Tacos de cazón
Tacos de cazón are tacos of shredded dogfish, a small shark, cooked with tomato, onion and habanero, a staple of the seafood cooking of Campeche and the rest of the Yucatán Peninsula.
The fish
Cazón is the Spanish name for dogfish, the small sharks caught in large numbers in the Gulf off Campeche. Mexico News Daily describes the meat as mild, slightly sweet and lean, and notes that by the nineteenth century it was already an everyday food for poorer residents of the port because it was so abundant. Today Campeche lands vast quantities of it each year, and it appears in an unusually wide range of dishes.
Place in Campeche cooking
Cazón is the common thread through much of Campeche's cooking. Mexico News Daily lists it in empanadas, panuchos and salbutes, in x'catik chiles stuffed with dogfish and even in a local version of papadzules. El Financiero names tacos de cazón among the everyday dishes of the Campeche table, alongside tamales and empanadas, as elsewhere on the Yucatán Peninsula. The signature dish of the state, pan de cazón, is in effect a stacked taco: tortillas layered with refried black beans and shredded dogfish and covered with tomato and habanero sauce.
Because it is fish, cazón is a natural choice on Fridays and during Lent, when many Catholic households avoid meat.
Preparation
For tacos, the fish is poached until it flakes, then shredded and cooked down with a sofrito of tomato and onion until fairly dry. Epazote and habanero are the usual seasonings, in line with the flavors used in pan de cazón. The filling is spooned onto corn tortillas, sometimes over a smear of black beans, and finished with tomato sauce or pickled red onion. Cooked this way, the same dogfish filling also serves for the empanadas, panuchos and salbutes that Mexico News Daily lists among Campeche's cazón dishes. In 2019 the town of Champotón set a national record with a 637-kilogram pan de cazón, a measure of how closely the fish is identified with the state.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 700 g dogfish or other mild shark (or firm white fish such as cod)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 3 tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 habanero chile, seeded and minced (to taste)
- 2 sprigs epazote, chopped (or 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro)
- Salt
- 16 corn tortillas
- 1 cup refried black beans
- Tomato sauce or pickled red onion to serve
Steps
- Poach the fish with the bay leaf in salted water for 8 to 10 minutes until it flakes. Drain, cool and shred, removing skin and cartilage.
- Heat the oil and cook the onion until soft. Add the tomatoes and habanero and cook until saucy, about 6 minutes.
- Add the fish and epazote, season and cook, stirring, until the mixture is moist but not wet, about 8 minutes.
- Spread warm tortillas with a little black bean purée, add the fish and finish with tomato sauce or pickled onion.
Squeezing the shredded fish well before cooking keeps the filling from becoming watery.
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See also
References
- "Cerdo, cazón y maíz, protagonistas de la comida en Campeche". El Financiero. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "State by Plate: Campeche's pan de cazón". Mexico News Daily. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Pan de cazón". Wikipedia (Spanish). Retrieved 2026-10-10.