La Birria

Made with either mutton or goat meat, this dish from Jalisco is jampacked with spices, which are different depending on the region; and neighboring states have adopted it and added their own touch.

The traditional style however, consists of baking the meat in a hole in the ground,placing hot rocks at the bottom, then a tray for the meat, which gets covered with maguey leaves, and over these goes the meat and the spices. Then it all gets sealed and buried for about 5 hours to let cook and absorb the flavors of the maguey and spice mix.

The final product is a tender yet elastic meat, since the collagen is not entirely broken down as it does in carnitas.

In the case of oven cooking, it is instead broiled as a stew, which can be eaten with the meat or separately. The dish is accompanied with tortillas, frijoles and minced onions, and is a staple of cold places where the combination of spice and heat warm up bodies and lift up spirits.

It’s common to use as a remedy for hangovers, so breakfasts following christmas or the new year fiestas constantly have it at the table.