Birria Tacos with Consome

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and griddling tacos
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Heavy Dutch oven or deep clay cazuela with lid
• •Tongs and a shallow bowl for the birria fat

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the goat

   Pat the goat dry and season it all over with the tablespoon of kosher salt. Put it in a deep bowl or clay cazuela while you make the adobo. Goat is the meat of birria jalisciense. Beef birria exists now, especially in taquerias, but the old Cocula pot starts with chivo.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo, ancho, cascabel, and chile de arbol separately, 15 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skins darken slightly and smell deep. Do not walk away. Guajillo can take a little time, ancho burns faster, chile de arbol goes bitter if you try to be clever. Burned chile ruins the pot. No me vengas con atajos.

   If any chile turns black, throw it out. Bitter adobo cannot be repaired with more tomato, more vinegar, or prayer.
3. 3

   Soak the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water, not boiling water. Let them soften for 20 minutes. Hot water relaxes the flesh. Boiling water toughens the skins and pulls out bitterness. Drain them, saving 1 cup of the soaking liquid only if it tastes clean and not harsh.

4. 4

   Char the vegetables

   On the same comal, roast the unpeeled garlic, onion quarters, and tomato halves until they soften and pick up dark spots. Peel the garlic. The tomato is not there to make this a tomato stew. It rounds the chile and gives body to the consome.

5. 5

   Blend the adobo

   In a blender, combine the soaked chiles, peeled garlic, onion, tomatoes, vinegar, oregano, thyme, marjoram, cumin, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, black peppercorns, and 1 cup of stock. Blend until completely smooth, longer than you think. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on the solids. Birria adobo should be smooth enough to coat the meat, not gritty like wet sand.

6. 6

   Marinate overnight

   Pour the strained adobo over the salted goat and rub it into every piece. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. The vinegar and chile need time to enter the meat. This is where the flavor settles. A rushed birria tastes like meat with sauce poured on top.

7. 7

   Fry the adobo

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a heavy Dutch oven or deep clay cazuela over medium heat. Lift the goat from the marinade, letting excess adobo drip back into the bowl, and brown the pieces in batches. Add the remaining adobo to the pot and fry it for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring until it darkens and the fat begins to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This step wakes up the chile.

8. 8

   Braise the birria

   Return all the goat to the pot. Add the bay leaves, avocado leaves or maguey if using, and enough stock to come two-thirds of the way up the meat. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover tightly, and cook 3 to 3 1/2 hours, turning the meat once or twice, until it pulls cleanly from the bone. If the liquid drops too low, add more stock. You want a concentrated consome, not a dry roast.

9. 9

   Separate the meat

   Transfer the meat to a tray. Discard the bay leaves and avocado or maguey leaves. Let the meat cool just enough to handle, then pull it from the bones in rough shreds. Strain the cooking liquid into a pot and skim some of the red fat from the surface into a shallow bowl. Keep that fat. That is what stains and crisps the tortillas.

10. 10

    Season the consome

    Taste the strained consome and season with salt until the chile, vinegar, and goat taste balanced. If it is too intense, add a splash of stock. If it is thin, simmer it uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes. A proper consome should be chile-red, glossy at the surface, and strong enough to stand beside the taco without disappearing.

11. 11

    Griddle the tacos

    Heat a comal or cast iron skillet over medium. Brush one side of each corn tortilla with the skimmed red birria fat, adding a little melted manteca if the pot did not give you enough. Lay the tortilla fat-side down, fill with shredded goat, fold, and cook until the tortilla is crisp in spots and the edges turn brick red. Do not use flour tortillas here. This is Jalisco, not the northern border.

12. 12

    Serve with consome

    Serve the tacos immediately with small cups of hot consome, diced raw white onion, cilantro, lime wedges, and salsa de chile de arbol. Dip the taco, bite, then spoon a little onion and cilantro into the cup if you want. The table should have clay bowls, lime halves, and chile-stained fingers. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy goat with bone. Shoulder, leg, ribs, and neck all work. Boneless meat gives you less flavor and a weaker consome. The bones are not decoration, they build the broth.
• •If you cannot find goat, use bone-in lamb shoulder or beef chuck with short ribs. That is a compromise, not the old Jalisco pot. Say what you are making and be honest with yourself.
• •The chile cascabel matters. It gives birria a round, nutty flavor that guajillo alone cannot provide. Ask the chile vendor at a Mexican market. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
• •Skim the red fat carefully and save it for the tortillas. If your birria is lean, melt in a spoonful of manteca de cerdo. Do not use neutral oil and pretend it is the same.
• •The consome should be served in small clay cups or bowls, not hidden in the kitchen. Birria is meat and broth together. A dry birria taco is missing half its inheritance.

Advance Preparation

• •The goat should marinate overnight. You can cook it the next day, pull the meat, strain the consome, and refrigerate both separately.
• •Birria improves after one night in the refrigerator. The fat rises and hardens on top, making it easy to lift off and use for griddling the tacos.
• •The adobo can be blended and strained up to two days ahead. Keep it refrigerated in a covered glass jar, not in bare metal, because the vinegar will react.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)