Tacos of Texas

Joel Salcido: Yeah. Uh, Richard. You, your writing, your Oh yeah. What you were writing and then as soon as I read it, really, what about my writing inspired you?

Mando Rayo: It’s called Barrio Speak.

Laughs: So, so I,

Mando Rayo: what’s up Taco World? I’m Taco journalist Mandore. And welcome to the Tacos of Texas Podcast, Cinco, produced by Identity Productions in partnership with KUT and KUTX studios.

And we’re back exploring taco culture in Texas through the eyes of the people in the Lone Star state. So grab some salad Limon and get ready for some Mui Tasty Taco conversation.

Tacos and tequila has become a gimmick. But in this episode of Tacos of Texas, we take a deep dive into this intersection of tacos and tequila with tequila aficionado and photographer Joel Salcido.

What’s up, MI Gente Mandore here, bringing you stories from the Taco Podcast world. You’ve heard it before. Come try our tacos and tequila, but let’s be real. It’s mostly about pushing tequila sales. For the most part, tacos and tequila have become a gimmick, especially in the United States. It’s been stripped of its cultural roots and repackaged as trendy Instagrammable experiences.

These days, it’s more about the vibes and profits than tradition, often using inauthentic ingredients or flashy presentations that miss the point. But TA and tequila can be real when done right. That means honoring traditional Mexican ingredients, techniques, and cultural context. Handmade corn tortillas, regional salsa, stok, cooked meats, and tequila made from 100% blue agave in Jalisco.

When I thought about this podcast, episode one, ombre came to mind right away. Someone who is a tequila iono and more of an expert than most who claim that title Coil and I didn’t meet over tacos, but that’s how we really got each other. It was the early days we were both grinding, meet with a notebook, him with a camera hitting the east side before the lines, before the city shifted.

We were out there for the folks who’ve been feeding their neighborhoods for generations. Not for the trans. He photographed my first book, Austin Breakfast Tacos, the story of the most important Taco of the day. That book was our love letter to the city where we were watching change in real time, and he caught the soul.

He got, he captured the essence of that time, as he always does what I respect the most. Joelle doesn’t shoot for flash. He listens. He shows up, whether it’s a taco truck or slow pour of tequila. He’s all about the people behind it. This episode is about heritage, about slowing down, about the kind of conversations that only happens after 20 years of showing up for each other.

So today it’s me and Joelle tacos on the table, tequila in a sipping glass, and a whole lot of stories in between.

It is taco time. And now here’s a word from our sponsor, Chuco Town going visit El Paso. It’s a hometown of this taco journalist, Salud El Perro Grande. Tequila is a premium spirit that embodies the rich. Cultural tapestry of El Paso, Texas and the agave growing traditions of jli Mexico. Founded in 2019, by now, El Paso Mayor Renard u Johnson, the brand launch in the summer of 2022, offering a unique blend of heritage, craftsmanship, and community spirit.

Experience the pinnacle of tequila perfection. With our award-winning Blanco Tequila voted the best tequila of 2023 by Forge Magazine, crafted with a symphony of 100% blue aava and vanilla. Their Blanco tequila captivates the senses with its smoothness, complexity, and unparalleled flavor profile. Gracias to our friends at Visit El Paso for sponsoring this podcast episode.

Follow visit El Paso on Instagram and Facebook at visit El Paso or on their website@visitelpaso.com.

Ho is a photographer and tequila aficionado, born in Juarez and raised on both sides of the border. Chuco town. He’s spent years documenting the hardworking people behind every bottle. And the beauty of rural Mexico that surrounds them for Joel Tequila is a story of land, labor, and a living tradition.

Well, welcome to the Ria re, you know, the, the official RIA of the, of the, of the podcast,

Joel Salcido: RIA, you know me. I love it. So see. Well, thank you, man. It’s a privilege.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s a testament to our years of friendship. That’s right. That’s right. So, Mira, today we’re gonna talk about the real deal, ta, tacos and tequila, not the the ischemic thing, right?

Mm-hmm. And of course, that’s why I was like, you’re the one that I, we gotta get for, for this episode. So, uh, let’s start in like your early beginnings, uh, and how you got into, um, photography. You know, so you know, your, your early days in juez. What did that look like for you?

Joel Salcido: Uh, well, you know, speaking of, I got a, a retrospective book coming up through a and m.

