Tacos de tsik
Tacos de tsik are Yucatecan tacos of shredded cooked meat, traditionally venison and today often beef or pork, tossed cold with radish, red onion, cilantro, sour orange and habanero.
Description
Tsik, also written tzik or dzik, is something like a shredded meat salad. Rick Bayless describes it as a Yucatecan dish seasoned with citrus and habanero and brightened with red onion and cilantro, and Naatik Mexico, in its recipe of the month, calls tzik de venado a traditional dish of the peninsula. The meat is cooked until it falls apart, pulled into thin threads and then dressed, cold or at room temperature, with diced radish, onion, tomato and plenty of sour orange juice. Spooned into tortillas it makes a light, sharp taco that is very different from the region's slow-cooked pit meats.
Venison and substitutes
The original meat was deer. According to Bayless, the classic starting point was venado hecho pib, venison cooked in an earth oven the way cochinita pibil once was. Restrictions on hunting Yucatán's wild deer have pushed cooks toward beef, usually flank or skirt steak. Naatik's recipe keeps venison but notes that pork works just as well, so the dish adapts to whatever meat is on hand. Posta, listing the tacos eaten in Yucatán, presents tzic de venado as an iconic dish that recalls the ancient Maya habit of eating wild game.
Preparation
Naatik's method begins by soaking the venison to draw out blood and rinsing it with lime, then simmering it for about an hour with onion, tomato, charred garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Once tender, the meat is shredded finely and mixed with radish, the rest of the onion, cilantro and tomato, and seasoned with sour orange juice a little at a time until it is as tart as the cook likes. Bayless adds habanero to taste.
Tsik is served with warm corn tortillas, on tostadas or with chips. Bayless suggests setting the bowl on the table so everyone can assemble their own tacos.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 700 g venison shoulder, or beef flank or skirt steak
- 1 white or red onion, half left whole, half finely chopped
- 1 head garlic, charred on a comal
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt and pepper
- 6 radishes, finely diced
- 1 tomato, finely diced
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- Juice of 4 sour oranges (or 1/2 cup orange juice plus 1/4 cup lime juice)
- 1 habanero chile, minced (to taste)
- 16 corn tortillas
Steps
- Put the meat in a pot with the half onion, garlic, bay leaves, oregano and salt; cover with water and simmer until very tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Let the meat cool in the broth, then drain and shred into fine threads.
- Toss the meat with the chopped onion, radish, tomato and cilantro.
- Add the sour orange juice gradually, then the habanero, salt and pepper, tasting as you go. Let stand 15 minutes.
- Serve at room temperature with warm tortillas or tostadas.
Save the cooking broth for soup. The dressed meat keeps a day refrigerated; add the cilantro just before serving.
Reviews
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See also
References
- "Yucatecan Beef Tsik Tacos". Rick Bayless. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Recipe of the month: Yucatecan Venison Tzik". Naatik Mexico. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "¿Cuáles son los tacos que se comen en Yucatán?". Posta. Retrieved 2026-10-10.