{{For|the languages which are called Birria|Birria language (disambiguation){{!}}Birria language}} {{Short description|Mexican meat-based stew}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Birria | image = Plato de birria.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = Birria served with condiments | alternate_name = | country = Mexico | region = Jalisco | creator = | course = | type = Stew | served = | main_ingredient = Meat (typically goat or beef), dried chili peppers | variations = | calories = | other = }} '''Birria''' ({{IPA|es|ˈbirja|lang|Birria.ogg}}) is a regional variation of barbacoa from western Mexico, mainly made with goat, beef or lamb.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Velazquez de Leon |first1=Josefina |title=Platillos Regionales de la República Mexicana |date=1946 |publisher=Ediciones J. Velázquez de León |location=Mexico |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTIZAAAAIAAJ&q=birria |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Brambila Pelayo |first1=Alberto M. |title=Lenguaje Popular en Jalisco |date=1957 |publisher=Editorial Brambila |location=Guadalajara |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxRQAAAAMAAJ&q=birria+barbacoa |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sánchez García |first1=Julio |title=Calendario folklórico de fiestas en la República Mexicana |date=1956 |publisher=Editorial Porrúa |location=Mexico |page=264 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vzrgAAAAMAAJ&q=birria+barbacoa |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rodríguez Rivera |first1=Virginia |title=Cartas de Achimarre |journal=Revista Hispánica Moderna |date=1943 |volume=9 |issue=4 |page=368 |jstor=30205464 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/30205464 |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gómez Gutiérrez |first1=Mariano |title=La vida que yo viví |date=1954 |publisher=Editorial Luz y Vida |location=Mexico |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zdcSAAAAYAAJ&q=birria+barbacoa |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bayless |first1=Rick |title=On Cooking in Mexican Earth |journal=The Digest |date=1990 |volume=10 |page=6 |url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iuswrrest/api/core/bitstreams/d4e7cc59-0ce1-47cd-aea5-1ac4084243ba/content |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Zuno Hernández |first1=José Guadalupe |title=Historia de la ironía plástica en Jalisco |date=1958 |publisher=J. Trinidad Chávez |location=Guadalajara |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0dZAAAAMAAJ&q=birria+barbacoa |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref> The meat is marinated in an adobo made of vinegar, dried chiles, garlic, and herbs and spices (including cumin, bay leaves, and thyme) before being cooked in a broth ({{langx|es|consomé}}). Originally, ''birria'' was the regional name given in the state of Jalisco and surrounding areas to meats cooked or roasted in a pit or earth oven, what is known as barbacoa in other regions of Mexico, but for many people today, mostly in the United States, ''birria'' is now a distinct dish.
It is often served at celebratory occasions such as weddings, baptisms and during holidays such as Christmas and Easter, and even at funerals. Preparation techniques vary, but the dish is often served with corn tortillas, onions, cilantro, and lime. Birria is also served with tacos.<ref name= "Hernández">Rafael Hernández, "Birria," in ''Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions'', Vol. 1 (2012, ed. María Herrera-Sobek).</ref><ref>{{Cite web| last1= Tamez| first1= Abraham |last2= Barreras |first2= Roxana|date=2021-02-26| title= Birria: its successful ancestral secret recipe| url= https://interesante.com/2021/02/birria-its-successful-ancestral-secret-recipe/| url-status=dead | website =interesante.com |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210802235440/https://interesante.com/2021/02/birria-its-successful-ancestral-secret-recipe/ |archive-date=2021-08-02 |access-date= 2023-06-18}}</ref>
Restaurants or street carts that serve birria are known as ''birrierías''<ref name=":0" /> and exist throughout Mexico, especially in Michoacán and Jalisco. However, neighboring Mexican states have their own variations of the dish, including Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, and Colima.<ref name="Hernández"/><ref>{{Cite web| last=Rao|first=Tejal|date=2021-02-08| title=The Birria Boom is Complicated but Simply Delicious| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/dining/birria-recipes.html|url-status= live| access-date=2021-07-26| website= The New York Times|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210208211223/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/dining/birria-recipes.html |archive-date=2021-02-08 }}</ref>
