BajaNomad

Caldo de Res?

chuckie - 1-8-2015 at 07:27 AM

A beef rib soup that I ordered at a restaurant in Texas last week! Beef rib sections, lotsa meat, cabbage, corn on the cob, potatoes...other stuff....WOW! what a meal on a cold West Texas day...Anyone ever seen this in Baja? Did I just miss it?

luv2fish - 1-8-2015 at 07:36 AM

Quote: Originally posted by chuckie  
A beef rib soup that I ordered at a restaurant in Texas last week! Beef rib sections, lotsa meat, cabbage, corn on the cob, potatoes...other stuff....WOW! what a meal on a cold West Texas day...Anyone ever seen this in Baja? Did I just miss it?


Something like this??? I've had a bowl or nine....


caldo.jpg - 49kB

chuckie - 1-8-2015 at 08:42 AM

That's it, a wonderful dish! Got the recipe (Google) and when I can get enough guests together, will make a batch or a vat....

Pompano - 1-8-2015 at 08:49 AM

You're making me hungry! Beef soup with all the goodies. One of my favorites, too, chuckie. And if it doesn't have the corncob, it's just not the same. ;)

Yes, I've eaten it at many different Mexican cafes...both Baja and mainland..since my first bowl in Zacataces in 1962. I remember that meal very clearly, because my dad loved it, too...but then we're both soup/stew lovers. This type of caldo de res is very similar to a meaty soup-stew my family has been making for generations in the Dakotas. Yup, I love it!

The last couple places I've eaten it in Baja are...

1. A cafe in El Rosario. On the left as you came from the north...not far past the sharp left. A bus we had been following pulled in and we parked next to it with our boat. It was like a cafeteria and the caldo de res was offered to the passengers, along with a buffet-style selection. I have a photo of that place and the food...somewhere?? The cafe's name started with a 'G', I think. What a welcome hot treat after a long, cold bus ride.

2. In Mulege at least two cafes I can remember...plus my amigo's mother made it quite often. One cafe was this eatery across from the old El Candil, when my friend, Mateo, restored and ran the original Candil restaurant. Like a lot of places, the main food attraction was the quick and easy 'birria', but this place also made the old-fashioned & delicious Caldo de Res.







Another quick stop cafe in Mulege that served the caldo (if you got there before it was sold out) was a little place on the left as you entered Mulege from under the bridge. Again, birria in a styrofoam cup was the main treat here. Sorry, again I've got a photo somewhere...but I'm a bit 'research challenged' this morning. :rolleyes:

Hey, it's dang good. Especially on a cold day!

bajabuddha - 1-8-2015 at 09:25 AM

Janine and Chapis put out an amazing Caldo de Mariscos at La Bahia Restaurant at San Lucas Cove, only on weekends (not to mention a dozen other dishes too pretty to eat!).

Bob53 - 1-8-2015 at 05:22 PM

Great dish. I don't know how you missed it in "the" Baja. lol

I've seen and eaten it everywhere down there.

chuckie - 1-9-2015 at 01:45 AM

Ya know Bob53, I don't either? I have had a place in Mulege for over 30 years, and I guess there are just so many good things to eat, I just missed that one. Roger, thanks for making me feel silly, I have eaten in all the places you showed, many times, and like I said, just missed the Caldo de Res.....Dang...Thanks

Hook - 1-9-2015 at 08:48 AM


Once you've tasted a good pozole, it's hard to settle for caldo de res. There are some great pozoles in restaurants over here. Many are not hominy bombs and some use choice cuts of pork like chamorro or pork shoulder.

My other favorite Mexican soup is caldo tlalpeno. I grew to love it in SoCal but I don't know any restaurants in my part of Sonora that serve it. I will, occasionally, make it for parties and it is a real crowd pleaser. I believe it's from Jalisco or maybe DF. Like a chunky chicken vegetable soup with chayote, carrots, onions, sometimes chickpeas or potatoes. A chipotle chili en adobado essence, as well. Usually garnished with avocado, cilantro, cheese.

Caldo Tlalpeno



[Edited on 1-18-2015 by Hook]

[Edited on 1-18-2015 by Hook]

bajalearner - 1-9-2015 at 08:57 AM

Many stores, big and small and swap meet vegetable venders in Tijuana, offer a bag loaded with cut vegies with and without cob corn for this type of soup. Just add the meat and seasoning and cook.

Pompano - 1-10-2015 at 12:40 PM

chuckie, while doing some rummaging in my photo files, I came across a photo of the cafe in El Rosario that served the Caldo de Res. I combined it with luvt2fish's nice stock photo and here it is.

Hey, my memory was not that bad...the cafe name does indeed start with a 'G'. ;)

If by road, try it on your way south the next time. Bon Appetite at the...Restaurant El Grullense

p.s. I 'think' the name derives from a metal framework for holding a grill or pot over an open fire- hence GRULLENSE, GRULLERO, et al. Seems plausible for a cafe name.

