What Is Birria And How Do You Serve It?

If you love tacos or just Mexican food in general, you've probably heard about birria. You might even think you get what the big deal is about, but in 2019, the LA Times published a list of 17 places you needed to try in Los Angeles to truly understand birria. This begs the question, if you need to try 17 different takes on it, is birria more complex than it may at first seem?

Over the last handful of years, birria has become a buzzword online. Word of its glory has traveled far from carts and trucks in trendy West Coast cities like Los Angeles and Austin, to the world of New York City street food. This specific method of preparing and cooking this braised meat has created a flavor that Americans can't resist. 

The most popular take on it is the birria taco. These street food delights are prepared using birria meat served with its braising liquid on the side the form of a delicious consommé. Stateside, you'll most commonly find this served as a birria taco, also known as a quesabirria if melted cheese is part of the equation (which is always should be). I used my own expertise as an NYC foodie and journalist and consulted the research of other experts to go beyond the birria taco. There is just so much the average foodie doesn't know about this tasty and comforting Mexican dish. 

The most common type of meat used for birria in the United States is beef. In our experience eating birria in New York City, it's clear this is going to be the only option for people this far from the West Coast. It makes sense, given how common beef is here, that it has won out over the more traditional protein used for birria since the dish's conception. 

Going way back to the origin of the dish, you will find that goat is what was originally used. This is actually how the dish got its name, according to Food Network. Birria comes from an old Spanish word that meant worthless, or of poor value and quality. This was referring to the goat meat, which required such a slow, long cook. Mutton, which can refer to sheep or lamb as well as goat, has also been used in the dish. In the US, where those are not common or popular protein choices, the clear winner has become beef.

Birria originated in Jalisco, a state in Mexico. According to Vallarta Eats, it comes specifically from the town of Cocula and was first concocted around the 16th century. This was an era of change when the Spanish conquistadors were displacing and subjugating the native Mexican people. Goats were an animal the conquistadors introduced to the natives and, as explained earlier, it was one of their least favorite to eat. However, famine soon left them no other choice. 

In order to tone down the gameness of goat, birria in its first form was born. By mixing in a great deal of herbs and spices to mask the taste of the meat and cooking it for a long time to avoid the texture turning out too tough, the originators of the dish did everything they could to hide the meat. While this method is largely abandoned nowadays, in the 16th century, birria was cooked in an underground oven overnight.

Listen, you'll hear no comment from us on why these two preparations are commonly confused in English. If you've only heard of one of them, one might sound like the other, but if you've tasted them you know that's not the case. You already know what birria is but what is barbacoa?

Like the word birria, barbacoa refers to a cooking method; the way the meat is cooked. Similar to birria, this method takes a large portion of meat and enhances it with chili peppers and other aromatics and spices before cooking it low and slow for many hours. Barbacoa is traditionally cooked over hot stones in a hole in the ground and it can be made with beef, pork, lamb, or goat (via Eat Mex City). The meat would be first wrapped in maguey leaves and then set in the hole above pots of water atop the stones. Like the traditional ways of preparing birria, these methods are no longer the only way to make a barbacoa. 

Another main difference between the two dishes is that barbacoa is not cooked or served in liquid. Eat Mex City says that it is often served with a broth on the side but barbacoa is never served as a stew. It's closer to traditional American barbecue in terms of taste and preparation.  

The most common preparation for birria that you'll see stateside is the taco. The appeal of the birria consommé on the side is enhanced by the ineffable ability to dunk your taco. Adding a Mexican cheese like Oaxaca or chihuahua turns a simple birria taco into a birria quesadilla, or quesabirria if you want to be official and correct.

Birria De Res is the specific name of the Tijuana-inspired beef stew that has become popular to use in the American birria taco. Typically, these decadent tacos are made by first dunking the tortillas in the birria before even putting it on the grill with the meat and optional cheese. They are then topped with chopped onions and cilantro.

The most authentic version of birria loses the taco shell and instead serves the dish as a hearty, savory stew with some form of carbs on the side. Depending on where you are dining, this can mean tortillas, but birria can also be served with bread or rice; anything you would serve with a stew.

Another take on birria that fuses Mexican and Japanese cuisine is birria ramen. As it turns out, the warming flavors and the preparation make these two distinct dishes a more natural fit than you might think. It has become such a common combination that Mexican fast food chain Del Taco even had it on its menu for a brief time, as seen on Reddit.

If you haven't figured out that birria is delicious, well we don't know what else we can do to convince you. However, we can advise you to perhaps not eat it every day. Birria can be high in some areas, especially in its most popular form. Let's first look at an example of birria stew. The University of California Los Angeles dining facilities serve beef birria along with a side of Mexican rice and corn tortillas. The beef dish itself clocks in at 380 calories, 19.5 grams of fat, 6.5 grams of saturated fats, 42.5 grams of protein, and over 800 milligrams of sodium per serving. 

This is a great example that shows birria is a solid high protein meal, but it's a bit high in fats and sodium content. This is only exacerbated when adding cheese and a little dunking cup of broth for your quesabirria. A diet high in fats could lead to an increased risk of heart disease and obesity, according to the World Health Organization. 

When it comes to storing cooked meat, the same rules you are used to definitely apply to birria. Like most cooked meats, if you store birria in an airtight container it will stay good in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you made an extra large batch, leftovers can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. The big question when it comes to storing birria (especially if you've made it for tacos) is whether or not to store the meat and the brother together or separately.

The answer is simply in how you've prepared the dish and intended to eat it. If you've made a birria stew, it should be stored as one. You wouldn't separate a stew. If you intend to make more birria tacos you can store the meat and broth separately. This way you can dip the tortillas in the birria consommé before making your tacos to give them that extra hint of flavor. Plus, you don't want to have to separate the two each time you reheat the meal.

Speaking of reheating, according to Mexican food blog Isabel Eats, the best way to reheat frozen birria is to let the meat thaw overnight before heating it in a pot over medium-high heat until it is warmed through.