but they have a powerful funk-forward shrimpiness and aroma, which is mitigated by the acidic salsa.
