Cabrito

Cabrito in Mexico refers to a young kid goat (typically 4–8 weeks old, fed on maternal milk) roasted whole, and it is the signature dish of the northern state of Nuevo León and the wider Norteño region. The cooking method is technically a barbacoa: the kid is butterflied, seasoned simply with coarse salt, sometimes garlic and oregano, and slow-roasted in an underground pit (often a brick-lined horno or, traditionally, dug in earth and covered with maguey leaves) for several hours until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender.

The dish is central to the cuisine of Monterrey and the surrounding Sierra Madre foothills, where whole-roast cabrito is sold at roadside restaurants and family gatherings on weekends. In Monterrey it is served with flour tortillas, refried beans, fresh salsa verde, guacamole, and grilled onions; in Saltillo (Coahuila) it is paired with flour tortillas and queso asadero. The Pacific coast (Sinaloa, Sonora) has a related version called birria de chivo, served with consomé.

Eat authentic cabrito at the historic El Rey del Cabrito in Monterrey (founded 1942, still family-run), at Taquería Los Cuñados, at La Catarina, and at the family-run asadores that line the road between Monterrey and Saltillo. In Mexico City, try it at the legendary Café de Tacuba and at Hostería de Santo Domingo; in the US, at restaurants in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Phoenix's Mexican neighborhoods (Bakery Lorraine, Tarasco, Los Tios).