Birria
Goat or beef marinated in a paste of dried chillies, vinegar and spice, cooked slowly until it falls apart, and served in its own rich broth.
What makes it birria
- Goat, or beef, in a thick adobo of guajillo and ancho chillies with vinegar.
- Cooked slow and covered until it pulls apart.
- The broth — consommé — served alongside, for drinking and dipping.
Where it comes from
Birria belongs to Jalisco, where it's traditionally goat, cooked long in a covered pot or an earth oven. Goats came with the Spanish, and the name is often said to mean a mess, or a thing of little worth — a hint that the meat wasn't prized until the cooking made it so.
It's a weekend dish and a famous cure for the morning after, eaten with tortillas, onion, lime and a bowl of the consommé. In Tijuana it's made with beef, and the tacos dipped in the red fat and griddled with cheese — quesabirria — have in recent years travelled far beyond Mexico.
How it varies
- Birria de chivo
- Goat, the Jalisco original.
- Birria de res
- Beef, the Tijuana way.
- Quesabirria
- Tacos dipped in the fat, griddled with cheese, dunked in consommé.
Be the first here
Start your own birriaNo one here has made birria yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.
Near it
MexicanCochinita pibilPork marinated in achiote and bitter orange, wrapped in banana leaves and slow-cooked until it falls apart.No one here has made it yet
MexicanTacos al pastorPork in a red chilli adobo, stacked on a vertical spit, shaved onto small corn tortillas with pineapple, onion and coriander.No one here has made it yet