Mm-hmm. Um, and the intro to that is exactly that. Um, and in Juarez, my, my uncle Chico, uh, worked in a studio, a photography studio. Mm-hmm. And he was a re toucher. Okay. So think about a five, six, 7-year-old walking into that. Cavernous Dark Studio with a light box. Yeah. And my uncle was there, kind of, you know, going at it.

Um, and, uh, you know, my mind goes to that timeframe. And, and for me it was like this magical place, Uhhuh, that something was happening, but I didn’t understand it. Uhhuh. All I could see was like this negative version of, of, uh, of reality and a negative. In a light table in him with very, very fine pencils, retouching the negative Uhhuh, which is obviously way before Photoshop.

Yeah. Uh, and so he was very good at it. So that was my first exposure to, to that Uhhuh. Um, and um, the other sort of kind of epiphany that I had in Juarez was that my grandmother’s and. We were playing, uh, hide and seek. I hit in a box and everything obviously went dark.

Laughs: Yeah.

Joel Salcido: But in the box there was a, a hole at the corner.

And as I, I sat there still within darkness, there was. This image of the outside world projected into the side of the box.

Laughs: Mm.

Joel Salcido: So basically I was looking at a camera obscura. Yeah. Without me even knowing. Oh, wow. And that discovery, uh, just stayed with me. For a lifetime.

Laughs: Mm.

Joel Salcido: Uh, again, it’s kind of a child epiphany.

Yeah. And what is that? What is, what was I looking at? But just the projection, the, the magic of that projection from the outside world into this dark space. Um, not knowing that that was a camera’s crew, that’s basically how cameras work. Right. Um, was, was, was a discovery that I eventually. Uh, appreciated as I became, you know, older.

So by the time I got to high school, I was doing the yearbook. Yeah, not really the yearbook. Uh, and from the yearbook I went into, um. College and my part-time job was photographer for the, for the newspaper, for the campus newspaper. And, uh, that got me a bunch of awards along the way. And those awards got me in an internship at the El Paso Times.

Okay. Uh, at that time I was going, I was a, a business major and, uh. I always was attracted to the photography part of it ’cause it was fun and it was magical still. So I eventually ended up double majoring in business administration in case. The journalism part. Sure. You know, failed. So, I, I, I majored in, in journalism, not photojournalism ’cause they didn’t have a program yet.

Okay. Um, so I’m pretty much self-taught Yeah. When, when it comes to photography. Uh, and I did the business part of it for about a year. Okay. And hated it. So, yeah. But, um, in between the. Internship at the El Paso Times. I, you know, I got married, I started working. Yeah. Yeah. And they called me for, for, uh, for a job.

Uh, and, uh, and I never looked back since then. Okay. So I did 10 years at the times. Uh, I, fabulous, fabulous grounding in terms of, um. A reality check on life itself. Okay. Uh, the advantage of, as you well know, the advantage of living on the border is you get these two realities that are very distinct and opposite

Mando Rayo: worlds.

Uh, but that was, did, did you think the border actually influenced kind of your style?

Joel Salcido: I think, I think more than the style, it, it enriched the intimacy of how I approach my subjects.

Mando Rayo: Okay.

Joel Salcido: Uh, and what is that approach? It, it’s, it’s full honesty. Okay. This is who you’re getting. Yeah. And when you offer that to people, um, the facade breaks down.

Okay. So you, you’re, you’re trying to get at the core of, of the person and your subject. Right. Uhhuh and people. Almost immediately, trust me. And that’s the critical part. Yeah. They have to trust who’s in front of you. Right, right, right, right. And that, that exposure to poverty. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, we come from poverty.

Right. Um, it, there was an immediate connection with, with people of all sorts. Right. What college gave me was the ability to, to deal with, say. Another strata of of society. Sure. But what growing up on the border gave me was the ability to relate to the people where we come from.

Laughs: Yeah.

Joel Salcido: And, and at the heart of it is trust.

Laughs: Yeah.

Joel Salcido: And, and once you get the trust, they offer their souls to you. Yeah. In a very open way, as you well know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. See, and, and, and they offer. And not that I take advantage of that, but that’s my job is to record that onto Yeah. You know, back then for Yeah. And

Mando Rayo: because you gain that trust and you know, they allow, they, they open up to you if you’ll Yeah.

Ra Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And then you take out the arga

wrinkles for you, uh, non-Spanish. Yeah. Yeah. That’s. True. Yeah. Yeah. So fast forward to Austin when we met, I think at a photo shoot and, and then we basically went on a taco hunt.

Joel Salcido: Yeah. I read your, you your writing, your Oh yeah. What you were writing, and then as soon as I read it, really, what about my writing inspired you?

