Guadalajara Copper-Cazo Tacos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12 to 14-inch copper cazo or wide heavy Dutch oven
• •Cast iron comal for tortillas and salsa ingredients
• •Wooden paddle or sturdy wooden spoon
• •Large stockpot for simmering offal
• •Heavy wooden chopping board
• •Slotted spoon or kitchen spider
• •Tonala or Tlaquepaque clay cazuela for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the offal

   Rub the buche and nana with 2 tablespoons of salt and the juice of 2 limes. Work it with your hands for a full minute, then rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear. This is not a decorative step. Offal keeps what the butcher leaves behind. Clean it well or do not cook it.

   Buy buche and nana from a butcher who sells quickly and keeps the offal cold. If it smells sour or old, leave it there. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
2. 2

   Simmer until tender

   Put the cleaned buche and nana in a large pot. Cover with cold water by 2 inches. Add the halved onion, halved head of garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, 1 tablespoon salt, and the juice of 1 lime. Bring to a gentle simmer, skim the foam, and cook until the buche is tender but not falling apart, 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours. The nana may be ready sooner, so check it after 1 hour 15 minutes and remove it when a knife slides in without resistance.

3. 3

   Drain and cut

   Lift the buche and nana from the broth and let them cool until you can handle them. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking broth and discard the aromatics. Cut the buche and nana into wide strips. Keep the pieces large now because they shrink and tighten in the lard. Small pieces turn hard before they taste good.

4. 4

   Melt the lard

   In a copper cazo or heavy wide Dutch oven, melt the manteca de cerdo over medium-low heat. Add the maciza, the strips of buche and nana, the reserved broth, the whole milk, and the orange halves squeezed over the pot. The lard should come at least halfway up the meat. Yes, that much. La manteca es el sabor.

5. 5

   Cook in the cazo

   Keep the pot at a low, steady bubble for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes with a wooden paddle or spoon. The milk and broth will cook down into the lard, the maciza will soften, and the offal will take on the flavor of the fat. Do not rush it with high heat. A cazo teaches patience because it punishes laziness.

6. 6

   Brown the meats

   Raise the heat to medium and cook 20 to 30 minutes more, stirring often, until the maciza has golden edges and the buche turns lightly crisp in spots while staying chewy inside. The lard will look clearer and the meat will sound sharper against the spoon. That is the signal. Pull the meats out with a slotted spoon and let them drain on a rack or in a clay cazuela.

7. 7

   Make the salsa

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile de arbol for 20 to 30 seconds, turning constantly, until fragrant and darkened by one shade. Do not blacken them. Roast the tomatillos and unpeeled garlic on the same comal until the tomatillos blister and soften and the garlic skin chars in spots. Peel the garlic. Blend the chile de arbol, tomatillos, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 cup water until spoonable. This salsa should bite, but it should still taste like chile, not punishment.

8. 8

   Chop for tacos

   On a heavy wooden board, chop the maciza, buche, and nana into small mixed pieces. Do not separate them into neat piles unless your guests ask. Tacos de cazo are about surtido, a little lean meat, a little chew, a little fat, all on one tortilla. Nothing wasted.

9. 9

   Serve Guadalajara style

   Warm the corn tortillas on a comal until pliable with a few toasted spots. Fill each tortilla with the chopped cazo meats. Add diced white onion, cilantro, salsa de chile de arbol, and lime. Serve radishes on the side and keep the meats warm in a Tonala or Tlaquepaque clay cazuela. Corn tortillas, not flour. Flour tortillas belong to the north. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •If you cannot find nana, use more buche or add pork cueritos. That is a compromise, not an upgrade. Nana has a firm, clean chew that belongs in a Guadalajara surtido taco.
• •Use real manteca de cerdo from a Mexican butcher if you can. The shelf-stable blocks from the supermarket work in an emergency, but they lack the pork flavor that makes the cazo worth lighting.
• •A copper cazo is ideal because it spreads heat quickly and evenly. If you do not own one, use the widest heavy Dutch oven you have and stir with discipline. Thin pots scorch the milk solids.
• •The salsa uses chile de arbol because Jalisco uses it with confidence. It is sharp and direct. Do not replace it with chipotle unless you want a smoky salsa from a different conversation.
• •Serve on corn tortillas. A flour tortilla here would make the taco heavy and wrong for the region. This is a 32-state cuisine, not one tortilla for every state.

Advance Preparation

• •The buche and nana can be cleaned, simmered, cooled, and refrigerated one day ahead. Finish them in the cazo with the maciza on serving day.
• •The salsa de chile de arbol can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature before serving so the chile flavor opens back up.
• •Leftover cazo meats keep refrigerated for three days. Reheat them in a skillet with a spoonful of the saved lard until the edges wake up again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 285g)