Seasoning a Clay Comal

Photo: Laurie Smith

ASK ZARELA:

Sorry if I confused you. There are links here to places where you can buy a comal. I know where to buy a comal.  You can too. Just follow  the links.

QUESTION: Can you tell me where to buy a clay comal? I bought one in Santa Fe several years ago, used it happily until my daughter-in-law put it on a very hot burner and it cracked.

ANSWER: Comales are large clay griddles that look like “platters” used to make corn tortillas or roast vegetabless  I found one at www.gourmetsleuth.com but I’ve never tried it so let me know how it is. I did  however have a wonderful black clay comal from Colombia but it just broke so I ordered another and you should too because they’re on sale. You can also find a good cast iron comal at www.melissaguerra.com.

To season a clay comal:  If you bought your comal in Oaxaca or another part of Mexico, you were probably also sold a piece of cal, calcium hydroxide.  Break it up and add enough water to form a thick paste.  Slather it with a brush on the comal and heat the comal over low heat until the cal dries and cracks.  Brush it off and repeat the process two or three times, I use my comal for roasting onions, tomatoes, whole garlic and sometimes chiles, a defining technique for preparing this characteristic combination of ingredients that is for the many sauces that call for it

Calcium hydroxide is available at some pharmacies and places where they sell canning goods as pickling lime.

A relative of  mine Francisco Gabilondo Soler, a Mexico’s most famous children’s composer known as Cri-Cri  wrote and performs a fun song that you can see on You Tube  called El Comal y la Olla, It talks about a pot and a griddle fighting over space on a stove. Cri-Cri  was frequently most un-PC but always ingenious and unforgettable.  I had only heard his own interpretations of his songs until today when I discovered this campy album by Flavio