Sometime (and somewhere) this winter...on a particularly cold day, I'm going to make some.



Pompano - 1-10-2015 at 02:01 PM

lencho....I've asked a buddy who is quite a BBQ expert and he told me it's not a common term at all, but that a lot of locals on the mainland are called 'grullense'. I'm assuming it comes from the plain food and style of cooking. Not something you will find in resort areas. Tons of places called El Grullense, as you said.

chuckie - 1-10-2015 at 04:05 PM

Roger, as the kookie krumbleth, I'll be going through El Rosario in about 2 weeks...I'll make it a point to stop at the place.....full report....

CaboMagic - 1-18-2015 at 10:47 AM

Thank you chuckie for this post .. I was inspired and made my combined version of this and (thank you Hook) caldo tlalpeno that seriously hit the spot! I didn't make it s p I c y tho as am unable to eat s p I c y foods - but T could add various hot sauces to his taste content!

Buen provecho to all ..

edited to correct some odd auto correct to the word S P I C Y ??

[Edited on 1-18-2015 by CaboMagic]

MitchMan - 2-3-2015 at 10:37 AM

Man, that beef soup looks FANTASTIC!

The only place I have seen and tasted anything like that was at a Mexican restaurant in Placentia, California, near Cal-State Fullerton, believe it or not. That restaurant was located in a well hidden tiny Mexican enclave, less than a mile from the Cal State Fullerton campus. I was shocked when I found it.

The area looked like parts of TJ, Ensenada and even Mulege. The restaurant was run down looking, just enough to be absolutely authentic Mexican. I used to order both the Chicken Soup and the Beef Soup (with a Pena Fiel sangria soda), which looked exactly like the photo luv2fish posted.

I have tried to make the soup myself, but could never get the broth right. Used Chuck roast beef with the bone. The only thing that I can think of to approximate the clear broth is to cook the meat in water very slowly and then cook the vegetables, especially the potatoes, separately, then assemble the serving of a bowl of the soup dishing up from the separate components.

One thing I specifically remember about the soup is that everything was perfectly cooked and the carrots tasted like carrots, the celery tasted like celery, the corn tasted like corn and the potatoes tasted like potatoes instead of the soup I would make where the vegetables were cooked in the broth along side the beef and then all the vegies lost a lot of their individually distinct flavor and the broth got cloudy.

Does anybody out there know how to cook this stuff?

I have a feeling it isn't easy to get it just right.

Hook - 2-3-2015 at 10:50 AM

Getting the veges cooked perfectly is mostly about timing the introduction of the vegetables. You cant put hard vegetables in at the same time as squashes.

Geographical prejudice not withstanding, I have always thought that the best Mexican food in the world was in Southern California. Solid middle/upper class Mexicans, experimenting with the bounty of California agriculture, is a great combination.

Finding a killer place in Placentia is no surprise to me.

Imagine what you could find in Pico Rivera or other East LA barrios in some hole in the wall restaurant?

Caldo de Moose is great

durrelllrobert - 2-3-2015 at 05:23 PM

..and a mainstay with the First Nation members in Canada. :wow:

Bajahowodd - 2-3-2015 at 05:47 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Hook  

Once you've tasted a good pozole, it's hard to settle for caldo de res. There are some great pozoles in restaurants over here. Many are not hominy bombs and some use choice cuts of pork like chamorro or pork shoulder.

My other favorite Mexican soup is caldo tlalpeno. I grew to love it in SoCal but I don't know any restaurants in my part of Sonora that serve it. I will, occasionally, make it for parties and it is a real crowd pleaser. I believe it's from Jalisco or maybe DF. Like a chunky chicken vegetable soup with chayote, carrots, onions, sometimes chickpeas or potatoes. A chipotle chili en adobado essence, as well. Usually garnished with avocado, cilantro, cheese.

Caldo Tlalpeno



[Edited on 1-18-2015 by Hook]

[Edited on 1-18-2015 by Hook]


I am a big fan of pozole, but when it comes to beef, which I seldom eat, it must be birria. Although, I actually prefer birria de chiva. Just can't find that in SoCal.

durrelllrobert - 2-4-2015 at 09:13 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Bajahowodd  





I am a big fan of pozole, but when it comes to beef, which I seldom eat, it must be birria. Although, I actually prefer birria de chiva. Just can't find that in SoCal.


When I lived at Half Moon Bay birria de chiva was the house specialty at a Mexican restaurant there and that's a long way from SoCal.

Mexitron - 2-4-2015 at 10:40 AM

El Maguey in San Juan Capistrano serves a nice bowl of Caldo de Res...used to go there on cold winter days and order some.

