Birria

Birria is a deeply spiced Mexican stew traditionally made with goat, though beef has become common outside Jalisco. The meat is marinated in a paste of dried guajillo and ancho chilies, garlic, cumin, cloves, and vinegar, then slow-braised for hours — often in an underground pit or covered clay pot — until it falls apart and the braising liquid reduces into a dark, richly flavored consommé.

Served the traditional way, birria comes as a bowl of stew with the consommé ladled over shredded meat, alongside chopped onion, cilantro, and lime. The more recent and now globally famous presentation is birria tacos, or quesabirria: corn tortillas dipped in the orange fat skimmed from the consommé, griddled with melted cheese and shredded meat, and served with a cup of consommé for dipping.

Birria originates in the state of Jalisco, where Spanish colonizers introduced goats in the 16th century; the animals thrived on the region's arid scrubland but were considered a nuisance by many indigenous communities, whose cooks are credited with turning the tough, gamey meat into something worth celebrating by braising it slowly with native chilies and spices. It became a dish reserved for weddings, baptisms, and other festive occasions, traditionally cooked overnight in a pit lined with maguey leaves.

Birria migrated with Mexican communities to the United States through the 20th century, especially to Tijuana and later Los Angeles, where in the 2010s a wave of taco trucks reinvented it as quesabirria — the cheese-griddled, consommé-dipped taco that spread rapidly on social media and became one of the most recognizable Mexican dishes of the decade internationally. Related dishes worth trying from the same braising-and-stewing tradition include tacos al pastor and the similarly hearty pozole hominy stew.