Destination
Puerto Vallarta
The story
Tacos de cabeza are the taco you queue for on a Sunday morning at the Mercado de Coyoacán or the Merced. A whole beef head — cheek (cachete), tongue (lengua), lip (labio), eye (ojo) and brain (sesos) — is wrapped in banana leaves and steamed for 5 or 6 hours in a covered pit or a large pot until every piece is meltingly soft. The taquero has each cut in a separate compartment on the steam table and calls out to customers: "cachete, lengua, labio" — and pulls the requested meat, chops fine on the counter, and mounds onto warm tortillas with onion, coriander and salsa verde. The tacos are heavier than bistec tacos, softer than suadero, and among the most old-school of the CDMX taquería canon.
Method
Rub the beef cheeks all over with garlic, salt, pepper and oregano. Leave 30 minutes at room temperature.
Pass the banana leaves briefly over a flame or hot pan to soften. Overlap two leaves in a heatproof plate that fits in your steamer.
Set the seasoned cheeks on the banana leaves. Scatter the onion, halved garlic head, bay leaves and peppercorns around them. Fold the banana leaves up and over, wrapping the cheeks fully.
Bring water to a simmer in a large steamer (or a pot with a steamer basket and a lid). Set the wrapped plate in the steamer. Cover tightly. Steam 4 hours over gentle heat, topping up water every 40 minutes. The cheeks should be soft enough to shred with a fork.
While the cheeks steam, simmer the tongue in water with the onion, garlic, bay, oregano and salt for 2.5 hours. Peel off the outer skin (it slides off when warm). Slice thin.
Char the tomatillos, onion, chillies and garlic on a dry pan 6 minutes. Blend with coriander, salt and lime to a coarse-smooth sauce.
Unwrap the cheeks. Shred with forks, then chop fine on a board. Season with any residual juice. Slice the tongue thin, then chop into 5mm pieces.
Warm double tortillas on a hot pan 20 seconds a side. Lay 2 overlapped on each plate. Top with a heavy pinch of chopped cheek (or a mixed pile of cheek and tongue). Add diced onion, coriander and salsa verde. Serve with lime and pickled jalapeños.
Tips
- Banana leaves are the secret. Steaming the cheeks in banana leaves imparts a specific vegetal-smoky flavour that plain foil misses. Fresh or thawed frozen — both work. Pass over a flame to release the aroma.
- Beef cheek is the domesticated cut. Ask any butcher; beef cheek is inexpensive and cooks to a soft, deeply flavoured pull. If you want to be more authentic, add a slice of tongue.
- Peel the tongue while warm. The outer skin comes off easily when the tongue is still warm from the pot. Wait until cold and you'll be at it with a knife.
- Chop fine, not shredded. CDMX cabeza tacos have a distinctive small-dice texture — the taquero chops on the counter with a cleaver until the pieces are 5mm. Long shreds are wrong.
- Order two-and-two. If you make both cachete and lengua, offer eaters a plate of two of each — that's the classical Mercado presentation.
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