Chef Lupita
Birria Tacos with Consome
Jalisco's goat birria, born around Cocula and carried into Guadalajara's markets, slow-braised in ancho, guajillo, cascabel, and chile de arbol, then tucked into corn tortillas crisped in its own red fat.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Tacos de Pejelagarto Asado Tabasqueño
Created by
Tabasco's river fish, roasted whole over charcoal the Chontal way, pulled from its armored skin, and tucked into hand-pressed corn tortillas with chile amashito and lima.
Sandwiches & Wraps
Mexican
Special Occasion
Dinner Party
BBQ
40 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 25 min total
Yield6 servings
Tabasco, especially the Chontalpa and the wetlands around Villahermosa and Centla, owns this dish. Pejelagarto is not a fashionable fish fillet. It is a river animal with hard scales, firm white flesh, and a shape that tells you it came from water older than your recipe book.
The Chontal cooks who perfected this method did not need butter sauce or breading. They roasted the whole pejelagarto on a stick over charcoal, letting the armored skin protect the meat while the flesh firmed and took the taste of smoke. Then they pulled it apart by hand and set it on the table with corn tortillas, chile amashito, lima, and salt. That is enough when the fish is good.
Use hand-pressed corn tortillas. In Tabasco, you may find masa worked with cooked chaya, and that green edge belongs here if you can make it properly. The chile is amashito, small, fierce, and local. If your chile vendor looks confused when you ask for it, ask the señoras del mercado. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
No me vengas con atajos. The stick, the charcoal, the slow turning, the pulling by hand, those are not decoration. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Pejelagarto, Atractosteus tropicus, is a freshwater gar native to southeastern Mexico and Central America, especially the river and lagoon systems of Tabasco, Campeche, and Chiapas. In Tabasco it is strongly associated with Chontal, or Yokot'an, foodways, where roasting whole fish over fire preserved a practical wetland technique long before restaurant versions appeared in Villahermosa. Chile amashito, a small wild chile of the region, remains one of Tabasco's identifying ingredients and is commonly eaten fresh, crushed with salt and citrus, or preserved in vinegar.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole pejelagarto
Quantity
1, 3 to 4 pounds
cleaned but left whole with skin and scales intact
coarse sea salt
Quantity
2 tablespoons, plus more to taste
limas or Mexican limes
Quantity
6
divided
hoja santa leaves
Quantity
6
rinsed and patted dry
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
2 tablespoons
softened
white onion
Quantity
1 small
sliced into thick rounds
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
crushed
hand-pressed corn tortillas
Quantity
24
cooked chaya leaves (optional)
Quantity
1 cup
finely chopped, optional for the masa
fresh chile amashito
Quantity
3 tablespoons
stems removed
coarse sea salt, for the chile amashito salsa
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
garlic clove, for the salsa
Quantity
1 small
peeled
fresh lima or Mexican lime juice, for the salsa
Quantity
1/4 cup
cilantro criollo
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
white onion, for serving
Quantity
1/2 small
finely diced
banana leaves
Quantity
as needed
wiped clean, for resting and serving
jicaras of pozol (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole pejelagartocleaned but left whole with skin and scales intact | 1, 3 to 4 pounds |
| coarse sea salt | 2 tablespoons, plus more to taste |
| limas or Mexican limesdivided | 6 |
| hoja santa leavesrinsed and patted dry | 6 |
| manteca de cerdosoftened | 2 tablespoons |
| white onionsliced into thick rounds | 1 small |
| garlic clovescrushed | 2 |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas | 24 |
| cooked chaya leaves (optional)finely chopped, optional for the masa | 1 cup |
| fresh chile amashitostems removed | 3 tablespoons |
| coarse sea salt, for the chile amashito salsa | 1/2 teaspoon |
| garlic clove, for the salsapeeled | 1 small |
| fresh lima or Mexican lime juice, for the salsa | 1/4 cup |
| cilantro criollofinely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| white onion, for servingfinely diced | 1/2 small |
| banana leaveswiped clean, for resting and serving | as needed |
| jicaras of pozol (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Charcoal grill or outdoor brasero
- •Clean hardwood roasting stick or long metal skewer
- •Butcher's twine
- •Volcanic stone molcajete
- •Tortilla press
- •Cast iron comal
- •Banana leaves for resting and serving
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the fish
Rinse the cleaned pejelagarto inside and out, then pat it very dry. Keep the skin and hard scales on. That armor protects the flesh from the charcoal and keeps the fish from drying out. Rub the cavity with coarse salt and the juice of 2 limas.
