I've really been craving some Birria de Chivo lately, especially after having a delicious bowl of it a few weeks ago at one of my favorite spots in Los Angeles. While reading the latest version of San Diego’s El Latino paper, I noticed an add from Talones Meat Market in Escondido. The Talones add was calling my name with the word "CHIVOS".
The wife and I made a quick trip to Talones and we were pleased to find the goat was not frozen like most places. We ordered 4lbs and had it cut in cubes, we also ordered 1 goat head (cabeza). The wife likes using head in the stew to add a different element to the broth. We made a quick trip to Northgate Market for the essentials then it was back to the kitchen. We slapped 1/4 cup of vinegar on the goat meat and let it soak overnight. The next morning we were ready to go.
This recipe is for the guisado stew form which happens to be my favorite. Another popular method of cooking birria is called tatemada; tatemada employs the two-step form of stovetop steaming followed by oven roasting. You can also use a variety of different meats, goat is my favorite choice.
Ingredients
4 lbs Goat Meat
1 Goat Head (Cabeza) *Optional
5 Guajillo Chiles
5 Ancho Chiles
3 Cascabel Chiles
10 California Chiles (We typically use 12 Cascabel and no California Chiles but we had to tame it down for the family)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
5 whole Allspice
10 garlic cloves
3 bay leaves
1 onion
Salt to taste
1/4 cup Vinegar
1 cup of water
Sides
Oregano
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped cilantro
Radishes
Limes
Corn Tortillas
Remove the seeds and veins from the chiles and toast.
Put the chiles to soak in 1 cup of hot water for approximately 20 minutes, and then add the rest of the ingredients with exception of onion and bay leaves.
Seal in juices by searing the goat meat. We also seared the cabeza in a separate pan not shown.
Blend ingredients to a smooth sauce.
Place seared goat meat in a pot, and put just enough water in the pot to cover the meat.
Add onion and bay leaves.
Immediately strain chile paste into the pot.
Place the lid on the pot and let simmer on low heat until the meat is "fall off the bone" tender. Add salt as needed. Our meat took approximately four hours before it was cooked to perfection. As part of the final process the fat and bones were removed. During the time I was anxiously awaiting for the birria, the smell permeating through the air was intoxicating. I have to admit I lifted the lid and sampled a few tender morsels more than once.
I had to keep myself busy and out of temptation so I decided to prepare the essential sides of chopped onions, cilantro, oregano, lime, and radishes. The wife was working on something more special an incredible chile de arbol based salsa with garlic and tomatillo. The salsa will be featured on a future write-up. The sides were ready to for the main course, and the tortillas were dipped in the delicious broth.
This particular Birria De Chivo turned out to be one of the most memorable Birrias I have had, I would not change a thing. The broth turned out to be complex with the perfect amount of spice. Birria De Res is a dish we make frequently in the house but now that we have a source for fresh goat, its all about the Birria De Chivo.
Enjoy the receta de birria de chivo.
Stay tuned.....
May will be Masa Month we will be featuring Masa Based Antojitos and also some major taco hunting I've done the past year in the streets of Tijuana.
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23 comments:
Ah MAN, that looks good! Was the meat simmered by itself a little before adding the spice mixture or was it pretty much stewed with the entire time? Anyway now I have an excuse to finally get that giant soup stock pot I always wanted.. :)
Hey Dennis thanks, the mixture was stewed with the meat the entire time. Yes the soup pot is must, I’m so glad the weather here has cooled down this is such a comforting dish especially on a cool day.
wow you found the whole cabeza good to know where to get it!
Dude those photos are amazing !nice shooting.
CH
Great job Mike- any plans of opening a restaurant soon? (Hopefully with giant oysers on the menu)
Hey Cindi - yes talones is a good source
CH - thanks
AN - Opening a restaurant nah I have some friends that own and I admire thier hard work. We will keep this a hobby for now. :)
Ohh, I need to make this! We've been doing a lot of Asian this last week -- Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai.... It's been good, but I'm feeling the need for some American food now - North, Central and South. :-) A savory guisado can't be beat. Thanks, Mr Masa!
That looks incredible! Other than the meat is it a fairly smooth stew?
And I don't mean to be a heretic, but would something like beef or lamb work as well? I have a funny feeling it would be difficult to get goat meat in the UK..or some of those chiles...
Hi stuart - Yes very smooth.
Birria is very versatile you can use beef, veal, pork, goat or lamb. Some cooks will use more than one type of meat, combining up to three kinds in one dish.
Wow, this birria must be awesome.
I must try to do it at least once, even if it is so hard to collect all these ingredients in Italy.
I do have cascabel, guajillo and ancho, but no california chile, it looks like i'll have to stick to the hottest version ;-)
Tlaz
Hello Byte64, You should be fine with those 3. I would love to hear back if you make the birria. Nice blog I was checking out your chilaquiles, we just made some and should be posting soon.
I have Birria simmiring on the stove top as we speak (since 12 o clock it will be done like at 4) I'll have to give your recipe a try, I'm only familiar with my aunts "Birria de Res y Puerco":
http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/11/birria-de-puerco-y-res-pork-and-beef.html
Hi Nathan, sounds good I will have try yours someday also.
I am raising a meat goat right now and plan to make this recipe as soon as he is ready to "go". I do have a question regarding the head.
I know it sounds "gross" but I gotta ask: Did you just pull off the meat from the skull or did you also incorporate the brains into the stew?
I am really looking forward to making some homemade authenic stew - thanks for sharing!
Hi Sandy to answer your question the brains are part of the stew however if thats not your thing you can always keep them as part of the stew until ready to serve and then remove them, same goes for the tounge and eyes.
The goathead we had on this day would not fit in the pot so I actually had to cut it in half.
I have the goat simmering away on the stove, and it smells wonderful. I'm eager to find your wife's magnificent tomatillo salsa - did you post the recipe?
If not, can you recommend a good alternative (that I can make at the beginning of Spring in Australia? - not a huge variety of Mexican ingredients at my disposal!)
Thanks
Hi Zoe thats so exciting to hear! I hope it came out to your liking. We have not posted the tomatillo recipe yet but I will get it on soon. Honestly the birria can stand on its own.
Wow, that birria looks mouthwatering. Riquisima! I just returned this weekend from a trip to Chicago and Birria for breakfast was the first thing in my agenda. Great job with the pictures.
I've never head this dish before but looking at your picture and examining the ingredient list, I'm very sure this is a very tasty dish!!!
Thanks for sharing and for posting!
I finally found some carne de chivo and this is the best looking birria recipe I've found on the internets. Thanks for posting it. I'm going to try to adapt it to dry roasting with the jugo added just before serving since that is how I remember my favorite birria in Jalisco. Any pointers for that method?
Hi Mely ...Thanks
Hey Lunch Krispy... I have tasted Jalisco style birria but have not prepared it that way. Perhaps I will try when it starts cooling off soon. Good Luck.
Good job!
One tip for next time: Your goat meat was crowded in the pan - and you can see on the next photo that the meat was not well-crusted, and much of it was steamed gray.
To get better flavor next time:
1) pat the meat bone dry (no wet meat!);
2) get a heavy pan very hot before adding oil/lard;
3) do not crowd the meat - even if this means you have to brown it in batches - each piece of meat should have an inch or so of space between it and the next piece; and
4) your pan will have a bunch of crusty tasty brown stuff seared onto it - this is called fond, and after browning your meat, you should deglase the pan by adding a little water or stock to the hot pan, and scrape the brown stuff off of the pan with a wooden spoon - you'll then want to add this to the stew.
Hola Sr Masa,
I just wanted to share that my GRINGA cuñada, 100% Irish, made your Birria de Chivo recipe for Mother's day yesterday, and I, a 100% Mexicana have to say, ...DELICIOSO!!! Thank you for existing.
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