Now that winter weather is officially across much of Texas, the cozy sweaters and scarves have come out. But this is also a good time to get out those warm soups and hot drinks.
Taco journalist Mando Rayo, host of the Tacos of Texas podcast, has a few go-to dishes perfect for chilly weather in Texas. He joined the Standard to dish on the classics like caldo, menudo and pozole. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Alright, so what delicious grub do you reach for to keep you cozy and warm during the cold months?
Mando Rayo: Man. Well, you know, to be honest, whether it’s 100 degrees out there or 30 degrees, what I always go to is caldo. If you have a Mexican mom, she’ll make you caldo when it’s the hottest day in Texas or the coldest day.
Talk about comfort. So what is caldo, exactly?
Caldo, in a sense, is a soup that’s really based in vegetables like squash – or a type of squash, which is chayote – and infused with bone broth.
And so whether it’s a bone marrow or a shank that gives it the heartiness of the soup and man, that is kind of the go-to medicine you need when it’s cold, when you’re sick or on a hot summer day, too.
It sounds like you’ve got some fond memories of certain foods when you were growing up.
For sure. Like another example is menudo. Growing up, whether it’s in northern Mexico or in Texas, you probably are familiar with that deep red soup that has the chilies, the hominy and the tripe, which is cow stomach.
And so, yeah, usually that’s a pretty good remedy when you are maybe healing a hangover, a little bit of a cruda, that’s a really great soup to go with. And, you know, you just slowly sip air and you don’t even have to bite into that tripe. You just let it slide down your throat.
I was going to say, the tripe is always the wall for me. I’ve always wanted to really enjoy menudo because the taste is so good, you know?
Yeah, definitely. For some, it’s an acquired taste. How about that?
» MORE MANDO: A look at some of the Mexican restaurants recognized in Michelin’s first Texas guide
Fair enough, fair enough. What about recipes? You got something up your sleeve that might be quick and easy that listeners can try out?
Yeah. You know, to be honest, there’s a lot that you can do nowadays with, like, an instant pot or even just a few hours over the stove.
You can do a kind of a caldo hack where, if you go to a grocery store, say like H-E-B, they already have the vegetables cut out for you. Just put them in water, maybe some beef stock and add a little bit of maybe whatever your preference for beef and let that simmer for a couple hours and then it’s just like done.
And then, as well, if you go to the soup section you can get menudo in a can. I’ve seen it. Or even, if you want, I just recently saw that they have… You know how they have the ramen bowls, right? They already have like a pozole flavor. They have a birria flavor.
And so that’s something that, you know, you could just pop in maybe with some boiling water and you got those flavors already ready to go.
I have to vouch for pozole. I absolutely fell in love with someone who did it in her own kitchen. And I go down there about once a week and buy some and it was so good.
My goodness. Yeah. It’s what you need. It’s what your body needs.
It’s like it’s craving it almost.
Yeah, exactly. It’s like, very comforting. It’s a comfort food, and it makes you just feel nice and warm and safe.
Yeah. Anything nontraditional you like to eat when it’s cold?
I definitely I love my Asian flavors, whether it’s pho or even like ramen.
If you go in Austin, if you go to Ramen del Barrio, they’re infusing kind of those Japanese flavors with Mexican. So they have this carnitas ramen that is one of my favorites.
And so I love that because it infuses those flavors and you get the chilies of both worlds.
Ramon del Barrio. I haven’t heard that before, but it makes perfect sense, to mix those flavors. That’s wonderful.
Yeah. So that’s definitely, you know, some of these places you’ll wait in line because everybody just kind of wants a warm meal, but just get there early.
