Adventures in Birria Making

[squib 1127]

Birria Tacos or Red Tacos seem to be all the rage. Decided to make an effort.

 

Started with chuck roast, some short ribs, guajillo chiles, Mexican oregano, onion, garlic, carrots and some water in pot. 

 

Got it to a boil and let the chilis hydrate in the water for 30 minutes. Starting to come together.

[squib 1127]

Ran the chilis through the blender with a little of the broth then mixed the chili sauce back into the pot. Added some chili powder at this step.

 

After about 3 hours, I skimmed off the fat (and reserved) then removed the veggies, and shredded the meat and added back to the pot. 

[squib 1127]

Next made a taco out of the meat and some shredded quesadilla cheese. Got the skimmed-off fat hot in the skillet and crisped the tacos.

 

Served with some beans I had been cooking all day. 

 

Pretty dang good. The kids even ate it. I think next time I will throw in a few chilis de arbol to spice it up a bit. Easy enough. 

[South Austin 52687]

That looks fantastic.

[squib 1127]

Much easier than I anticipated. Damn chuck roast and short ribs were crazy expensive. I never pay attention to grocery prices, but I was a bit shocked at the roast price as I was unwrapping. Will eat the left overs during the Bama/Ga game tomorrow night. 

[WBT 20740]

Looks great.  I'll have to try that.

[RMac5 1551]

Covid seems to have beef prices through the roof.  Those tacos look great, been wanting to make them too.

[ohchaucer 1443]

Looks fantastic. I’ve been wanting to try this. A couple of questions…. How deep is the pot you’re using there? Looks kinda Dutch oven depth. And when you remove the fat and reserve what do you do with the rest of the liquid? And the veggies?

I think this may be my next-weekend project up here in snowy Connecticut - just need to get my hands on some chiles which are hard to source right now (and generally up here).


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[squib 1127]

4 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

Looks fantastic. I’ve been wanting to try this. A couple of questions…. How deep is the pot you’re using there? Looks kinda Dutch oven depth. And when you remove the fat and reserve what do you do with the rest of the liquid? And the veggies?

I think this may be my next-weekend project up here in snowy Connecticut - just need to get my hands on some chiles which are hard to source right now (and generally up here).


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Pot is about 5 inches deep. With all the ingredients and seven cups of water, it was about full. 

I skimmed the fat as it cooked. Just kept putting it in a bowl next to the pot. 

When it was done, I removed everything from the pot. I put all the veggies in a colander and let it drain into a bowl that I poured back in the pot. I pressed on the veggies to get as much liquid back as I could. You can eat birrea as a soup if you want; you just leave the veggies and cube up the meat rather than shred. If I were going to serve as a soup, I would cook with more liquid. 

[squib 1127]

More or less followed this recipe. I will add a chili de arbol or two next time. Or not--the kids probably won't eat it if I kick up the heat.

https://houseofyumm.com/beef-birria-and-birria-tacos/

 

[jimmyjazz 46473]

Pati Jinich, on whom I have a massive crush, just did a show on birria.  Lots of similarities with other braised dishes, but it looks delicious, nonetheless:

Pati's birria

 

 

[Firemans4Horn 18302]

Looks great but needs some consumé

[Hmbre97 6333]

I've used this recipe and it was pretty damn good

 

 

[ztejas 43741]

Overrated dish imo but your effort looks fantastic. 

Did you not do cheese on the outside of the taco? That's actually part of what I've found somewhat unappealing when I've had it. 

[Deej 77170]

5 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Pati Jinich, on whom I have a massive crush, just did a show on birria.  Lots of similarities with other braised dishes, but it looks delicious, nonetheless:

Pati's birria

 

 

Wood.

[South Austin 52687]

6 hours ago, Firemans4Horn said:

Looks great but needs some consumé

You want consumé on Pati Jinich? We all have our fetishes.

[Hmbre97 6333]

3 hours ago, South Austin said:

You want consumé on Pati Jinich? We all have our fetishes.

[Mo Horn 8899]

5 hours ago, South Austin said:

You want consumé on Pati Jinich? We all have our fetishes.

If take just about anything on Pati

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

On 1/9/2022 at 7:09 PM, squib said:

Much easier than I anticipated. Damn chuck roast and short ribs were crazy expensive.

Looks delicious. You've got to watch for the sales on roasts and short ribs. We do a drive by every time we're at the store and if they've got them on special we grab them up and toss them in the freezer. I make a braised short rib recipe my husband likes so I try and keep a couple of packages on hand. Our Kroger had them cheaper than HEB two weeks ago, but yes, they've definitely gone up.

[Pescado_Rojo 19453]

On 1/9/2022 at 7:44 PM, RMac5 said:

Covid seems to have beef prices through the roof.  Those tacos look great, been wanting to make them too.

Which is crazy, because the price of beef cattle hasn't really been great lately. 

[Gene Parmesan 4022]

Stuff like this was a lot more fun when you weren't spending $50+ on meat for taco night.

[Storm the Field 5305]

6 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Which is crazy, because the price of beef cattle hasn't really been great lately. 

Much like with wood (Timber is cheap, lumber is expensive). 

Slaughterhouses can't keep up with demand and keep getting hitting with COVID outbreaks. Same story with sawmills.