If you haven’t experienced the Mexican stew known as birria, get ready – this popular street food is trending right now. In its native Jalisco, birria is made with goat meat, but here in the States, you’ll find versions with other meats, particularly beef.
The meat is rubbed with spices such as cumin and cinnamon and marinated overnight in chile-laced broth. This luscious liquid plays into what takes birria over the top: the succulent, irresistible way it’s served.
Once the meat is cooked and shredded, it’s made into tacos. But not your basic tortilla handhelds. These babies start with a corn tortilla dipped in consommé, placed on an oiled sauté pan, then filled with shredded meat and cheese.
The tortilla then gets folded over the filling and that taco is pan-fried until it develops a golden crunch. To eat, you dip the taco into the reserved consommé and go to town.
Several local Mexican spots specialize in them, from the foodie fave Chucho’s Red Tacos food truck on South Sixth Street to the ones shown here, from Lazo’s Taco Shack (641 N. James Lovell St.), which serves them as their Wednesday special (four for $14.50).
