Guadalajara and Jalisco: tortas ahogadas, birria and tequila

Jalisco is the state that gave the world some of Mexico's most recognisable symbols: mariachi, tequila and, more recently, birria. Its capital, Guadalajara, has a very distinctive cuisine — tapatío cooking — that is eaten mostly in markets, stalls and cenadurías (evening eateries), and an hour from the city lies the town of Tequila, at the centre of a blue-agave landscape declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In this guide we explain what to eat in Guadalajara, how to organise the trip to Tequila and how many days to allow.

If you are interested in the history of birria, see our article birria, the dish that conquered the world from Jalisco; here we focus on the trip.

The torta ahogada, Guadalajara's emblem

The torta ahogada is Guadalajara's breakfast, lunch and hangover cure. It is made with birote salado, a bread with a hard crust and a slightly sour crumb that stands up to a soaking without falling apart; it is filled with pork carnitas and «drowned» in chile de árbol salsa — traditionally from Yahualica — and tomato sauce, with onion cured in lime. You order it «half drowned» or «fully drowned», depending on how much heat you can take. Sources place its origin in Guadalajara itself at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Birote matters so much that many locals say the torta doesn't taste the same outside the city. If you want to try at home, see our recipe for birote salado.

Birria, carne en su jugo and other tapatío dishes

• Birria: in Jalisco the traditional version is made with goat or lamb, marinated with dried chillies and spices and slow-cooked. It is served in a deep bowl with its consommé, onion, coriander and lime, or in tacos. The beef-and-cheese version, quesabirria, became popular outside Mexico later on.
• Carne en su jugo: beef in a broth with beans, bacon and grilled onion, one of the dishes of twentieth-century tapatío cooking.
• Red pozole: in Jalisco it is served with lettuce or cabbage, radish and oregano.
• Lonches: birote sandwiches with meat and avocado.
• Tejuino: a fermented maize drink with piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar), served with lime, salt and lime sorbet. Tejuino carts are all over the centre.
• Jericallas: the city's dessert, a sort of custard with a browned top.

The Mercado de San Juan de Dios

The Mercado Libertad, which everyone calls San Juan de Dios, opened in 1958 in the centre of Guadalajara, designed by the architect Alejandro Zohn. It is a huge three-storey market: on the food floor, the eateries serve birria, tortas ahogadas, pozole, seafood and juices, and the rest sells everything from traditional sweets to crafts. A few streets away are the Hospicio Cabañas, with Orozco's murals, and the Plaza de los Mariachis.

Go mid-morning and hungry. If you only have one day in Guadalajara, this market lets you try almost every dish in this guide under one roof.

How people eat in Guadalajara

Tapatío cooking runs on its own clock. Mornings belong to tortas ahogadas and birria tacos, which many stalls sell until they run out; midday is for the main meal in fondas and markets, often with a broth or a carne en su jugo; and at night it is the turn of the cenadurías, family-run eateries where people have pozole, tostadas, enchiladas and sopes for supper. That division explains why the same dish can be easy to find at one time of day and almost impossible at another.

Notice the names, too: in Guadalajara tacos dorados are often ordered «de papa» (potato) or «de frijol» (bean), enchiladas tapatías come with guajillo chilli sauce and sopes are thicker than in the capital. And for the heat, there are stalls of fruit with chilli and lime and hand-churned sorbets on every square.

If you are travelling in a group, the markets let you order different dishes from neighbouring eateries and share them: the simplest way to try a lot in little time.

Tequila: the agave landscape

The Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2006. It covers the blue-agave fields and historic distilleries of the municipalities of Tequila, Amatitán, El Arenal and Magdalena, at the foot of the Tequila volcano.

The town of Tequila is a day trip from Guadalajara. There you can visit distilleries, watch the jimadores cut the leaves of the agave to extract the piña and try different types of tequila: blanco, reposado and añejo, depending on the time spent in the barrel. Many visitors go by tourist train or organised coach; if you go independently, don't drive after the tastings.

To understand the differences between tequilas, see our beginner's guide to tequila, and to compare it with Oaxacan mezcal, our mezcal route in Oaxaca. To drink at home, the paloma and sangrita are the classic companions to tequila in Jalisco, and at the town's festivals you will see the cantarito, served in a little clay jug.

Beyond Guadalajara

• Tlaquepaque and Tonalá: old pottery towns, now part of the metropolitan area, with craft markets and square-side food.
• Lake Chapala: less than an hour away, with fried fish and charales (small lake fish) in its lakeside villages.
• Los Altos de Jalisco: the other tequila region, with red earth and towns such as Arandas and Atotonilco.
• The Jalisco coast: Puerto Vallarta and its pescado zarandeado and raicilla, another agave spirit from the region.

When to go and how many days

Guadalajara has a mild climate for most of the year, with rain from June to September. With three days you can explore the city, the market and Tlaquepaque, and spend one on Tequila. If you fit it into a longer route, Guadalajara works well as the start of a trip that continues through Michoacán towards the capital; see our guide to Michoacán and its traditional cooking.

Frequently asked questions

Is the torta ahogada very hot?

The chile de árbol salsa certainly is. Ask for the torta «bañada» (dunked) in tomato sauce only and add the hot sauce on the side, to taste.

Goat or beef birria?

In Jalisco, the traditional version is goat or lamb. Beef is more common in other states and in the cheesy version that has become popular outside Mexico.

Do you need to book distillery visits?

The large distilleries run scheduled tours and it is worth booking, especially at weekends. Smaller ones usually accept visitors who turn up.

What is raicilla?

An agave spirit from the coast and mountains of Jalisco, made by artisan producers, with a profile different from both tequila and mezcal.

Sources

• UNESCO, World Heritage List: «Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila» (2006), covering the municipalities of Tequila, Amatitán, El Arenal and Magdalena (via English-language Wikipedia).
• Spanish-language Wikipedia, «Torta ahogada» (birote salado, carnitas, Yahualica chile de árbol salsa and origin in Guadalajara in the early twentieth century).
• Mercasa and Azteca Jalisco, on the Mercado Libertad or San Juan de Dios (opened in 1958, designed by Alejandro Zohn).
• Spanish-language Wikipedia, «Mezcal» (relationship between tequila, raicilla and other agave spirits).