It’s called Barrio Speak. So, so I immediately connected with that because I, I knew you were from. Just by reading your stuff. I read, you know, this guy’s from the Barrio and he’s probably from El Paso. That was my guess. Oh, okay. And as it turned out, it, it’s true. It’s true. It’s true. So that was a media connection and I offered Yeah.

To hang out.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Hang out. And we did, and we had a lot of comidas, a lot of Deca, yeah. A lot of taco. Yeah. Lot of good stuff. Uh, journalism. I had a, a relationship with Don Julio. But you were like, I wanna go do this project. And so tell us about your book and the project and how it kind of came to be. Well, you did invite me to mm-hmm.

That

Joel Salcido: tequila tasting with Don Julio. With Enrique Za, who at the master, who ended up being the master at the, the general manager for Lio. And we started. A side conversation on bulls. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah, that’s right. And, and I said, well, I’m, I’m not a bull aficionado. I mean, my dad used to take us to bull fights on Sundays and so forth.

Sure. But I, I wasn’t a fan. Uh, but I told him I had a series that I had started years ago on the Brave Bulls of Spain and Mexico. Mm-hmm. And that’s when he offered to invite me to his best friend’s ria mm-hmm. Of Brave Bulls outside Guadalajara. Mm-hmm. And my alarm system went up because. In that world, you know, it’s a very tight knit society, so it’s really hard to get access to.

Yeah. Very difficult. Unless you’re an insider, you don’t get in. Right. So, um, as he’s handing me his business card to follow up on, on the, in a split second, it occurred to me like, what do I know about the key light? And in that split second I realized that I was ignorant. As ignorant as 80% of the population is in terms of tequila.

Yeah. In the us Yeah. Like, where does it come from? How is it made? Yeah. So that sparked like an immediate curiosity as to, uh, maybe I should explore that world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Before I go to the grand idea. And that’s what I told him, you know, uh, what, what if I show up to your, you know, distillery and do a photo essay?

That’s, that was kind of the limitations of right, of my, my thinking there. Um, and as it turned out. I went home, I started researching, uh, the subject of tequila and I realized that, um. There were no books to date. Mm-hmm. No photo books. Sure. Dedicated to tequila. There was, there was one by Doug Manez, which is a, a black and white photo book.

Mm-hmm. But it was kind of half photojournalism and half models, you know, some pretty models out on the field. Oh yeah. And so

Mando Rayo: forth. Of course. And

Joel Salcido: I said, well, that, that’s nice.

Mando Rayo: Really? But that

Joel Salcido: was it.

Mando Rayo: Yeah.

Joel Salcido: I didn’t find any color. NN. Not in Mexico, nor in the us. Okay. Which was an overwhelming surprise to me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How can that be? So then I started thinking, well, maybe a book, you know, I’ll go there. I started thinking like, well if I go to Don Julio, what if, why do I have enough material? Uh, I should have a plan B. Yeah. And my Plan B was a list of distilleries, both, um, the founding distilleries mm-hmm.

And artisanal distilleries. Yeah. And I would just knock on their door and say, Hey, I’m here. I’m gonna do a book, which is a lie. Yeah. At that time I, I didn’t, I didn’t even think I was, that was possible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, so that’s what sparked it. Yeah. You know, that sparked it. And the other thing, the other layer is I was having a really bad year.

As, as you, you know, as, as a, as a freelancer. Yeah. And I needed an out, right. I needed to revisit my, the, the Mexico of my childhood. Right. So there was that layer like really kind of getting my attention, like, oh, if I go to Mexico, yeah. I’m gonna go to these villages that really represent Old Mexico. Sure.

Mando Rayo: Beautiful. And so tell us like, what, what are some of the things that you learned along the way with the book? And then we’ll get, kind of get into the, the different styles of tequila.

Joel Salcido: Well, um, I think primarily it’s a very laborious process. I think at the core is the story of mesi.

Laughs: Hmm.

Joel Salcido: You know, tequila.

Of all things represents mea. Mm-hmm. And that’s who you and I are. Right. You know, we’re kind of the best worlds of the indigenous mm-hmm. You know, meso American and, and the Spaniard. Sure. That’s the way I, I see it. Mm-hmm. Because, uh, my dad, if you look at my dad, he’s, you know Yeah. And I’m 35%. Yeah. You know, ta Uhhuh, uh, and then you look at my mom and she’s totally Spaniard, you know, from a Spanish father.

