Sesos, Buche, Tripas--Que?

I am always intrigued by the unknown. This time was no exception. I went to a taco shop yesterday that has sesos, buche, and tripas with no explanation. And no one spoke any English. In any event, I ordered all 3 types of taco. The sesos (I believe, I'm still not sure which was which) was a crunchy gluey substance that tasted like crispy fat. The buche had a pungent meaty smell, like beef cologne. The tripas was a little creamy, kind of inbetween the sesos and the buche; aromatic yet fatty. I have to admit I liked all three. But one taco is enough when it comes to such greasy textures.

Would someone please tell me what in the world I ate? I have a feeling it was not filet mignon.

well, sesos is cow brains..
tripas is the tube that connects the cow's 2 stomaches..
have no idea about the buche though.
hope that helps some.

Just a guess, but buche in Spanish for crop, and the crop in a bird is where food is stored before digestion. It's also known as a craw. But: crop, craw: a pouch in many birds and some lower animals that resembles a stomach for storage and preliminary maceration of food

After more checking I've found that buche can also refer to pig's stomach cooked in lard. Further, pig intestines are also sometimes called buche in cooking. So, I guess, what with at least three meanings everything is covered -- from the crop through the intestines.

The buche defintely had a beefy smell.

Seso is beef brains, Tripas is beef intestines. Buche is fried pork stomach. All our good, my preference is Tripas.

Cornfed - you are a brave soul, and I admire you for trying the unknown. Don't know if I could have done that.

Gongats Cornfed on being such an adventuresome eater!

Hmmm, what do they call those cow tounge tacos? And what is that stuff they carve off of the cows head? We might as well list em all so some of us who may not be so adventuresome will know what we are ordering.
Joe

So let me see. I had brains, intestines, and pork stomach. I actually liked all 3 and would order them all again. But only one at a time. Like one of the three and two carne asada. Nothing grosses me out. I figure if a culture eats it, it's worth trying. Not to be PC, just to be exposed to new things. As long as I'm not exposing myself to salmonella or botulism.

Tongue tacos I know. That's "lengua." I know it because it sounds like Romanian "limba." Tongue tacos are delicious. Nice and pillowy wrapped in a warm tortilla. Don't worry, the tongue is chopped beyond recognition. As were the other 3.

Does anyone know what mulas is? I want to try that. There were a couple more I wanted to ask about but I forgot the names.

Ok, names of 4 down and ? to go. I like the Lenguas.
Joe

quote:

Originally posted by PapaJoe8

And what is that stuff they carve off of the cows head?

That's called cabeza. Cabeza and lengua tacos are my heroin.

I LOVE tacos de lengua. I've made converts of many, including my 16 year old niece who didn't know what she was eating. After she found out, she didn't care. She was hooked.
Most places in my area aren't doing sesos anymore. Mad cow concerns and all.

Today, I had a "suadero" taco. Now who can tell me what this is? It was actually regular meat looking. White meat. Not gristle or twisted knots. I found it quite tasty.

Another taco that I had was birria, which I know is goat. Everytime I've had goat meat, I've really enjoyed it. Sort of a less gamey lamb. Is that a good description? It is mouth-watering in a Jamaican curry goat roti. For some reason, in the taco and in the roti, it was in very spicy sauce.

So what is "Suadero"?

quote:

Originally posted by cornfed

So what is "Suadero"?

Beef shoulder. Traditionally it's soaked in lime juice and char grilled.

Have you had a barbacoa taco yet?

Yes, isn't barbacoa wrapped in something when cooked? I think it's lamb or goat? I know it's not traditional bbq, although the word bbq comes from it. I remember it being very good, flavorful like birria.

Usually a banana tree leaf, as it's a Southern Mexico tradition that was adapted by the vaqueros in the norte. It can be any mammalian meat, but is usually beef, pork, or goat.

I am so impressed at your cojones!!! Which, now that I think of it, are one thing I have not seen in tacos. Our places in Los Angeles usually have bilingual menus:

Lengua and barbacoa tacos are the best! I'm not too crazy about brains, though. I love sweetbreads (mollejas) when they're grilled outside.

As far as I'm concerned Cornfed gets the Roadfooder Award of the Month for being so brave as to try these 3 tacos. Well he/she would if we had such an award...

MikeS.

BUCHE in guadalajara is cow throat muscle. you got the rest right. not bad... just muscle with some gristle.

Re: Tacos de Cabeza...

The best ones I had were when the cooks at my work in a PHX, AZ bistro all made the behind-the-scenes "especial" dinner for themselves, meaning it would never ever get on the menu at this "concept" restaurant:

what was in the tacos? what did i see them cook in the kitchen?!?! why was i so lucky to share in the feast?!

here you go, based on what i saw with my own eyes, haha, no pun intended:

a whole lamb's head, eyes, brains and all, in a big pot, slow cooked for hours -- onion, cilantro, laurel (bay leaf), oregano, garlic... until all the head meat fell off, and then the meat, including cesos, ojos (eyeballs), jowl meat, throat meat, etc, was thrown on fresh made tortillas, with a salsa fresca (aka pico de gallo) and lots of hot sauce and limes.

yumm! the eyeball part was a little freaky to look at in the taco, but darn it, the taste was OMG delicioso!

amen,

enanotaco

Here in Los Angeles, buche is pork stomache.

But in some areas they use buche to refer to the beef cheeks, not served with the rest of the cabeza meat. So maybe it is also used to mean throat in guadalajera.

Maybe it literally translates into "other stuff"

FROM ANSWERS.COM

Suadero, in Mexican cuisine, is a thin cut of beef from the meat that hangs from the breast bone on a cow. Suadero is noted for having a smooth texture rather than a muscle grain. Typically, suadero is grilled and used as a taco filling.