Tacos Campechanos 

By Rick A. Martínez

Tacos Campechanos 
Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Carla Gonzalez-Hart.
Total Time
4 hours
Rating
4(217)
Notes
Read community notes

One of the best food experiences you can have in Mexico City is walking up to a sidewalk taco stand late at night and smelling the incredible aroma of meats and vegetables simmering in a huge pot over a gas flame. The taqueros start early in the day and add meats like suadero, pork, offal, tripe, chitlins, pig and beef feet, chorizo, onions and chiles into a giant pot, where they cook until the meats fall apart and the flavors fuse together in perfect harmony. On the menu at many of these stands, tacos campechanos include a little bit of everything in those pots.

Featured in: Rick Martínez’s Essential Mexican Recipes

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings
  • 1tablespoon rendered lard, preferably not hydrogenated, or use extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2pounds beef brisket, preferably point (fatty) end, or chuck roast, excess fat trimmed
  • ½pound pork belly or smoked slab bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1pig’s foot, split lengthwise, or 1 ham hock
  • 4teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
  • ¾pound fresh chorizo links or longaniza links
  • 5spring onions or scallions, root ends trimmed
  • 4garlic cloves, lightly crushed
  • 24corn tortillas
  • Salsa taquera, chopped white onion, chopped cilantro, sliced radishes and lime wedges, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

508 calories; 30 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 14 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 29 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 32 grams protein; 555 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat lard in a large heavy pot over medium-high and cook brisket until browned on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer brisket to a large bowl. Add pork belly to the pot and cook until browned on at least two sides, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to bowl with brisket. Add pig’s foot and cook until browned on all sides, 4 to 6 minutes. Add salt, reserved brisket and pork belly, their accumulated juices and 2½ cups water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a low simmer and cook for 1½ hours. Brisket and pork will be partly cooked and very tough at this point. Add chorizo links, spring onions and garlic, cover and continue to simmer until meats are all very tender and will shred easily with little resistance, another 1 to 1½ hours.

  2. Step 2

    When ready to assemble, remove pig’s foot from pot (be careful not to leave behind any bones) and separate meat and skin from bones. Discard bones, chop the meat and skin, and transfer to a large bowl. Chop the brisket, pork belly, chorizo and spring onion and add them, along with the garlic, to the bowl with the pig’s foot; toss to combine. Pour cooking liquid over meat.

  3. Step 3

    Spoon meat and some juices onto a tortilla and top with salsa taquera, onion, cilantro, radish and a squeeze of lime. Or make taqueria-style tacos (see Tip).

Tips
  • Meat can be cooked and stored, uncut, in the cooking liquid for up to 3 days. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
  • To make taqueria-style tacos, heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Lightly dip a tortilla in the oil floating above the chopped meat, and transfer to the skillet, dipped side down. If necessary, use tongs or a spatula to move the tortilla around the skillet to coat the surface of the tortilla in oil. Flip and heat the second side until very lightly browned in spots. Repeat with remaining tortillas. To the same hot skillet, add 2 cups of the chopped meat mixture with some of the oil in an even layer and fry, tossing or stirring frequently until the meat is browned and lightly crisped on the edges, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately with the warmed tortillas.

Ratings

4 out of 5
217 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Matt

Really good recipe. Pork shank was available at the store instead of pigs feet and what a nice discovery -- smokey, salty, outstanding. 3/4 lb chorizo is about the perfect amount -- just enough to fill in some missing pieces of flavor. At the end of the cooking, you might pour the liquid into a fat separator and then boil down the non-fatty liquid until the sauce is thickened. Doesn't let any of the flavor that may have leeched out during the cooking process go to waste.

Shannon

We’re making this. We’re just getting to the 1 1/2 hours. We did add seasoning, but not much. I’m used to cooking with a ton of seasoning! We bought a huge chuck of cured pork, chuck roast, a pigs arm (which we just used the foot and one other piece, the Mexican market had this), and chorizo. We, also, had fresh spring onions from our garden. It’s really not that time consuming. The first 1 1/2 hours we spent outside having cocktails outside. My husband is putting the rest in now. Il

Needs a Little Kick and More Time

This is a great recipe. I altered by lowering the heat and cooking it longer. Cooked it 4 1/2 hours. The brisket is just so tender now. Next time I am going to add 2-3 jalapeños or a couple of whole New Mexico red chilies.

Shannon

We’re making this. We’re just getting to the 1 1/2 hours. We did add seasoning, but not much. I’m used to cooking with a ton of seasoning! We bought a huge chuck of cured pork, chuck roast, a pigs arm (which we just used the foot and one other piece, the Mexican market had this), and chorizo. We, also, had fresh spring onions from our garden. It’s really not that time consuming. The first 1 1/2 hours we spent outside having cocktails outside. My husband is putting the rest in now. Il

Matt

Really good recipe. Pork shank was available at the store instead of pigs feet and what a nice discovery -- smokey, salty, outstanding. 3/4 lb chorizo is about the perfect amount -- just enough to fill in some missing pieces of flavor. At the end of the cooking, you might pour the liquid into a fat separator and then boil down the non-fatty liquid until the sauce is thickened. Doesn't let any of the flavor that may have leeched out during the cooking process go to waste.

Dan

Should the chorizo links be added whole, sliced, crumbled?

Matt

I think the recipe implies to add the chorizo whole. If you add it whole, it will break apart really easily at the end of cooking and so you can control how chunky you want the meat. But no matter what you decide, it won't affect the flavor of the meat -- with that amount of cooking time, the flavors are all going to blend together regardless.

Cat

Mexican "fresh" chorizo is a spiced uncooked ground meat stuffed into an inedible casing. Fry, crumbled, in a pan. Often enough it has enough fat that you do not need to add oil or lard to fry. Fresh chorizo is easy to make at home in order to maintain quality. I often use ground turkey. It is often used as a hash, cooked into eggs, with potatoes, mixed into refried beans. Cured chorizo and longaniza are more like Spanish chorizo in texture and use.

Phil

In the recipe above, step 2 says "pounds beef brisket, preferably point (fatty) end, or chuck roast, excess fat trimmed". If I use the fatty end of the brisket, I remove the excess fat or does that instruction apply to the chuck roast only?

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