{"id":193661,"date":"2025-09-02T08:36:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193661\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T08:36:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:36:21","slug":"what-to-know-about-birria-and-its-500-year-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193661\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about birria and its 500-year history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dallas-Fort Worth is no stranger to birria<\/a>. Sure, North Texans eat it in on plates alongside broth, in tacos or quesabirria at the region\u2019s Mexican restaurants. But social media virality has seen it fused with other cuisines, with original concoctions such as birria ramen and pizzabirria.<\/p>\n

As much as it feels like it\u2019s burst onto the dining scene<\/a> in recent years, the origin of birria starts about 1,000 miles away in Jalisco, in western Mexico. Its roots are tied to the arrival of the Spanish, when they brought new animals to Mexico \u2014 or New Spain as they termed it \u2014 including goat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Due to the semi-arid climate in the Jalisco area, goat farming became a common activity. To tame its intense flavor and tough texture, it was cooked with a mixture of chilies and seasonings and simmered in underground ovens. The cooking method has evolved over the centuries, making it a little simpler to prepare.<\/p>\n

\"Alejandro<\/p>\n

Alejandro Agui\u00f1aga watches as his dad, Javier Agui\u00f1aga, chops the freshly cooked birria at Birrieria Agui\u00f1aga in Dallas on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. <\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Eat Drink D-FW<\/p>\n

The latest food and drink reviews, recipes and info on the D-FW food scene.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what they strive to make at Birrieria Agui\u00f1aga<\/a> in Dallas. The spot is owned by Javier Agui\u00f1aga, who, over the course of 20 years, went from making and selling birria in his mobile home to owning eight restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started making it, birria was rare here,\u201d said Agui\u00f1aga. \u201cIt took a lot of effort to make birria known. Americans, Asians and other cultures began to like it when quesabirrias became famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditional birria is served on a plate with consomm\u00e9 and eaten with tortillas, also in tacos, or quesabirria, a taco with melted cheese.<\/p>\n

Birrieria Agui\u00f1aga\u2019s specialty is lamb birria, although it sells beef birria, among other dishes.<\/p>\n

\"Water<\/p>\n

Water is added to the pot before the birria is cooked at Birrieria Agui\u00f1aga in Dallas on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. <\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Although the Agui\u00f1agas began selling birria in 2006, their own culinary story dates back 70 years, when a great-grandfather in the family began cooking the dish in his hometown of Matanzas, Jalisco, and selling it to his neighbors.<\/p>\n

The tradition passed to the next generation, and from a very young age, Agui\u00f1aga found himself helping his father sell the dish and learning how to cook it. Now, Alejandro, Javier\u2019s son, is working with his father and is excited about teaching the recipe to his children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud that this family recipe has been so well received by the people of Dallas, where there are so many food options,\u201d said Agui\u00f1aga.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A bone sits on top as Javier Agui\u00f1aga chops the freshly cooked birria at Birrieria Agui\u00f1aga in Dallas on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. <\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s recipe includes lamb, which is steamed in a sauce made with chili peppers, oregano, garlic, cumin, salt, and other ingredients. After water is added, it cooks for three hours. <\/p>\n

Birrieria Agui\u00f1aga sells around 60 lambs made into birria each week, amounting to about 3,000 pounds of meat across its eight restaurants.<\/p>\n

Birrieria Agui\u00f1aga has several locations in Dallas, Garland, Ennis, Grand Prairie, Royse City, and Corsicana. birrieriaaguinaga.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

This story is part of D-FW Sabores<\/a>, a series dedicated to finding authentic Mexican cuisine across North Texas, dish by dish, region by region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas-Fort Worth is no stranger to birria. Sure, North Texans eat it in on plates alongside broth, in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,7712,108035,990,2105,7371,13399,7388,9065,2222,988,9064,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-193661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-fortworth","11":"tag-dfw-sabores","12":"tag-food","13":"tag-food-and-drink","14":"tag-fort-worth","15":"tag-garland","16":"tag-grand-prairie","17":"tag-mexican-food","18":"tag-mexico","19":"tag-restaurants","20":"tag-tex-mex","21":"tag-texas","22":"tag-tx","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115133794912495536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}