Um, so. Tequila represents that. Mm-hmm. That, that, that coalescence of, uh, of two worlds. Mm-hmm. You know, the, the Aztec Meso American and, and, and, and the Spanish world. Um, it’s deep rooted in history. Um, I mean, think about it, the meso Americans have been using agave for 10,000 years mm-hmm. As a source of, uh, as, as a source of food.

Nutrient, um, shelter. Yep. Wardrobe, et cetera, et cetera. Mm-hmm. Uh, so it has had an enormous influence in, in, in that culture. Mm-hmm. And then they had already started exploring the, the, the, um. The nce That’s right. Yeah. From the agave. Mm-hmm. In other words, uh, an alcoholic beverage that Sure. And that was just fermented.

Yeah. Um, so by the time the Spaniards come into Mexico, you know, post 1519, um, they see that this drink, which at that time of the Aztec period, it was mainly, uh, consumed. By the priest. Mm. For religious purposes or ceremonial purposes? Mm-hmm. The general public did not consume it. Okay. A meal when you extract the, the, a meal from the agave mm-hmm.

Which is kind of the century plant looking agave. Mm-hmm. It’s not, you know, the blue agave from, from tequila. Right. When, when you extract it, that was a nutrient that they would give to children. Mm-hmm. Because it’s sweet and it’s full of, it’s very nutritional. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, but if you leave it, I mean, I guess they discovered this by accident.

If you leave it long enough. You know, it’ll ferment. Yeah. Right. Just from airborne. Mm-hmm. Uh, uh, what do you call, um, yeast. It’ll, it’ll start fermenting and then discovered that you could drink this stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And get a buzz that’s, you

Mando Rayo: knows it. Yeah.

Joel Salcido: And so, so when the Spaniards see that, they say, oh, there’s something here.

Mando Rayo: Right.

Joel Salcido: You know, and, and, uh. And they obviously fuse in the, uh, the Arab technology of distillation, which belongs to the Arabs, you know, that, that technology becomes to them. Obviously it gets to Spain right in, in the period of the Arabs conquering Spain. Yep. And they leave that behind. Yeah. By the way, they also leave the guitar and,

and a lot of other things, but that, that we don’t, that we don’t acknowledge or, or really, um, realize. Yeah. Yeah. You know, how much. Worldly. We really are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. You know, for sure the African influence, the Arab influence. Yeah. And then this is who we are. Right. And then here we have this indigenous, so anyways, it’s a beautiful world and, and existence what we represent.

Yeah. Yeah. It it is pretty rich. It is pretty deep.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Yeah. It goes deep. And most, most of the time when you think about tacos and tequila, it does not go deep.

Joel Salcido: No.

Mando Rayo: Right? No. So how, how, how do you think like the US market really kind of, in a sense, took that from. You know,

Joel Salcido: well, well, well, you, you know, we, we at the core we’re, we’re a capitalist country Sure.

And we’re driven by profit. Mm-hmm. And, um, the tequila market in the US dominates the exports for, for tequila from Mexico to here. Mm-hmm. There’s per capita, there’s more consumption. Tequila in Mexico, but the vast majority, if that makes sense, the vast majority is consumed, 80% is consumed here, and then the rest in parts of the world.

Sure. I mean, it’s Germany, France, and Spain. Um, but the core of it is here. Um, you know, how did that happen? I think people started appreciating, um, well, well, here, here’s, here’s a little breakdown, historical breakdown, Uhhuh, um, tequila. Doesn’t really gain its popularity in Mexico until the Mexican Revolution.

Mm-hmm. And, and this overlaps a little bit into, into the us Okay. Because, because, um, during the Mexican revolution, um, only the elite would drink cognac. Brandis. Okay. Right. And La Pueblo. They only had tequila. They only had tequila. So tequila was not, I mean the Brandis and were not accessible to the general population.

Laughs: Mm-hmm. Okay.

Joel Salcido: Uh, so they, you know, they had tequila. So a big symbolic metaphor to the Mexican revolution is a fact that tequila becomes emblematic. Of the fight.

Mando Rayo: Yeah.

Joel Salcido: This is ours. This is who we are. Yeah. El and this indigenous core to it. Right. And that’s what we’re fighting. So, you know, it’s a metaphor towards Yeah.

Yeah. The elite and mm-hmm. Um, so the other important thing that happens is, uh, during the golden age of, of the Mexican film, tequila gets introduced even more so to the masses. Okay. And that’s what, what really takes off. Okay. Now, the first import. Of tequila into the US happens in 1873 by Southa. It’s just the, the first three barrels that come into, uh, eventually Ben Crosby and other folks began to introduce, uh, the Reposado.

