Types of Tacos
Here's a quick guide to the most common types of tacos around.
Soft Griddled Tacos
There are many regional variations, but the oldest, most widely consumed forms are made with soft white corn tortillas griddled on a comal until lightly charred or steamed until soft. They're small (usually no more than three or four inches across), and are eaten as a street snack.
Fillings can be anything from the battered and deep-fried fish of Baja to grasshopper-stuffed tacos de chapulines of Oaxaca, but they generally fall into one of three categories: griddled/spit-roasted meats, fried meats, or braised meats. Most restaurants or carts specialize in one category. The meaty fillings are finely chopped into tiny pieces on a block of wood known as a tronco with a sharp cleaver before serving. Traditionally, Mexican tacos come very simply adorned with diced onions and chopped cilantro, with lime wedges, pickled or grilled jalapeños, radishes, and a choice of salsas for the customer to add themselves. Of course, nowadays, fillings and condiments run a wide gamut.
Tacos de Asador (Griddled Fillings)
Griddled fillings include meats cooked using dry heat methods like frying on a flat comal or roasting on a spit. The most common ones you'll find are carne asada (grilled steak), chorizo (a sour fresh Mexican sausage), pollo (chicken), or tripita (grilled tripe). Often served on a double stack of tortillas, guacamole is a common addition, particularly to strong-flavored grilled meats like tripe or stomach.
Carne asada is made by quickly cooking thin steaks, anything from sirloin steak to tenderloin to skirt steak or, most commonly, flank steak, that have been marinated on a hot grill or comal (griddle); it’s traditionally diced after cooking. It is usually cooked with a certain amount of searing to impart a charred flavor. Served inside burritos and tacos. The meat can be marinated in many different ways, from simply rubbing with salt to using spice rubs such as lemon and pepper or garlic salt and lime, before being cooked on a grill. Some recipes incorporate beer into the marinade. Still others go for a liquid fajita-style marinade. It can be chopped so it is more easily put into tacos and burritos.
Al pastor: Crisp-thin shavings of vertical spit-roasted pork (thin slices of pork are stacked and pressed together on a vertical rotisserie), marinated in adobo with guajillo chiles and achiote, then served on tortillas. Pastor means "shepherd," the name given to Lebanese merchants who immigrated to Mexico City in the early 1900s, bringing the concept of shawarma with them.
Chorizo As opposed to the cured, dry Spanish sausage of the same name, Mexican chorizo is a fresh pork sausage seasoned with vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, thyme, allspice, cloves, and a whole lot of guajillo chiles (individual recipes may vary). In the area around Toluca you’ll also find green chorizo, which is traditionally made with pork, tomatillo, cilantro, green chiles, and garlic. The meat is usually removed from the casing, crumbled, and seared up on a comal before being added to a taco.
Pescado Fish tacos originated in Baja, the peninsula off the northwest coast of Mexico. They’re made with corvina or some other white fish that’s been battered and fried (occasionally grilled), and are traditionally topped with shredded cabbage, a thinned guacamole sauce, and a mayonnaise- or sour-cream-based white sauce.
Tacos de Cazo (Fried Fillings)
Fried fillings are generally slow-cooked in a simmering pot of lard before being crisped up on a hot comal. In that way, it's analogous to French-style confit. The most popular of this style of cooking is carnitas, made by slow-cooking pork shoulder in lard until meltingly tender. Other common cuts are tripa (pork tripe), buche (pig's throat), and suadero (beef cuts, usually from the brisket).
Carnitas: Tracing its roots to the state of Michoacân, carnitas are shoulder of pork that's been cut into chunks, seasoned, and braised until tender with lard and herbs (oregano, marjoram, bay leaves, garlic), shredded, and then oven-roasted until slightly crisp, then eaten alone or used as a filling for tacos, tamales, tortas, and burritos. The lard is usually melted down in a large copper pot and seasoned with flavorings including chile, cumin, garlic, and oregano. The shredded carnitas is sometimes crisped up on a comal before serving.
Tacos de Cazuela (Braised or Simmered Fillings)
Tacos de cazuela are simply soft tacos made with various regional specialty fillings that are simmered in large earthenware cazuelas (pots). The tacos are served by street vendors and in bars similar to Spanish "tapas" but it bit more filling. The clay pots impart a traditional earthy flavor to the food.
These tacos include head meats like cabeza (mixed face meat), sesos (braised brains), tromp (braised lips), and cachet (cheeks). Whole sheep or goat wrapped in maguey leaves are cooked in large steamers into barbacoa, then the meat is shredded and mixed with the juices that drip out while it cooks before being piled back into a double stack of tortillas.
Cochinita pibil: Whole suckling pig or pork shoulder that's marinated in citrus with achiote, then wrapped in banana leaves and roasted. Historically, it's buried in a pit with a fire at the bottom.
Puerco Pibil (roast pork butt)
Roasted Pork Tacos w/ Mole SauceBarbacoa: Traditionally, beef cheek and head that's covered in leaves from the maguey plant, then slow cooked over a wood fire in a pit in the ground. In America today, it also refers to spicy, shredded, slow-braised beef that's been made tender, then pulled apart. Traditional barbacoa is made by slow-steaming a whole lamb or goat in maguey leaves, then shredding the meat and mixing it in with its juices.
Pollo Chicken makes its way into tacos in several preparations, among them tinga, braised chicken thighs that have been shredded and doused in either a green tomatillo or red chile sauce, or simply grilled and diced.
Res Res is beef, usually shin, typically braised or stewed with spices.
Shredded Beef Tacos - made with chuck roast
Salsas
There's no doubt that the quality of the tortilla and the filing are what define a good or bad taco, but the best taco in the world can be either brought down or elevated by the quality of its salsa (which, by the way, is Spanish for "sauce"). There are four common types of salsa typical to taquerias or carts (though obviously, there are many more variations on these depending on where you go):
Salsa Roja
A deep red salsa made with cooked dried chili peppers and aromatics. It's generally smoky, complex, and hot. It may or may not contain tomatoes.
Avocado-based salsa
A loose puree of avocado, lime, and aromatics, it's similar in flavor to guacamole, but far thinner, with a pourable consistency.
Salsa Casera (pico de gallo)
Fresh salsa made from raw chopped tomatoes, onion, chili peppers, and cilantro, though other vegetables and fruits can sometimes be used. It's often called pico de gallo (the beak of the rooster), and represents the three colors of the Mexican flag (red, white, and green).
Salsa Verde
Green salsa made from tomatillos, chilis, and cilantro. Bright, tart, and fresh tasting, it can range from mildly hot to downright fiery.