== History == The term birria was originally the regional name given in Jalisco and surrounding areas to meats cooked in a pit or earth oven, what is known in other parts of Mexico as barbacoa. Mexican chef and professor Josefina Velázquez de León stated that barbacoa has many variations or styles depending on the region of Mexico, and that birria was one style.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Velazquez de Leon |first1=Josefina |title=Platillos Regionales de la República Mexicana |date=1946 |publisher=Ediciones J. Velázquez de León |location=Mexico |page=200 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Platillos_regionales_de_la_República_Me/FTIZAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=birria |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref>
Cuban professor Félix Ramos y Duarte had defined the term in 1898 as a regionalism from Mexico City for goat barbacoa or roasted goat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ramos y Duarte |first1=Felix |title=Dicción de Mejicanismos |date=1898 |publisher=Herrero hermanos |location=Mexico |page=551 |edition=Second |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=53oKAAAAIAAJ&q=Birria|language=es|quote='''Birria''' (D. F.), sf. Barbacoa de chivo, ó chivo asado.|trans-quote='''Birria''' (Mexico City), Goat Barbacoa, or roasted goat.|access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref> Mexican linguist and philologist Darío Rubio wrote in 1925 that "birria" was a lower social class term for "barbacoa".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rubio |first1=Darío |title=La Anarquía del Lenguaje en la América Española |date=1925 |publisher=Confederacion regional obrera mexicana |location=Mexico |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNwNAAAAIAAJ&q=Birria |language=es|quote=Entre nosotros, BIRRIA es nombre que da también la gente del pueblo a la barbacoa.|trans-quote=Amongst us [the Mexicans], BIRRIA is what the lower classes call barbacoa.|access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref> Mexican historian Leovigildo Islas Escárcega stated in 1945 that birria was a term specifically from Jalisco and some areas of the interior for barbacoa.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Islas Escárcega |first1=Leovigildo |title=Vocabulario Campesino Nacional |date=1945 |publisher=B. de Silva |location=Mexico |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TY9BAAAAIAAJ&q=Birria |access-date=3 May 2024|language=es|quote=Nombre con que designan a la barbacoa, en Jalisco y en algunos puntos del interior.|trans-quote=Name used to designate barbacoa, in Jalisco and in some parts of the interior.}}</ref> Mexican linguist and philologist Francisco J. Santamaría defined the term in 1959 as being another name for barbacoa, typically made from lamb or goat, and cited the work of Mexican scholar José Ignacio Dávila Garibi who argued that the term was of Coca origin and not from the Spanish term ''birria'' meaning worthless.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Santamaría |first1=Francisco J. |title=Diccionario de Mejicanismos |date=1959 |publisher=Porrúa |location=Mexico |page=135 |url=https://archive.org/details/diccionariodemej00sant/page/134/mode/2up?q=Birria&view=theater |language=es|quote='''Birria''', f. En cierta región del país, principalmente en Guadalajara (Jalisco), carne de borrego o de chivo, preparada a semejanza de la barbacoa, y que es típica del lugar; barbacoa en general.|trans-quote='''Birria''', f. In a certain region of the country, mainly in Guadalajara (Jalisco), lamb or goat meat, prepared in the style of barbacoa, and which is typical of that place; barbacoa in general.|access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref> Mexican writer and essayist Jorge Mejia Prieto defined it in 1985 as a "soupy barbacoa made with lamb or goat meat from Guadalajara, Jalisco".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mejía Prieto |first1=Jorge |title=Así Habla el Mexicano |date=1985 |publisher=Panorama Editorial |location=Mexico |isbn=9789683801227 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrD7X-KZBCcC&dq=birria+barbacoa&pg=PA24 |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref>