So when, when Reposado, in other words, the higher end, say age to Kok Yeah. Kicks in, in, in, in, in the Mexican market. It begins to get the attention of. Americans mm-hmm. Being, because it starts competing with the Brandis Yeah. And the cognacs, so to speak. Right? Yeah. Or the scotch or, or, or the whiskey and, and bourbon and all that, right?

Yeah. Yeah. It starts competing because it, it has traction. I mean, it has an enormous, not only an enormous history and a legacy, but it has something very unique. Mm. I mean, think about it. This is like 10,000 years old. Yeah. The, the, the. The, uh, blue agave, the the blue Weber agave, which is what tequila’s based on, uh, it’s be, it begins to be domesticated and grown by indigenous populations like 3005 years, three, 3,500 years ago.

Wow. So think of the weight of history that Yeah. It’s like, oh my god, you know, this is, this is,

Mando Rayo: it goes deep.

Joel Salcido: Hundreds and hundreds of years of, of evolution. Yeah. And, and cultural heritage. So, um, so I take all of that into my mind. Mm-hmm. Um, so eventually the, um, the product itself, tequila becomes.

Introduced into the US slowly and gradually, and then it just takes off. Yeah, it takes off and it takes off in my mind, you know, without really having, you know, factual information, it takes off because again, it, it represents a, a, a rich cultural, uh, experience that it’s so different mm-hmm. From any other thing.

Right. Um. In, in terms of the complexity of the drink itself. Mm-hmm. The complexity of the drink and the complexity of its history. Yeah. And its legacy. Yeah. No, there’s nothing like it. Yeah. Yeah. There’s nothing like it.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. And I think that’s part of the story, whether it’s the food and when you think of Mais, right?

Oh yeah. And when we’re looking at, at, uh, tequila or even the other agaves, right? Like mescal. Yeah. And Soto, you know, part of that process is understanding those stories and, and then really thinking about like taking your time. It’s not just something that you just shoot up or whatever. When you’re like 20 years old, it’s like, I’ll just take a little step.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I appreciate it. Well, that’s where I’m at.

Joel Salcido: That’s where I, you you do appreciate it more. Yeah. But, but, but think about this, think about this, uh, species are variety of, of agave. Yeah. There’s like 200 around the world. Mm-hmm. 80% say more than half of those 200 varieties. Mm-hmm. Only. Exist in Mexico.

Mm. Yeah. How that think, think, think of that privilege. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. That you have that and obviously, you know, history tells, you know, what, how, how sacred this thing was to Right. Survival. Right. Mere survival. Right. Uh, so tequila represents all that. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, it, it, it is very special and unique to Mexico.

Yeah.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Well, I know you got some stuff for us. So the next section, what we’re gonna do is, um. Tell us the three styles of tequila and then what this one is, and then we’ll go to the next one, then the next one. And then we’ll go, and then we’ll, I’ll ask to bring that back. Well, all right. So walk us through some of the tequilas you brought.

Joel Salcido: Okay. Well, I brought a blanco and a blanco is, you know, pretty much straight out of the, of the, out, out of the still. Mm-hmm. Um, no aging whatsoever. No aging. Right. So, so it is what it is. Yeah. Um. There’s no caramel colors, no aromas. Mm-hmm. No taste of barrels, nothing like it is just the pure, uh, blanco uh, there’s, there’s a lot of purest, um, tequilas that that’s all they drink.

Oh, okay. ’cause that’s the, the purest of you the most original. Yeah. Yeah. Straight off the, the, the stilts.

Mando Rayo: Um, so what flavor profile am I looking for?

Joel Salcido: Well. W with, with tequila is, is like, you know, you have an intro, a middle, and an ending.

Mando Rayo: Yeah.

Joel Salcido: So I’m looking all, you know, the first step is, is, is where you really are going to identify.

Now I don’t have a prolific, you know, nose Sure. Or, or taste buds. Every taste you do. I

Mando Rayo: see your prolific nose

Joel Salcido: right

Mando Rayo: there.

Joel Salcido: Thank you Mano. But, but, but I glad you missed. Exactly. Exactly. But the thing is, is that, um, you know, every taste bud. Every human being is different. So what I’m tasting may not be exactly what you’re tasting, but you get an essence.

