SpiceLines

If you’re seeking culinary nirvana, go south to San Antonio where you can find authentic breakfast tacos at places like Las Salsas where the 34 varieties include the succulent braised lamb tacos, drenched with lime juice and topped with cilantro, onion and avocado, that brought me to my knees last week.

Yes, the menu does offer chorizo tacos with eggs, beans or potatoes—yikes! and even one with “country sausage”—but there are also tacos stuffed with chilaquiles (fried tortillas strips with spicy salsa and scrambled eggs), guacamole tangy with garlic and lime, pastor (“marinated pork slowly roasted to perfection”), lengua entomatada (tongue simmered with tomatoes and onions), and tripas, or tripe.

Maybe getting a little too authentic there—but just the thing if you have a hangover and can’t quite manage the menudo.

I’ve been dreaming about those "barbecued" lamb tacos ever since I returned , and just yesterday, I sat down to make a shopping list. Lamb shoulder? Check. Oregano? Check. But I paused when I got to the tortillas. Normally breakfast tacos are wrapped in thick flour or yellow corn tortillas, the better to contain the filling, but at Las Salsas the lamb was enveloped in small, delicately flavored tortillas made of white corn: This had the very desirable effect of focusing your taste receptors on the luscious meat and its zingy accompaniments rather than on a mouthful of starch.

Those fragile tortillas were almost as delicious as the ones Andre Macias makes by hand at Tonali Restaurant.

Even with a bit of web buzz, Tonali remains Durham’s best kept restaurant secret—I’ve been meaning to tell you about it for ages, but the inside story will have to wait until I’m back from London and points south (more about this in the next post). For the moment let’s just say that Tonali serves exquisite food from the interior of Mexico filtered through the soul of a chef who is also an artist. Over the last 6 or 7 months, B and I have grazed our way through the menu, reveling in everything from Risotto de Mejillones al Tequila Rojo (creamy risotto with mussels in tequila-tomato broth) to Pollo con Mole y Petalos de Rosa (chicken in "bride's red mole" with rose petals). Not a bean burrito in sight.

But back to the tacos.

Around 2 PM yesterday, Andre had a stack of 2 dozen little tortillas, warm and fresh, ready for me. Then I asked him how he’d do the lamb. He drew his eyebrows together. “Well, first, I’d soak it in water and cal to take away the gamy flavor.” (Note to self: check pantry for cal, white, powdery calcium chloride or lime traditionally used to make the masa for tortillas.) “Then I’d marinate the meat overnight in seasonings like achiote , rosemary, garlic, and maybe orange. The next day I’d brown it, then simmer it all day in the oven in beef or chicken stock. You could add a little wine. Of course, that would be more French than Mexican…”

Although Andre often cooks delectable lamb shanks at Tonali, I decided to remain true to the original dish by using lamb shoulder with the bone in, a relatively cheap cut of meat that becomes meltingly tender after hours of long, slow simmering. But the original dish was also quite fatty—so much so that I found myself picking some of it out of the tacos. Back at home I trimmed off 6 or so ounces of the visible fat—there are still little pockets within the shoulder, though, so in the end the lamb emerges with a rich, almost buttery flavor, but much less grease.

I diverged a little from Andre’s spice list, using more conventional ones such as cumin and oregano, but I did squeeze the juice of an orange over the shoulder before sticking it into the refrigerator to marinate. The next morning, I browned it, sautéed some onions and garlic, added some broth, then simmered everything in the oven at 250 degrees for about 4 hours, until the meat literally slid off the bone and fell apart into the most luscious shreds.

The tough part? Keeping my paws off the lamb before bringing it to the table.

There are a couple of ways to serve it. At Las Salsas, the waiter brought a platter with a big mound of barbacoa and the tortillas, cilantro, onion, avocado and lime arranged on one side. It’s not the prettiest presentation, but would be great for serving four to six people. Everyone can just dive in and make their own tacos.

Or you can get fancy and assemble 4 or 5 little tacos for each plate. This works best if there are just two of you. Otherwise you’ll go slightly mad trying to crank out two dozen tacos before the meat and tortillas get cold.

No soy lattes please. Maybe a little freshly squeezed blood orange juice, or a cold beer to drink, even with breakfast.

By the way, B ate 6 of these when he got back from New York today and another 5 for supper....

Braised Lamb Breakfast (or Anytime) Tacos with Cumin, Garlic and Lime

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients for the tacos:

4-1/2 pound lamb shoulder roast, bone in
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon chipotle powder, or to taste
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Juice of one orange
1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced thin
6 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
4 cups water or chicken or beef broth
2 dozen very fresh corn tortillas, 4 inches in diameter
1/3 bunch cilantro, long stems removed
2 avocados, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
3 limes, quartered

Method:

1. Rinse the lamb shoulder very well to remove any congealed blood and pat dry. Using a sharp paring knife, cut away most of the fat on the outside of the shoulder. (I removed 6 ounces from a 4-1/2 pound roast. )
2. Combine the cumin, sea salt, black pepper, oregano and chipotle powder in a small dish. Rub the mixture and the chopped garlic all over the meat. Put the roast in a shallow dish and pour the orange juice over it. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next morning, set the oven to 250 degrees.
4. Remove the lamb shoulder from the refrigerator. Scrape off the garlic and reserve in a small bowl. Place a heavy enameled pot, big enough to hold the meat ( such as a Staub or Le Creuset), over a medium flame. When it is hot, add a tablespoon of olive oil and brown the roast on all sides. Remove from the pot and set aside.
5. If necessary add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pot. Saute the sliced onions and garlic until soft, but not brown. Return the meat, the reserved garlic and any marinade juices to the pot. Add 4 cups of water, beef or chicken stock--enough to come halfway up the side of the roast. Cover and place in the oven. Cook slowly for about 4 hours, or until the meat is very tender and literally slides off the bone.
6. Remove the meat and bones from the broth and set aside to cool.
7. Strain the broth into a bowl and discard the onions and garlic. Return the broth to the pot and bring it to a very gentle boil. Simmer until it has reduced to about 1 cup. It should be slightly syrupy and very richly flavored. Set aside, but keep warm.
8. While the broth is reducing, remove the meat from the bones. Shred the meat into manageable pieces, removing the tendons, skin and any little pieces of fat, if desired. Set aside and keep warm.
9. If the tortillas are cold and hard, warm them up. Wrap them in aluminum foil, 6 to a package, and put them in the oven (still at 250 degrees) for about 10 minutes. You can also put individual tortillas in the top of a steamer and steam them very briefly over simmering water for no more than a minute. This will soften them and make them more pliable. Do not steam any longer, though, or they will disintegrate.
10. For a group, mound the warm lamb on a large platter. Surround it with the sliced red onion, cilantro, avocado and quartered limes. Just before serving drizzle it with the sauce and serve the rest in a small bowl. Accompany with a stack of warm tortillas wrapped in a dish towel, or a cloth tortilla “envelope” if you have one.
11. To make one taco, spoon some of the lamb into the center of a tortilla and drizzle with more sauce if desired. Squeeze some lime juice over the meat, and add a little onion, cilantro and avocado. Fold up and eat. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas.