"This isn't your average made-for-Instagram birria," writes Memo Torres in a story for L.A. TACO. He's referring to Estilo Moyahua, a style of birria made in a town in the southern part of Zacatecas.
"Most people here in the States started recognizing birria as these beautiful Instagram cheese pulls and dunking them into the consommé broth in the cups," Torres says. "It's a very specific type of birria from Tijuana. We get a lot of Tijuana influence because we're only two hours from there."
Olive or eucalyptus wood burns all day to create embers and warm the pit, preparing it to receive foil-wrapped birria, which is roasted overnight. Photo by Memo Torres.
Estilo Moyahua is a painstaking process. It involves marinating the goat or beef, wrapping it in foil, and pit-roasting it overnight. In their Inglewood backyard, Raul Sandoval Sr., his son, and grandson use a recipe that Raul found among his grandmother's belongings. You can follow them on Instagram at @birria_el_moyahua1.
The process starts Saturday morning when the pit is cleaned of ashes. Fragrant olive or eucalyptus wood is burned in the pit. "The main goal of birria is to disguise or take away the gaminess of the goat," Torres says. A fragrant wood helps achieve this, as do the many spices and chiles that go into the marinade. The fire will burn until late in the afternoon, warming the ground around the pit and creating embers.
Made of California chiles, cloves, and plenty of salt, the bright orange marinade is slathered on nearly 600 pounds of goat. Photo by Memo Torres.
Indoors, Raul will marinate up to 600 pounds of goat in a blend of salt, cloves, and California chiles. Instead of a consommé created by the juices that drip off the roasting meat, Raul makes a tomato-based broth to accompany the meat.
"It makes for a really light, really bright, really nice birria," Torres says. "When you're done eating this birria, you feel rejuvenated and you feel good to go versus a lot of these other birrias. They tend to be really oily, really heavy, and you might need a nap after that."
Meat is sold by the pound each Sunday and pulled directly from the pit. Photo by Memo Torres.
The family starts serving the birria around 7 am on Sunday morning, straight from the pit. There are no tacos or quesabirria. Instead, meat is sold by the pound. Many people get it to go and bring it home.
"It's very rare, it's very pure. "It's very raw and it's very pure, and it is one of the most delicious birrias you can have in LA," Torres says.