And the essence is, is sometimes you get the agave, you know, vegetative taste up front sometimes at the end. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Sometimes you get the sweetness upfront. Or at the end. Yeah. And then in the middle there’s all these, you know, aromas. Mm-hmm. And, and, and fusion of taste. Mm. Okay. Um, but that, that’s, that’s what I, and this is just crisp and

Mando Rayo: clean.

Yeah. Super crisp, super clean. But yeah, actually gonna, uh, ask our taco intern Al. To bring us some tacos, ’cause we’re gonna do some tacos Taco pairing. Ooh. So what are we pairing it with? So this is, these tacos are from a cholo here in Austin. Uh, it’s inside a gas station. That’s always a plus. So I think with a Blanco, we’re gonna do, uh, maybe a, an al pastor.

You know what I mean? Okay, cool. ’cause of the, I feel like the sweetness of the pork, uh, blends well with this one. Yeah. Because it’s lighter, right? Yeah, it is. It is lighter. Yeah.

Joel Salcido: I’d be curious to see what influence the Blanco has on your taste buds. Mm, okay. With, with the taco in mind? Hmm. Hmm.

Mando Rayo: It definitely, um, um, accentuates the sweetness of the pork, you know.

Oh, really? Pina. Oh, wow. You know what I mean? Wow. Okay. Yeah. Hmm. That’s good. All right, next. What else we got? Okay. No. Okay, so,

Joel Salcido: so we’re looking at, again, there’s no aging in Blanco, right? Mm-hmm. There is no aging and is two months to a year in Barrow. Um, for me, this is kind of the comfort zone ’cause it gives you.

The best of both words, like Misa. Um, and for me it’s just the perfect medium. Yeah. The, the, the perfect zone for, for tequila. Okay. And, and I usually, you know, I usually drink it. Neat. Right. So what is, what is this? So,

Mando Rayo: so I, I think Dr. Podo a good one is, uh, carne ada, right? Oh, wow. Smokiness a, a grill, backyard, all that, you know.

And, uh. Hmm. And so I think really looking at that reposado, that kind of blends in well, so you, you let me know.

Joel Salcido: Mm-hmm. I’ll tell you what in this one. Yeah. The tequila dominates at the tail end of it.

Mando Rayo: Okay.

Joel Salcido: What it does for me in a very positive way. It alienates that gra Yeah. You know, the, the, the thickness of the graza, it just completely alienates it Uhhuh, and then you go to the, to tequila itself.

Yeah. Um, in terms of space. So it cut,

Mando Rayo: it, it, it cuts it. Mm-hmm.

Joel Salcido: It cuts the grease.

Mando Rayo: Mm-hmm.

Joel Salcido: Okay. Yeah. It cleanses your pellet. Mm-hmm. Um, in this case, I think the taco’s really good. Yeah. But it cleanses the pellet and leaves you with a tequila as a dominant factor. Nice. In terms of the caramel, the sweetness, yeah.

Yeah. It’s almost like. You know, taco and dessert at once. Yeah, yeah. Love that. That’s how I feel it, you know? Yeah, yeah. It may be different for other people.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. No, I think it should be that way because like you don’t want to just like eat and, and have your drink and, and you know, having one flavor dominate.

Yeah. You know, it’s like this experience of, of drinking and eating should be like the pleasure of like, what are the flavor profiles of a sada? That’s cilantro that said, yeah, the smokiness, but as well as the tequila, right? Yeah. And, and, and those flavors that kind of come through. Let’s put that one away.

What, what bottle we got next? Okay.

Joel Salcido: So now,

Mando Rayo: so now. Is it a,

Joel Salcido: uh, we we’re gonna go to a, we’re looking at two to three years barrel. Okay. Right? Mm. Um, now let me say this about, uh, Uhhuh. There’s a little history behind here. Yeah. This was, um, if I recall correctly, this is where Patron begins. Okay. When, uh, Paul de Jo’s, um, partner in business mm-hmm.

When they start with the, uh, concept and idea of creating their own brand of tequila mm-hmm. They go to cwa. Okay. And eventually the master distiller for cwa, uh, goes to Patron. Okay. I don’t remember his name, but he’s very, very good at, at, at what he did. Okay. Now for. A lot of Mexicans. Mm-hmm. At least you know, the Mexican friends that I have and so forth, they, they love Okay.

Not only the history, the, the, the, the, the legacy commitment to them, but obviously at the core, right. It represents Mexican ownership. Yeah. Nothing else. Okay.

Mando Rayo: Okay. So the, so this one obviously thedo, we’re gonna go with barbacoa, right? Oh wow. So it’s the one that’s aged longer. It has more bold flavor, right?

