Birria

Goat or beef slow-braised for hours in a sauce of guajillo, ancho, and chipotle chillies with garlic, vinegar, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, oregano, and bay, until the meat falls apart and the cooking liquid reduces to deep brick-red consommé. Served either as a stew with tortillas, or as the increasingly popular birria tacos: fried tortillas dipped in the consommé, filled with the meat and melted cheese, with a small bowl of the consommé for dipping. The signature is the layered chilli depth, the long-cooked meat richness, and the distinctive cumin-cloves-cinnamon warm-spice profile that sets birria apart from other Mexican braises.