"pancita de chivo" news and stories

Before you get turned off by this edition of Midnight Snack allow me to explain the headline. Years ago I used to eat these wonderful tacos at a Mexican deli in Hell's Kitchen. After working my way through all the humdrum varieties (carnitas, bifteck, al pastor, cecina, etc.), I spied pancita de chivo written on the blackboard.

I asked what kind of meat it was before trying a taco. When the lady told me they were goat belly, I gladly ordered one up, after all I'd never met chivo that was anything less than cravable. When I saw that the tortilla contained blood pudding and god knows whatever other bits of goat innards I wasn't entirely turned off. In fact, my interest was piqued since I enjoy a good black pudding every now and then. When I tasted it, everything changed, for this was no mere blood pudding. It was subltly spiced with cinnamon and hot peppers and utterly delicious.

Fast forward to yesterday when I saw pansa negro de chivo on the specials menu at one of my favorite Mexican spots. When I ordered it, I wasn't entirely sure whether it would be the same meat I'd had in tacos. As it turned out it was. About five tacos worth of goat gutty goodness were sided with some of the best Mexican rice I've ever had. Usually this lackluster rice has a technicolor orange hue and remains uneaten, but not this version. It had just enough achiote to color it and was studded through with bits of fresh carrots and peas, and kept company by some great stewed beans. The whole affair was topped with four or five pickled jalapeños that had been sliced lengthwise.

As you might have guessed from the topic of this post the whole platter proved to be too much for me. Of course when you get it packed up, dump in a bowl and then nuke it, the result looks nowhere near as good as it did in the restaurant. But I can assure you, it hits the spot at midnight with an ice cold Tecate. Let's just hope I don't have any nightmares about chupacabras.