Profile. And just like a good barbacoa, it has to be cooked for like long hours, right? So if you’re doing it in a post, oh, that’s nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you’re doing it in a poso, you’re talking about 12 to 14 hours, which is a

Joel Salcido: metaphor

Mando Rayo: too.

Joel Salcido: Yeah. You know? Yeah. So, ’cause we’re looking at, you know, three years of waiting.

Yeah. There you go.

Mando Rayo: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so let me split this one with you.

Joel Salcido: No, go ahead. Go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, you I’m fine. Yeah, I’m fine. Yeah.

Mando Rayo: Okay, so we got barbacoa first, which is, uh, beef Cheek in general. Beef cheek for everybody. Okay. Right. Petro Barbacoa is a beef head. So it could be everything from, okay, you know, the lingua to the beef cheek to, um, you know, the back of the head.

The, the front, the forehead, huh?

Joel Salcido: Oh my god.

Mando Rayo: Hmm. Wow. It is the wow, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. Hmm. It extend, it extends. I think the, hmm. This is nice. The richness. It extends the richness.

I mean, I think they all, this one, this one definitely hits, this one definitely hits, this

Joel Salcido: is, at least this tequila is the best of both worlds.

Mando Rayo: Yeah.

Joel Salcido: You, you got very pronounced notes of Barrow.

Mando Rayo: Yeah.

Joel Salcido: And very pronounced notes of agave.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. Very well balanced. Yeah. Yeah. Very well balanced. I could taste, it’s, it’s almost like, you know, it just kind of has that Yeah.

The barrels, you know, like kind of the, it’s, you know, sometimes when I drink whiskey it’s like what it reminds you of. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And then for me, the it this definitely ranch grand. Yeah. Yeah.

Joel Salcido: No, you, you know, I was about to say that this, this, the brand, the brand always takes me back, almost immediately.

Takes me back to Mexico. Yeah, it does.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. And it blends really well with the barbacoa because of like, it’s, yeah, it definitely is a, the sweetness, but it’s strong. It’s bold, right?

Joel Salcido: Yeah.

Mando Rayo: And then, and then this, and then the, the, the, the notes from the tequila, whether it’s the barrel and the agave kind of, but the barrel.

It’s stronger. It it is, it’s stronger. It, it’s very nice. And, and, and it does like remind you of, you know, uh, being, um, outside in a Rancho. Yeah, it’s very nice. Very good. And you very well balanced. Yeah. This is very well

Joel Salcido: balanced.

Mando Rayo: Yeah. All right, well with that, ho is there something that you wanna just share that, you know, for people out there looking at tequila or agave, um, that you want them to know?

Well,

Joel Salcido: you know, as a Mexican, obviously I grew up in the us I, I have incredible appreciation of my culture and, and my people that will never be raced. I try to be an American as hard as I can, but I failed, um, you know, Americanized, I’m sorry, I I’ve tried multiple times to be Americanized. Sure, sure. And, and I’ve never succeeded.

Um.

Mando Rayo: I don’t know if you, that’s like something that you need to do

Joel Salcido: well, right. Well, for me it, it, it just comes natural, you know? Mm-hmm. Uh, half of my. Childhood, adolescence, high school, college was spent in Mexico. Sure. The other half was, was in the us. Right. So at the core, I I, I appreciate everything of where I come from.

Okay. So is, yeah. Yeah. So it’s very special and very rich. Mm-hmm. You know, it’s a very, very, very unique and rich experience. Mm-hmm. Um, and when I drink tequila, I think of. It, it always takes me back to Mexico and its people. Mm-hmm. And now that I’ve explored all of that through the book, the landscapes, right, the landscapes are absolutely gorgeous, which people don’t realize how beautiful Mexico can be or is.

Yeah. Uh, but one of the core, you know, thoughts that I have when I drink tequila, I always think of the. The Alor, in my mind, is the hero of tequila. Mm. The reason being he’s at the very bottom of the production, but without him, there is no tequila. Yeah. Uh, it’s very hard labor. Mm-hmm. Um, there. Like, in my mind, they’re real men.

Well explain what Ahi AOR does. Ah, aor ahad is a harvester of the agave. Mm-hmm. I mean, we’re talking the, the blue agave is unique to tequila.

Laughs: Mm-hmm.

Joel Salcido: It’s the one that the industry prefers or ended up with because of two reasons. The, the cos sugars mm-hmm. Were very pronounced and, um, it was. It had the ability to be domesticated to, to, to be grown in fields.