=== Folk history === There exist many folk stories and myths about the origin of the term. One such story argues that in 1519, Hernán Cortés and the Conquistadors first landed in Mexico,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hernan Cortes |url=https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/hernan-cortes |website=history.com|date=6 June 2023 }}</ref> bringing various old-world domestic animals, including goats. During the conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Conquistadors were faced with an overpopulation of goats, so they decided to give the animals to the natives. While goat meat was supposedly looked down upon by the Conquistadors, as it was tough and had a strong smell, the natives accepted the animals, as marinating the meat in indigenous styles made it palatable and appetizing. The dishes they produced were called "birria", a derogatory term meaning "worthless", by the Spanish, in reference to their having given the natives meat with apparently noxious characteristics.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cardenas|first=Juan Ramon|title=La Senda del Cabrito|publisher=Ediciones Larousse|year=2021|isbn=978-6072123663|pages=}}</ref>
According to another legend, the dish was invented accidentally during the eruption of a volcano, when a shepherd was forced to abandon his goats in a cave where they were cooked perfectly by the steam.<ref name=":0" />
== Variations == Traditionally birria was served on bread, tortillas or even directly in hand. Many variations of the dish have derived since.<ref name="Olaechea 2022"/>
In 1950, a taquero named Guadalupe Zárate set up a taco stand in Tijuana,<ref name="Olaechea 2022">{{cite web | author=Olaechea, Carlos C. | title=What Is Birria? | publisher=Food Network | date=2022-04-12 | url=https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/what-is-birria | access-date=2023-02-23}}</ref> after moving there from Coatzingo, Puebla. Zárate's stand initially sold asado and pastor tacos. Zárate soon decided to make beef birria because goat meat was more expensive and less fatty. One day, someone told Zárate to add more liquid to the meat. The resulting dish is now known as Tijuana-style beef birria, making Zárate a household name among birrierías for being the first person in Tijuana to make birria with {{lang|es|consomé}}.
During the 2010s, the quesabirria (a taco stuffed with birria and cheese, often served with consommé) became popular in North America after first being developed in Tijuana.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Trey|last1=Gutierrez|date=28 January 2021|url=https://austin.eater.com/22243046/birria-tacos-quesabirria-food-trucks-austin|title=How Birria Finally Took Off in One of America's Best Taco Cities|website=Eater Austin}}</ref> Chef Antonio de Livier of Mexico City is credited with another variation called ''birriamen'' (a portmanteau of birria and ramen) using ''chūkamen'' noodles in the broth, and the variation later gained popularity in the Los Angeles area.<ref>{{cite news |last=Yu |first=Lynn Q. |date=31 July 2019 |title=Birria and ramen. It just makes sense |url=https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2019-07-31/birria-ramen-mexico-city |work=Los Angeles Times |accessdate=22 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Levinson |first=Jonathan |date=1 January 2018 |title=Send Noodz: This Birria-Ramen Mashup Is Here for Your Hangover |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/send-noodz-this-birria-ramen-mashup-is-here-for-your-hangover/ |work=Vice.com |access-date=22 January 2024}}</ref>
Other versions of the dish include birria tatemada (charred birria). After marinating and simmering the meat, it is placed in a hot oven until crispy.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Herrera-Sobek |first=María |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDIwZ8BieWcC&dq=%22birria%22&pg=PA116 |title=Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-34339-1 |language=en}}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery class="center" widths="195" heights="160"> File:Birria.jpg|Birria with warmed tortillas and beer File:Tacos de Barba Birria 8.jpg|Birria with consomé File:Olla con el caldo de la birria.jpg|Birria pot File:Birria in Pilsen (cropped).jpg|Birria </gallery>
== See also == {{portal|Food}} * List of goat dishes * List of Mexican dishes * Menudo * Mexican cuisine * Pozole * Birria taco * Birrieria Y Taqueria Cortez
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Mexican cuisine}}
Category:Goat dishes Category:Culture of Jalisco Category:Mexican stews Category:Street food in Mexico Category:Wedding food