Taco de Verdolagas
A central-Mexican vegetable taco built on verdolagas, the wild purslane that named a Hidalgo town and turns up in the Codex Mendoza, stewed in salsa verde and folded into warm corn.
Andrew Lekashman
Taco de Trompo
Monterrey names the taco for its machine: a cone of smoked-paprika pork spinning at the taquería de trompo, shaved in long strokes, crisped on the plancha, folded into small doubled corn tortillas.
Taco de Tripas
The taco de tripas is settled at the disco, where cleaned beef small intestine is browned until it crackles. Con dorar or sin dorar is the real argument, and the corn tortilla soaks the rendered fat.
Taco de Tripa de Leche
Tripa de leche is named for the milk: the small intestine of a calf still nursing, mild and tender, the cut that becomes machitos. A gentler offal taco whose name carries its whole story.
Taco de Tinga de Pollo
Tinga is decided in the pot, not the fold: chicken pulled into threads and stewed in chipotle en adobo until it goes tart and smoky. Puebla's make-ahead braise, in print by 1881.
Taco de Suadero
Beef brisket taco; suadero is the cut between belly and leg, slow-cooked in lard until tender, slightly crispy edges. Classic CDMX street...
Taco de Sesos
The taco de sesos is the softest filling on the cart and the only hurdle is the word: beef brain poached and warmed loose into a custardy fold of corn, kept soft, never crisp.
Taco de Salbutes
Salbut-style taco; puffed fried tortilla (no bean pocket, unlike panucho) topped with meat.
Taco de Ropa Vieja
Beef boiled until the grain unravels, then fried with tomato and onion until the threads fray like worn cloth: Mexico's old-clothes guisado, spooned onto warm tortillas at fondas and market stalls.
Taco de Relleno Negro
Relleno negro folded into a tortilla: turkey in a sauce blackened with recado negro, chiles charred to ash, the egg-cored but and dark k’óol gravy, a Yucatán Hanal Pixán dish.
Taco de Rajas con Crema
Roasted poblano ribbons in cultured cream, the palest pot on the guisado counter, ladled over red rice on doubled tortillas: the standing meatless taco of central Mexico's stew stands and fondas.
Taco de Quelites
Wild greens taco; various foraged greens (quelites, quintonil, verdolagas).
Taco de Pulpo
Octopus simmered tender then charred over coals, folded into warm corn with onion, cilantro, and lime: the coastal Mexican taco whose Yucatan animal won a protected origin mark in 2024.
Taco de Pollo Desmenuzado
Shredded chicken taco; often in salsa.
Taco de Poc Chuc
Grilled pork taco; thin pork cutlet marinated in sour orange and grilled over flame. Mayan origin.
Taco de Picadillo
Ground beef hash taco; picadillo (ground beef with tomato, potato, sometimes raisins and spices).
Taco de Pescado
Beer carbonation inflates air chambers inside the capeado crust before the proteins set around them. That open-textured shell is why every other element in the Baja fish taco is a moisture decision.
Taco de Pescado Estilo Ensenada
The Ensenada fish taco: firm white fish in a beer batter fried until it crackles, on doubled corn tortillas with dry shredded cabbage, crema or chipotle mayo, salsa, and lime.
Taco de Pescado Empanizado
The breaded Mexican fish taco: a white fillet floured, egged, and crumbed into a dry milanesa-style shell that crunches and holds, set in a doubled corn tortilla with cabbage, crema, and lime.
Taco de Pescado a la Plancha
White fish seared on hot flat steel, not battered or fried, then folded into warm corn with cabbage, crema, and lime. The leaner, smokier, fish-forward reading of the Baja taco.
Taco de Papadzules
Papadzules: soft corn tortillas dipped in a toasted pumpkin-seed sauce, rolled around chopped hard-boiled egg and topped with a cooked tomato-chile sauce. A Yucatecan plate eaten with a fork.
Taco de Panuchos
The panucho puts the bean inside the tortilla: a corn disc split open at its puff, stuffed with refried black beans, fried crisp, then crowned Yucatán-style with turkey and pink pickled onion.