Okay. Okay. So, so it became very prolific. Mm-hmm. And then it became the core. Now, something to remember is that tequila is a mezcal. Mm-hmm. In its original form. Right. It was smoky. Yeah. Some distilleries, including caska, have a product that has that smoking. Is, that wasn’t, mm-hmm. Why? Because it, the agave was cooked in, in earth pits.

Right. With, with, um, charcoal ashes and so forth. So it, it, it, that smoky flavor remained. Mm-hmm. So the smokiness of tequila, um, ends when salsa introduces the steam oven, mainly to increase production in sales. Sure. Productivity, efficiency, basically what it comes down to. So, so that is gone. That profile of the smoking is gone.

Uh, again, some, some. Some distribu are bringing it back, but most of it has disappeared. So in essence, you’re drinking a mezcal.

Mando Rayo: Right? Right. Um, and so, so a tequila is a mezcal. Correct. But a mezcal is not a tequila. Correct. Hey, that’s just like whiskey. Yeah.

Joel Salcido: Well, well, you, you know, basically it, it, it’s the process that has changed the dynamic.

Okay. Um, but. At the core, I think the, the, the is the harvester. He’s the one that has the core, the heavy labor. Mm-hmm. The, the de leafing. Mm-hmm. The blue agave, and then carrying these, you know, heavy penas mm-hmm. And, and loading them on onto vehicles. Mm-hmm. Um. They’re, they’re the heroes I think, of tequila, because without them, nothing happens.

Yeah, exactly. Right. Uh, and I could go on, but there, there, there’s an experience that I had with him. A taco session. Yeah. Out in the fields of agave. Yeah. That I’ll never forget. Okay. They, they, they gathered three penas, started a fire, laid a Kamala on top and on top, and then tortillas. Oof. I mean, with that’s it with, yeah.

I mean, it doesn’t get, the, the tequila experience doesn’t get better than that. Yeah, yeah, totally. And, and, and, and I’ll never forget that, you know, with sharing that, with that meal, with, with the, the res. But another note on the res is that they use the koa. The koa is like a spirit. Uh, well, it, it’s round.

Uh, semicircle, semicircle kind of half moon. See, I’ve seen that. Uh, spade. Yeah. And they use that to delete. Right. You know, the agave, that tool is a SEK origin. Mm-hmm. So imagine the legacy in the years that has never. You know, you know, has never been faced out of Right. Of, of, of the tequila world. Right, right.

The puke world. Yeah. And so forth of existence in a sense. Yeah. Yeah. Of, of the history of of, of the Mess American, uh, specifically the Aztec civilization. Um, so that is. A, you know, a, a tool that was gifted and that remains mm-hmm. Still to this date. So for me, any, anytime I drink or sip, it’s an homage to them.

To the, to, to the labor behind

Mando Rayo: Salud, Salud, Salud. Here’s to the Jimador of Mexico, Salud UD

Salud. I just want to thank my good friend Joel Salcido. What a like, interesting conversation around tacos and tequila and really kind of going deep into the culture and yeah. So we know that tacos and tequila can be a shtick or a gimmick, uh, but it’s more than that because when you look at the production, when you look at that long history, this idea that it was born out of indigenous and this Misti journey.

And what it is today into kind of like that mass consumption. You know, for me it’s just a reminder to like dig deep into some of those stories, dig deep into the production, dig deep into like how it it came about, and, and then really thinking about that tasting profile, whether it’s an or a Blanco or ado, and obviously pair those tacos along the way.

So. Thanks again to a photographer and good friend, ju Aldo. And with that, I want shout out to some great places to get some agave and spirits. Las Altas outta Dallas, Texas. Teria in Austin, Texas In. And Cari in San Antonio. This has been the Tacos of Texas podcast developed and produced by identity Productions.

If you enjoyed today’s episode and are creating you more taco content, go to our website@www.identity.productions or follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube at Identity Productions and United Tacos of America. This is your host. Mando, your taco journalist Rao Bamo Tacos

on the next Proximo Tacos of Texas. Join Chef Kirk and myself as we break down the major components of Tex-Mex and Mexican cuisine.

Louisa Van Assche: The Tacos of Texas podcast is presented by identity productions in partnership with KOT and KOTX studios. Our host and producer is Mando. Our audio is mixed by Nicholas Werden. Our story producer is me, Louisa Van, and our creative producer is Dennis Burnett. Music was created by Palosa in Austin, Texas, and King Benny Productions located in the Quinto Barrio of Houston.