For someone who doesn’t like spicy foods, I seem to make a lot of it. Everything from Asian to Cajun to spicy Mexican. This dish was brought to my attention by my oldest. Our little family tradition is that on their birthdays I will make anything they want. This year she wanted spicy foods. I blame her aunt for getting her addicted to spicy, hot foods when she was little.
Her pick for this year’s birthday was birria. If you don’t know, birria is a Mexican dish from the state of Jalisco. The Spanish term “birria” is used to describe immaterial things without value or quality. The term doesn’t begin to describe the dish, though we’ll get into the origins of the term in a moment.
Birria is a traditional ancestral soup or stew made from a combination of chili pepper-based goat meat adobo, garlic, cumin, bay leaves, and thyme, and cooked at a low heat. Not to be confused with barbacoa, which is cooked underground, birria is slow-stewed in a pot (olla). Beef, lamb sheep or vegan meat substitutes are alternatives for goat meat.
It may be seasoned and garnished with onion, cilantro, and lime. It is commonly accompanied with handmade corn tortillas. In recent years, a popular adaptation of birria has been quesabirria, a style of taco composed of a beef birria served with melted cheese in a taco that has been stained red by the birria marinade. While not a traditional Mexican dish, quesabirria, also known as red tacos, has become popular in the United States due to Instagram and TikTok.
Did you know in 1519, Hernán Cortés and the Conquistadors first landed in Mexico, bringing various old-world domestic animals, including goats? During the Conquest of Mexico, the Conquistadors were faced with an overpopulation of goats, so they decided to give the animals to the natives.
While goat meat was looked down upon by the Conquistadors, as it was tough, had a strong smell, and was hard to digest, the natives accepted the animals, marinating the meat in indigenous styles making it palatable and appetizing. The dishes they produced were called “birria“, a derogatory term meaning “worthless”, by the Spanish, in reference to their having given the natives meat with apparently noxious characteristics.
Traditionally birria was served on bread, tortillas or even directly on your hand. Many variations of the dish have been derived since, causing arguments amongst birria enthusiasts on what is authentic or original. In the early days, birria did not have consumé. The meat was dry seasoned and placed inside a makeshift oven built from rock and mud preheated with firewood. The embers were spread and maguey leaves were laid down to protect the meat from scorching. Meat was then placed directly on top of the maguey leaves and the opening was closed with more rock and mud. This technique ensured the heat would not escape creating a pressurized oven. The meat juices and maguey leaves created moisture and steam causing the meat to be juicy and tender.
Birria is one of the most famous dishes from Central Mexico including Jaliso and Michoacan. Each municipality and state is said to have its own version of this dish. The most famous are goat birria from Apatzingan, Michoacan and from Guadalajara, Jalisco San Pedro Tlaquepaque, are also well known for the quality of their birria. Restaurants or street carts that serve birria are known as birrierias and exist throughout Mexico, especially in Michoacan and Jalisco. However, neighboring Mexican states have their own variations of the dish, including birria style Zacatecas and the birria de Colima.
In 1950, a taquero named Guadalupe Zárate moved to Tijuana from Coatzingo, Puebla, where he set up a small stand that sold goat birria and traditional asada and pastor tacos. Zárate soon decided to make beef birria because goat meat was more expensive and less fatty. One day, someone told Zárate to add more liquid to the meat. The resulting dish is now known as Tijuana-style beef birria, making him a household name among birrierias for being the first person in Tijuana to make birria with consommé.
When dealing with spicy peppers please wear gloves to protect your fingers. And word to the wise: don’t touch your face after touching spicy peppers. Trust me on this. I still haven’t learned my lesson. My family retells that story every year around the canning season. It’s been over ten years.
When I am making something from a different culture I try my best to stay as close as I can to their recipes. I try to pay homage to their food and culture. This is my take on birria, or in this case, quesabirria.
Birria Tacos
Preheat the oven at 350˚F. Start by de-seeding the ancho, pasilla, and chipotle chilies. Then, soak the chilies in 2 cups of boiling water for 15-30 minutes or until fully hydrated.
Season the beef on both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Using a dutch oven over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil, and sear beef on each side for 5-7 minutes or until brown on each side. Pour 1-2 cups of beef stock into the dutch oven after searing the beef.
Add apple cider vinegar, tomatoes, onion, garlic cloves, cloves, marjoram, thyme, oregano, cumin, ginger, salt to taste and black pepper to the blender. Once the chilies are soft add them and soaking water to a blender. Blend until smooth.
Pour the sauce over the beef in the dutch oven. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, salt to taste if necessary and cook for 2 hours or until tender.
Once beef is tender, remove from the oven. Using two forks carefully shred the beef. Remove about 2-3 cups of the consome and set to the side.
How to Assemble
Add a few drops of oil to a non-stick pan. Then, dip the corn tortilla on both sides in the reserved consomé, add the tortilla to the pan, add shredded beef to half of the tortilla, fold tortilla, flip the taco and cook on the other side for a few minutes.
Remove the taco from the pan and top the taco with diced onions, Oaxaca cheese, and cilantro. Serve and Enjoy!
How to Assemble
Birria Tacos
Ingredients
Instructions
