Jalisco Goat Birria Tatemada

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry cast iron comal for toasting chiles
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Deep clay olla or heavy Dutch oven with tight lid
• •Fresh masa for sealing the pot
• •Rimmed baking sheet or shallow clay cazuela for tatemar

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the goat

   Pat the goat dry and season it all over with the kosher salt. Put it in a large bowl or clay cazuela, cover, and refrigerate while you make the adobo. Goat needs bone, fat, and time. Boneless cubes make a thin birria. The bones are the consome.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chilacate, ancho, guajillo, and chile de arbol separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skins darken slightly and the chiles smell deep and fruity. Do not blacken them. Burned chile makes bitter birria and there is no fixing it later.

   Chilacate is traditional in Jalisco birria. If your market only has guajillo, you can use more guajillo, but understand the compromise: you lose some of the earthy red depth that makes the adobo jalisciense.
3. 3

   Soften the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water, not boiling. Let them sit for 20 minutes until the flesh is soft and flexible. Save 1 cup of the soaking water. Taste it first. If it is harsh or bitter, use plain hot water in the blender instead. A careful cook tastes before she commits.

4. 4

   Roast the aromatics

   On the same comal, roast half the onion and the unpeeled garlic cloves until they have blackened spots and the onion softens at the edges. Peel the garlic. This roasted sweetness is what balances the vinegar and goat. Raw garlic in birria is sharp in the wrong way.

5. 5

   Blend the adobo

   Blend the softened chiles, roasted onion, peeled roasted garlic, vinegar, 1 cup chile soaking water, Mexican oregano, thyme, marjoram, cumin, peppercorns, cloves, Mexican cinnamon, and ginger until completely smooth. Blend longer than you think. The adobo should pour like thick red paint, with no chile skins catching on the tongue.

6. 6

   Strain and fry

   Push the adobo through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Melt the manteca de cerdo in a heavy pot over medium heat, then add the strained adobo. It will sputter. Cook, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes until the color darkens and the fat begins to show at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This is where the chile becomes sauce instead of puree.

7. 7

   Marinate overnight

   Let the adobo cool to room temperature, then rub it all over the salted goat, pushing it into every cut and around every bone. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. Birria is not a last-minute dish. The vinegar and chile need time to work into the meat. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, but only if you give them time.

8. 8

   Build the pot

   Heat the oven to 325F. Put the remaining half onion, bay leaves, and goat broth or water in the bottom of a deep clay olla, clay cazuela with a lid, or heavy Dutch oven. Arrange the marinated goat over the liquid and scrape every bit of adobo into the pot. The meat should sit above some liquid, not drown in it. You are making birria tatemada, not boiled goat.

9. 9

   Seal with masa

   Press the fresh masa into a thick rope and seal it around the rim where the lid meets the pot. If your lid is loose, put parchment under it first, then seal with masa. The seal matters. It traps the chile, vinegar, fat, and bone flavor so the consome forms inside the pot. Así se hace y punto.

10. 10

    Roast until tender

    Bake the sealed pot for 3 hours, then check the meat. Break the masa seal carefully and lift the lid away from your face. The goat should pull from the bone with a fork. If it resists, reseal with the same masa and cook 30 to 45 minutes more. Tough goat is not a tragedy. It is unfinished cooking.

11. 11

    Tatemar the meat

    Raise the oven to 425F. Lift the goat pieces onto a rimmed baking sheet or shallow clay cazuela. Spoon a little adobo fat from the consome over the top. Roast uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes until the surface darkens, the edges crisp lightly, and the chile paste clings in roasted patches. That final roast is the tatemada. Without it, you made birria, but not this birria.

12. 12

    Finish the consome

    Strain the liquid from the pot into a saucepan, pressing gently on the onion and solids. Skim only the excess fat, leaving a red sheen on the surface. Taste for salt and add a splash of hot water if it is too intense. The consome should be strong enough to carry onion, cilantro, lime, and torn tortilla without becoming thin.

13. 13

    Serve Jalisco style

    Serve the tatemada goat in deep bowls with consome ladled around it, or pile the meat on a platter and serve the consome in cups. Put diced white onion, cilantro, lime wedges, dried Mexican oregano, salsa de chile de arbol, warm corn tortillas, and birote on the table. Let people build their own bowl. The table knows what to do.

Chef Tips

• •Buy goat with bones: shoulder, ribs, neck, and leg. The neck looks humble and gives excellent consome. If the butcher offers only boneless stew meat, ask again or go somewhere else.
• •Chilacate is the Jalisco chile to look for in Mexican markets, especially stalls that serve cooks from Occidente. If you cannot find it, use extra guajillo with one more ancho. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Do not remove all the fat from the consome. Birria should have a red oil sheen from chile and goat fat. If you skim it clean, you strip the dish of its character.
• •Corn tortillas belong here. Flour tortillas are a northern tradition. Good for Sonora, wrong for this table.
• •Birote salado is common in Guadalajara for soaking up consome. Outside Jalisco, a crusty bolillo will do, but do not pretend it is the same bread.

Advance Preparation

• •The goat should be marinated overnight. You can stretch it to 24 hours if the meat is very strong, but do not go longer or the vinegar will start to make the texture cottony.
• •The adobo can be toasted, blended, strained, and fried up to 3 days ahead. Refrigerate it tightly covered and bring it to room temperature before rubbing it onto the goat.
• •Cooked birria keeps well for 4 days. Reheat the meat in a covered dish with a spoonful of consome, then uncover for the last few minutes so the tatemada edges return.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)