- 2
Season the cavity
Spread the softened manteca de cerdo inside the cavity. Add the hoja santa, onion rounds, and crushed garlic. The manteca carries the aroma of the hoja santa into the flesh. Do not smear the outside with oil. The skin has its job and you should let it do it.
- 3
Skewer the pejelagarto
Run a clean hardwood stick or long metal skewer through the fish from mouth to tail, keeping it steady. Tie the body in two or three places with butcher's twine if it feels loose. A whole pejelagarto is awkward. Good. Food from the river does not arrive portioned like supermarket chicken.
- 4
Build the coals
Prepare a charcoal fire and let it burn down until the coals are covered with gray ash and glow evenly. You want steady heat, not flames licking the fish. Set the fish 8 to 10 inches from the coals and turn it every 5 to 7 minutes. The skin will darken, blister, and tighten around the meat.
If flames flare, move the fish away until they settle. Flames scorch. Coals roast. Learn the difference. - 5
Roast until firm
Roast for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the fish, turning steadily. The pejelagarto is ready when the flesh near the backbone is opaque, firm, and pulls away in moist flakes. If you use a thermometer, the thickest part should reach 145F. Rest it on banana leaves for 10 minutes so the juices settle.
- 6
Make amashito salsa
While the fish rests, crush the chile amashito, salt, and garlic in a molcajete until the chiles split and release their sharp green smell. Stir in the lima juice and cilantro criollo. This salsa should be bright and direct. Do not turn it into a sweet tomato salsa. The chile amashito is the point.
Chile amashito is small but serious. Start with less at the table if your guests are not used to it. The flavor is grassy and hot, not just heat for showing off. - 7
Press the tortillas
Warm your comal over medium-high heat. If using chaya, make sure the leaves were boiled first, squeezed dry, and finely chopped before mixing into the masa. Raw chaya does not belong in anyone's tortilla. Press the tortillas and cook them until they puff, with brown freckles on both sides and soft centers.
- 8
Pull the meat
Open the roasted pejelagarto carefully. Lift the flesh away from the skin and bones with your fingers, keeping the flakes large. Watch for small bones near the backbone and belly. Discard the hoja santa, onion, garlic, skin, and bones. Taste the meat and adjust with salt and a squeeze of lima.
- 9
Serve the tacos
Set the pulled pejelagarto on banana leaves in the center of the table. Serve with the hot corn tortillas, chile amashito salsa, diced white onion, and lime halves. Each person builds the taco by hand. Fish, salsa, onion, lime. Nothing more is needed. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Buy pejelagarto from a fishmonger who knows river fish and will clean it without removing the skin. If you cannot find pejelagarto outside southeastern Mexico, gar is the closest family relation, but it is a compromise, not the Tabasco dish.
- •Chile amashito is the correct chile. If you cannot find it fresh, look for it preserved in vinegar from Tabasco producers. Do not replace it with jalapeño and pretend nothing changed. You changed the dish.
- •Hoja santa belongs in this region's cooking, along with chaya, achiote, banana leaves, and freshwater fish. Use it to perfume the cavity, not to bury the flavor of the pejelagarto.
- •The tortillas should be corn. Flour tortillas are a northern tradition and this is not the north. In Tabasco, hand-pressed corn is the table.
Advance Preparation
- •The chile amashito salsa can be made 2 hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature. Add the cilantro just before serving so it stays fresh.
- •The chaya, if using, can be boiled, squeezed dry, and chopped one day ahead. Keep it refrigerated and work it into the masa just before pressing tortillas.
- •Do not roast the pejelagarto ahead. This fish is best pulled while still warm from the coals, when the flesh separates cleanly and the smoke is still present.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 300g)
Calories
440 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
85 mg
Sodium
2600 mg
Total Carbohydrates
50 g
Dietary Fiber
8 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
38 g
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