Birria

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds chuck roast, cut into large 3-inch chunks
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• olive oil
• 8 guajillo chiles
• 5 ancho chiles
• 5 árbol chiles
• 2 large Roma tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 4-inch cinnamon stick
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• water, as needed
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• Fish sauce
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Accoutrement:

• Flour tortillas
• Oaxaca cheese
• Diced white onions
• Lime
• Cilantro
• Shredded Mexican cheese blend
• Avocado

Instructions:

1. Season the meat with kosher salt on all sides, leave on cooling rack in fridge to dry out for hours like a steak.
2. Use kitchen shears to trim stems off the dried chiles.
3. Add the guajillo chiles, ancho chiles, árbol chiles, tomatoes, onion, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and peppercorns to a medium pot. Cover completely with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 1 hour.
4. Heat dutch oven over medium heat.
5. Working in several batches, add some olive oil and sear meat on all sides until browned. ~4 minutes per side. Return meat to the tray once seared. Take dutch oven off the heat when done, but do not wash.
6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
7. After chiles have been cooking for 1 hour, remove cinnamon stick and bay leaves.
8. Add beef broth, fish sauce, white vinegar, garlic, cumin, oregano, and cloves. Blend on high using immersion blender for a few minutes until completely smooth.
9. Strain the blended sauce through a fine mesh strainer into the empty dutch oven. Discard any solids left behind.
10. Use the chile sauce to deglaze the dutch oven. Don’t want any burned bits to remain.
11. Put meat back into chile sauce and bring to a boil.
12. Braise in the oven for 5 to 5.5 hours until the meat is fall-apart tender. Pour in more water to maintain liquid levels. Give a stir every 90 minutes or so.
13. Skim the fat off, and save. This is easier to do after it’s refrigerated.
14. Shred the meat as needed. If serving all in one go, pull it out and shred it all. But leaving the meat whole keeps it juicier if spreading it out over several days.

Serving as stew:

• serve as a stew in bowls with diced onion and chopped cilantro or as tacos in flour tortillas with shredded Oaxaca cheese, cilantro, and diced onions.

Serving as Quesabirria tacos:

1. Heat up skillet
2. Put some of the melted fat + consomé onto a plate
3. Dip a tortilla into the liquid, and move it around to coat.
4. Put the tortilla in the skillet, and put Oaxaca cheese on top to melt
5. Put some meat on top trying to minimize the amount of consomé in the taco.
6. Fold it over when the tortilla is crispy
7. Serve with the consomé on the side

notes: The tacos are very heavy and rich. Open them up and put in some onion + cilantro mix inside to freshen it up. Salsa verde can help too.

cooking time: This recipe takes a while, start at 8am. And it’s better the next day. So it’s easier to make it a day in advance, than to try and make it for a group dinner same day.

original recipe: https://www.isabeleats.com/authentic-birria/