Birriería Red Salsa with Sesame

Jalisco, Guadalajara, the birrierías around Las Nueve Esquinas and the Mercado Libertad: this is where this salsa lives. It sits on the table in a small barro de Tlaquepaque bowl, red as a warning, with lime halves, chopped white onion, cilantro, and warm tortillas nearby. This is not decoration. This is what wakes up the goat.

The chile is chile de arbol from Jalisco or Zacatecas if your vendor has it, thin, bright red, dry enough to snap but not dusty. The sesame is ajonjolí, toasted until gold, not brown. That sesame gives the salsa body and a nutty back note so it doesn't taste like punishment. Not all Mexican food is hot. This one is, because birria de chivo can take it.

I learned this version from a señora in Guadalajara who sold birria only until the pot was empty. She toasted the chiles fast on the comal, ground them with garlic and sesame, then loosened everything with consomé from the birria pot. No tomato. No sugar. No vinegar bottle from the table. The broth carries the animal, the chile carries the fire, and the sesame holds them together. Así se hace y punto.