Tacos Campechanos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart Dutch oven or copper cazo for the suadero
• •12-inch cast iron comal or heavy skillet
• •Sharp chef's knife for dicing the cooked meats
• •Slotted spoon for lifting meat from the lard
• •Tortilla press if you are making the tortillas from masa

Instructions

1. 1

   Cure the brisket briefly

   Rub the brisket with the kosher salt and the peppercorns crushed in a molcajete. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes while you set up the rest of the kitchen. Suadero is brisket cooked in lard, not boiled in water, and the salt has to be on the meat from the start. This is the cut. Do not substitute chuck.

2. 2

   Melt the lard and build the bath

   In a wide, heavy 8-quart Dutch oven or a copper cazo if you have one, melt the lard over medium-low heat until it is fully liquid and shimmering. Add the halved onion, the halved garlic head, the bay leaves, and the squeezed orange halves with their juice. Pour in the milk. The lard is the cooking medium and the aromatics are the seasoning. La manteca es el sabor. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Cook the suadero slowly

   Lower the brisket into the warm lard. The fat should come at least halfway up the meat. Lower the heat until the lard barely whispers around the brisket, just the occasional lazy bubble. Cook uncovered for one hour and a half. Do not let it boil. A boil tightens the meat and you will get suadero seco, the saddest version of this taco. The bath should look still, almost asleep.

   If the lard is too hot, the outside of the brisket will fry before the inside surrenders. Drop the heat lower than you think you need to. Patience is the recipe.
4. 4

   Add the pork belly

   After ninety minutes, add the pork belly chunks to the same pot. They join the suadero in the lard. Cook for another 45 minutes to an hour, until both the brisket and the belly are fork-tender but still hold their shape. The pork belly contributes fat and a deeper flavor to the lard, which will season everything that comes after.

5. 5

   Rest and chop

   Lift the brisket and the pork belly out of the lard with a slotted spoon and set them on a cutting board. Let them rest for ten minutes. Strain the rendered lard and save two cups of it. The rest goes in a jar in the refrigerator and you will use it for the next month. Chop the suadero and the pork belly into small dice, about the size of the tip of your thumb. This is the cut that taqueros in CDMX use on the trompo and the comal. Big chunks belong in a guisado, not in a taco campechano.

6. 6

   Cook the longaniza

   Heat a heavy 12-inch comal or cast iron skillet over medium-high. Add the longaniza, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. It will release its own red-orange fat. Cook for about eight minutes, stirring often, until it is browned and crisped at the edges. Do not drain it. The fat is part of the mix.

7. 7

   Mix on the comal

   Push the cooked longaniza to one side of the comal. On the other side, spoon a tablespoon of the reserved lard onto the hot surface. Add the chopped suadero and pork belly and let them sit for a minute to crisp on the bottom. Now sweep everything together, longaniza, suadero, and belly, and stir to combine. The mixture should look glossy, dark red-brown from the chorizo, with the suadero giving up its edges to the heat. This is the campechano mix.

   The taqueros at El Vilsito and Los Cocuyos do not mix the meats until the order is called. Heat the suadero and longaniza separately on the comal, then combine the moment the customer says campechano. The meats stay distinct that way.
8. 8

   Add the chicharron

   Crumble the chicharron prensado into small pieces with your hands and scatter it across the mix on the comal. Toss for thirty seconds, just enough for the chicharron to absorb a little of the fat and soften at the edges while staying crunchy in the center. The chicharron is not a garnish. It is the third meat. That contrast of soft and crunchy is what makes a campechano a campechano and not just a mixed taco.

9. 9

   Warm the tortillas

   Heat a second comal or move the meat to one side. Warm the corn tortillas directly on the hot surface, about twenty seconds per side, until they puff and show small charred spots. Stack them in a folded servilleta to keep warm. A campechano needs two tortillas per taco. The first one will not survive the fat. Doble tortilla, always. Así se hace y punto.

10. 10

    Build and serve at the table

    Lay two warm tortillas in your palm, one on top of the other. Spoon two generous tablespoons of the campechano mix down the center. Top with raw white onion and cilantro. Squeeze a lime wedge over it. Add salsa verde or salsa roja, your call. Eat it standing up if you can. Con todo means everything went on, and a CDMX campechano eaten any other way is just lunch. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Suadero is the cut that matters. Brisket flat is the closest supermarket equivalent if your butcher does not stock suadero. Do not use chuck, do not use skirt. The brisket has the right ratio of muscle to fat to cook in lard and stay tender.
• •Longaniza is not chorizo. They are cousins, not twins. Longaniza is longer, the grind is coarser, and the seasoning leans on achiote and vinegar more than dried chiles. If your carniceria carries only chorizo, that is what you use, but ask for longaniza next time. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •Chicharron prensado is the pressed version, dark and slightly chewy, sold in blocks at Mexican butchers. It is not the puffy fried chicharron from the snack aisle. If you cannot find the pressed kind, crumble crispy pork rinds and add them at the very last minute so they stay crunchy.
• •Doble tortilla is not a suggestion. The campechano is a wet taco. One tortilla disintegrates before you finish eating it. Two tortillas, slightly smaller than your palm, hand-pressed if your tortilleria sells masa.
• •The salsas are your choice but the onion and cilantro are mandatory. Diced raw white onion, never red. Cilantro chopped, not torn. A taqueria that serves a campechano without these is not a taqueria.

Advance Preparation

• •The suadero and pork belly can be cooked in the lard one day ahead. Cool them in the lard, refrigerate everything together, and the meat absorbs even more flavor overnight. Pull from the cold lard and chop just before serving.
• •The strained, refrigerated lard keeps for two months and gets better every time you use it. Each batch of suadero seasons the next.
• •The salsas should be made the day of. A salsa verde cruda made the night before loses its bright herbaceousness and the avocado, if you used any, will gray on you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 350g)