Sopa de Pan

We had many wonderful meals on our trip through Mexico and we have had a lot of fun trying to recreate them now that we have a big enough kitchen to do so.  One of the dishes that we sought out while we were in Chiapas was Sopa de Pan.  Everyone told us that it was a local specialty and we had not heard of anything like it anywhere else that we had stopped...we had to try it.  We got a recommendation from a local and off we trekked to try Cochinita Pibil and Sopa de Pan the two specialties for the area.

Sopa de Pan in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

At first glance the soup was just like the name, bread soup, it was not terribly striking or interesting.  But then the smell made its way to your nose delicately tempting and teasing you towards your first taste.  Screaming hot you dare your first sip of the broth blowing, slurping and cursing all at the same time.  The flavors take off in your mouth darting this way and that, "garlic?...no onion.  Something is sweet!  What is that flavor?  It is so plumby but that can't be..."  We dug through the bowl like scientists on a big archaeological find as we tried to decipher flavors and ingredients.  The bread that you think would be a goopy soggy mess holds it shape, a sturdy sponge of rich brothy flavor.  We burned our lips and our tongues, our noses ran from the pain of the burn but we sucked down every last drop.

Once we got settled in San Miguel I dug through all of my cookbooks from around the world and searched high and low on the web to find a recipe that was similar to the complex soul warming soup that we had discovered in San Cristobal.  I finally after many searches stumbled upon a website that I used quite a lot in planning our Adventure in Mexico but had never noticed that they also had a section on recipes, MexConnect!  With Boris' help in translating I found all of the ingredients I needed at the weekly Tiangis.  Treasures in hand I shuffled home to recreate that wonderful meal, a wistful smile on my face remembering what a great time we had in Chiapas, the most beautiful state in Mexico that we have seen yet.