Tacos de Buche Recipe: How to Make Pork Stomach Tacos
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: May 11, 2024 • 2 min read
Making tacos de buche, pork stomach tacos, involves stewing the meat for several hours until tender. Many tacos de buche recipes feature fresh, acidic toppings and warm corn tortillas.
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What Are Tacos de Buche?
Tacos de buche are Mexican pork stomach tacos. Tacos made from offal, organ meats, are a hallmark of taquerias and Mexican food trucks. To prepare the pig stomach, cooks wash the organs in vinegar and parboil before stewing to remove any impurities and temper the taste and smell. Cooks balance the deep, intense flavor of the stewed buche filling with a selection of fresh toppings, like salsa verde, chopped onions, and cilantro.
What Type of Meat Is Buche?
Buche is a type of offal or organ meat. “Buche” is the Spanish word for the stomach of a pig. Buche is typically less chewy than tripas (beef tripe) but has more bite than carnitas (pork shoulder) or barbacoa (slow-cooked beef, pork, or lamb) after stewing for several hours. Another typical offal tacos include tacos de lengua made of beef tongue.
5 Tips for Making Tacos de Buche
Consider the following tips for making tacos de buche:
- 1. Experiment with toppings. You can serve the taco meat with chopped onions, cilantro, Mexican crema, and a selection of your favorite salsas.
- 2. Add pineapple. You can top tacos de buche with chopped fresh pineapple, like tacos al pastor, for a fun twist.
- 3. Make a birria. Try buche filling birria style, dipping the taco into a birria stew before pan-frying it.
- 4. Finish with lime. After piling the tacos high with buche, finish with a squeeze of lime juice for the final touch.
- 5. Use the leftovers. You can use leftover buche taco filling in burritos and crispy quesadillas.
Tacos de Buche Recipe
makes
prep time
20 mintotal time
4 hr 25 mincook time
4 hr 05 minIngredients
- 1
Rinse the pork stomachs in cold water. Place the stomachs in a large bowl filled with water and half of the vinegar. Vigorously rub the folds of the stomach together to clean. Drain the water and repeat with a fresh bowl of water and the remaining vinegar. Rinse stomachs.
- 2
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the stomachs and boil until the water turns white and cloudy, about 5 minutes. Remove the stomachs from the water and rinse immediately under cold running water. Set stomachs aside to cool slightly.
- 3
Once the stomachs are cool enough to handle, cut into small ¼-inch pieces and transfer to a medium Dutch oven or pot. Add the lard, onion, jalapeños, garlic, oregano, ancho chiles, bay leaf, soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches.
- 4
Bring the stew to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer until the stomach is tender, about 3½ –4 hours. Add more water periodically, if necessary, to keep the stew from drying out.
- 5
Season with more salt, as desired.
- 6
Serve with warm tortillas, garnishing with salsa, onions, cilantro, and crema, along with lime wedges for squeezing over top.
- 7
Store leftover buche filling for up to a week in the refrigerator.
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