Coahuila cuisine: typical dishes and what to eat

What is it?

Coahuila cuisine is the culinary tradition of the state of Coahuila, in northern Mexico, on the border with Texas, characterised by its desert and semi-arid climate and by a strong tradition of goat ranching and wine-making. Its emblematic dishes are cabrito al pastor (roasted over an open fire), pulque bread, machaca and northern machacado, frijoles charros, flour gorditas, northern asado de puerco, discada (meat and cured sausages cooked on a plough disc), northern menudo and cortadillo. Coahuila is the cradle of American wine-making: Parras de la Fuente, 'the Bordeaux of Mexico', has had vineyards cultivated since 1597, and it was there that Casa Madero, the oldest winery in the Americas, was founded. It is eaten daily in Saltillo, Torreón, Monclova and Piedras Negras, reaching its peak at the Parras harvest festivals and the Sunday family dinners with cabrito.

Origin and history

Coahuila cuisine inherits from the Chichimec groups (Laguneros, Irritilas, Tobosos, Kickapoo) who inhabited the northern desert, with little agriculture and as hunter-gatherers. Spanish colonisation began in 1577 with the arrival of Alberto del Canto near Saltillo. The city was formally founded in 1577 and became the capital of Nueva Vizcaya. Don Lorenzo García planted the first Mexican vines in Parras in 1597 when he founded the Hacienda de San Lorenzo, today Casa Madero, the oldest wine cellar in continental America. Cabrito al pastor arrived with Tlaxcalan missionaries in the seventeenth century who settled in San Esteban de la Nueva Tlaxcala (today Saltillo) after pacifying the Chichimec north. According to Larousse Cocina, pulque bread is a colonial heritage of the pulque haciendas and bakeries of eighteenth-century Saltillo. The Laguna region (Torreón, Gómez Palacio) developed a dairy and market-garden cuisine thanks to cotton and the Nazas river basin in the late nineteenth century. Piedras Negras, on the border with Eagle Pass (Texas), was in 1943 the birthplace of nachos, according to the legend attributed to chef Ignacio 'Nacho' Anaya at the Victory Club. The grape and wine fair in Parras, held since 1947, sustains the wine-making tradition.

Characteristic ingredients

Cabrito is the emblematic meat: a milk-fed kid under 35 days old, slaughtered and threaded onto a crossed skewer that is roasted slowly over a wood fire until the skin browns and the meat stays juicy. It is served with flour tortillas, frijoles charros, grilled potatoes or spring onions, molcajete salsa and lime. Beef machaca (sun-dried, shredded meat) is basic in burritos and northern huevos rancheros. Frijoles charros contain bacon, chorizo, tomato and serrano chilli. Northern asado de puerco cooks the pork in its own fat with dried red chilli. The discada arose on the ranches as an 'end-of-the-day' dish: all the available cured sausages and meats (longaniza, chorizo, ham, sausage, bacon, beef, pork) are cooked on a tractor's plough disc with onion, tomato and chilli. Pulque bread, fluffy and semi-sweet, contains dough fermented with traditional pulque. Parras wines (Casa Madero, Don Leo, Vinos Rivero González) cover Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc. Carta Blanca and Tecate beers are produced in Monterrey and widely drunk. The sweets of burnt milk, pumpkin-seed jamoncillos and cajeta wafers are typical of Saltillo.

Cultural significance

Coahuila cuisine is an identity of ranching and wine-making northern Mexico. Parras de la Fuente has been a Pueblo Mágico since 2004 and holds the grape and wine fair every August, where thousands of visitors tread grapes, taste wines and eat pulque bread, gorditas, roasts and northern enchiladas. Casa Madero, founded in 1597, is the oldest wine cellar in continental America and produces internationally awarded wines. Saltillo is famous for its sarapes, its milk sweets and its cabrito; restaurants such as El Principal and Cabrito de Don Cuco are references. Piedras Negras annually celebrates the anniversary of the nacho as a local 1943 invention attributed to Ignacio Anaya García, with festivals and a Guinness record for nachos. Coahuila cuisine is part of the UNESCO dossier of traditional Mexican cuisine inscribed in 2010. The state government promotes the Coahuila Wine Route and the Cabrito Route as tourist attractions. The Tlaxcalan-Coahuila cooking of Saltillo preserves the syncretism of the seventeenth century.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between cabrito and birria?

Coahuila and Nuevo León cabrito is a young milk-fed kid (under 35 days) roasted whole over an open fire on a skewer, with golden skin. Jalisco birria is adult goat or lamb marinated in dried chillies and steamed in maguey leaves, shredded, served on a plate with consommé. Cabrito has a more tender, mild texture; birria is more spiced and spicy.

What is northern discada?

It is a convivial dish typical of northern Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango): all the available meats and cured sausages (chorizo, longaniza, ham, sausage, bacon, beef skirt, pork) are cooked on a disc (a plough cover) with onion, tomato, green chilli and sometimes beer. It is eaten outdoors at family gatherings, on flour tortillas as tacos.

What does Coahuila cuisine taste like?

It has intense, carnivorous flavours: grilled beef, lard, red chilli, chiltepín and cumin. The cabrito adds a milky sweetness and a milk flavour; pulque bread has fermented, buttery notes. The Laguna cooking brings the freshness of cotton-country and melons of the Nazas basin, and the Parras wines add an oenological complexity that few Mexican regional cuisines have.

Where does Coahuila cuisine come from?

It originates in the state of Coahuila, in northern Mexico on the border with Texas. Its roots lie in the sixteenth-century Spanish colonisation, the Tlaxcalan migration to San Esteban de la Nueva Tlaxcala (Saltillo) in 1591, the viticulture of Parras since 1597, and the goat and cattle ranching developed on the colonial haciendas of the semi-desert.