Hook - 2-4-2015 at 03:50 PM

Sorry for the soupjacking, but one of the better caldo tlalpenos I've had was at Ricardo's in San Juan Capistrano.

Is it still there?

Tbone - 2-4-2015 at 04:13 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Bajahowodd  
Quote: Originally posted by Hook  

Once you've tasted a good pozole, it's hard to settle for caldo de res. There are some great pozoles in restaurants over here. Many are not hominy bombs and some use choice cuts of pork like chamorro or pork shoulder.

My other favorite Mexican soup is caldo tlalpeno. I grew to love it in SoCal but I don't know any restaurants in my part of Sonora that serve it. I will, occasionally, make it for parties and it is a real crowd pleaser. I believe it's from Jalisco or maybe DF. Like a chunky chicken vegetable soup with chayote, carrots, onions, sometimes chickpeas or potatoes. A chipotle chili en adobado essence, as well. Usually garnished with avocado, cilantro, cheese.

Caldo Tlalpeno



[Edited on 1-18-2015 by Hook]

[Edited on 1-18-2015 by Hook]


I am a big fan of pozole, but when it comes to beef, which I seldom eat, it must be birria. Although, I actually prefer birria de chiva. Just can't find that in SoCal.


I too love goat, in a bowl that is.
Birria de chiva can be found all over So. Cal. Simple Google search away.

Pescador - 2-4-2015 at 04:17 PM

Chuckie we got Caldo, Menudo, puzzle, and Birria. If you want really good Caldo De Res, Authentic and flavorful, go into Santa Rosalia. As you pass the Tecate drive through there is restaurant on the right hand side with a hair dresser next door, that makes the best Caldo De Res I have had, and the owner is Rigo Ojeda's aunt from San Bruno. She has about a hundred little statues and figures of horses inside. The locals line up every day to get this one, and the ranchers who come into town for a day shopping always end up there.

MitchMan - 2-4-2015 at 08:38 PM

FWIW, the best menudo I ever had is in Capistrano at El Molino de Oro, off the 5 fwy. NO homony, all meat (tripe, that is).

[Edited on 2-5-2015 by MitchMan]

Tbone - 2-5-2015 at 06:34 AM

Quote: Originally posted by MitchMan  
FWIW, the best menudo I ever had is in Capistrano at El Molino de Oro, off the 5 fwy. NO homony, all meat (tripe, that is).

[Edited on 2-5-2015 by MitchMan]




Thanks I love menudo and will try it next time in the area.

Hook - 2-5-2015 at 07:44 AM

El Molino had the BEST burros in town, when I lived there.

San Juan Cap has so many good Mexican eateries. Molino, El Maguey, Ricardos, El Campeon. It was always tough to choose.

MitchMan - 2-5-2015 at 09:21 AM

La Paz birria de chivo.

The best and most rich tasting Birria de Chivo that I have ever had is at a bare bones rustic no frills family run restaurant (small eatery) in La Paz on the north side of the Carretera Norte main highway about 1/6 of a mile west of the on-ramp to the La Paz airport in an area called colonia Chametla.

It is adjacent to the entrance to a covered indoor type "segundo" (permanent flea market) all colored in green exterior. Sorry, don't know the name of it, but if you find that indoor flea market (only flea market to have many separate segundos operating under a single canopy), you are there. Great breakfasts and lunches, they close in mid to late afternoon.

bajabuddha - 2-5-2015 at 09:53 AM

It ain't Caldo de Res, but there's a small Birria stand at the south tope in Mulege (down by Maria Isabel's RV park) that serves Thursday through Sunday, and usually sold out by noon or 1 pm. I buy a pint para llevar (to go) and she bags up all the fixin's and toppings (onion, cilantro, chile rojo, limon, etc); I take it home, put the whole shebang into a sauce pan with a half-cup of rice and a cup of water, let 'er simmer 20 minutes, and hoooooo- boy. Tortillas for sopping.

---> We need a 'drool' smiley <---

chuckie - 2-5-2015 at 02:19 PM

Cant be beat.....Good martini to whet the appetite...

Like this?

durrelllrobert - 2-7-2015 at 11:21 AM

Quote: Originally posted by bajabuddha  
It ain't Caldo de Res, but there's a small Birria stand at the south tope in Mulege (down by Maria Isabel's RV park) that serves Thursday through Sunday, and usually sold out by noon or 1 pm. I buy a pint para llevar (to go) and she bags up all the fixin's and toppings (onion, cilantro, chile rojo, limon, etc); I take it home, put the whole shebang into a sauce pan with a half-cup of rice and a cup of water, let 'er simmer 20 minutes, and hoooooo- boy. Tortillas for sopping.

---> We need a 'drool' smiley <---


https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608041535620842188&pid=15.1&w=90&h=107&p=0