Etymology and regional usage
Tasajo derives from the Spanish tasajo (a strip or chunk of cured meat), from Old Spanish tassajo, ultimately Latin taxare (to cut). The word migrated across the Spanish-speaking Americas and acquired locally specific meanings: in Cuba, tasajo is a heavily-salted, sun-dried beef (often imported from Uruguay or Brazil) that is rehydrated and used in stews like ropa vieja con tasajo. In Oaxaca, tasajo refers to a fundamentally different product — a fresh-style preparation of thin-sliced beef, lightly salted and air-dried for hours, not weeks, and grilled to order over charcoal.
Cut and cure
The Oaxacan butcher cuts a single piece of beef (usually round or top sirloin) in a long, continuous spiral so the meat unfurls into one ribbon-thin sheet — sometimes a meter or more long. The sheets are rubbed with coarse salt and hung over wooden poles to dry briefly in open air, the surface darkening to a deep maroon. At Mercado 20 de Noviembre in Oaxaca city, and at the Sunday Tlacolula and Wednesday Etla markets, butchers display the curtains of tasajo above their stalls; customers point, the butcher cuts a portion, weighs it, and a neighboring parrillera grills it over mesquite (Kennedy 2010; Trilling 1999).
Where it shows up
Tasajo is the classic protein on a Oaxacan tlayuda — laid across the asiento-smeared tortilla with quesillo, beans, and salsa. It also tops memelas and shares the plate in a parrillada oaxaqueña alongside cecina, chorizo, longaniza, and grilled spring onions. Lopez (2019) notes that tasajo is rarely cooked any way other than over live fire; its thinness and light cure are designed for the grill.
Oaxacan uniqueness — the pasillo de carnes asadas
The defining institution is the pasillo de carnes asadas (grilled-meat hallway) at Mercado 20 de Noviembre — a smoke-filled corridor where buyers select raw tasajo and cecina from butcher stalls, then hand it to a parrillera to grill over charcoal while they assemble accompaniments (tortillas, salsas, guacamole, grilled onions, chiles de agua) at adjacent stalls. The pasillo is itself a designated cultural-tourism site (Sec. Turismo Oaxaca, 2023). No other Mexican state operates this buy-then-grill mercado model at scale.
Where to buy in LA
Sabores Oaxaqueños (3337 W 8th St) lists tasajo on its tlayuda and parrillada plates. Guelaguetza (3014 W Olympic Blvd) carries tasajo and cecina at its retail counter. Vallarta Supermarkets occasionally stock pre-sliced “carne para tasajo.” Mercado Olympic vendors stock raw tasajo cuts on weekends.