Beef Birria Tacos

Name: Beef Birria Tacos
Cook time: 3 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1.2 kg beef shin or short rib; 4 dried guajillo chillies; 3 dried ancho chillies; 2 dried chiles de árbol; 4 tomatoes; 1 onion; 6 cloves garlic; 2 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon; 3 cloves; 2 bay leaves; 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 1.5 litres beef stock; 18 corn tortillas; 250 g Oaxaca or mozzarella cheese; 1 white onion and coriander, to serve; Salt

Beef braised in a dried chilli adobo, shredded, then folded into tortillas dipped in the fat and crisped. Consommé on the side for dipping.

🕐 210 min👥 6 servings🍽️ Main Course 🌮 Mexican

Nutrition Info (per serving)

820
Calories: 52g
Protein: 48g
Fat: 46g
Carbs

Vitamin AVitamin B12NiacinVitamin CIronZincSeleniumPhosphorus

Ingredients

1.2 kg beef shin or short rib
4 dried guajillo chillies
3 dried ancho chillies
2 dried chiles de árbol
4 tomatoes
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1.5 litres beef stock
18 corn tortillas
250 g Oaxaca or mozzarella cheese
1 white onion and coriander, to serve
Salt

Instructions

1Cut the beef into large 6 cm chunks and season generously with salt.
2Pull the stems from all the dried chillies and shake out most of the seeds. Toast them in a dry pan over medium heat for 30 seconds a side, until fragrant. Do not let them blacken — burnt chillies make the whole braise bitter.
3Cover the toasted chillies with boiling water and soak for 20 minutes.
4Meanwhile, char the tomatoes, the quartered onion and the unpeeled garlic in a dry pan over high heat for 8 minutes, turning, until blackened in patches.
5Peel the garlic and blend it with the tomatoes, onion, drained chillies, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, vinegar, 2 tsp salt and 200 ml of the stock until completely smooth. Push it through a sieve for a silkier consommé.
6Brown the beef in a heavy casserole over high heat in two batches, about 3 minutes a side, then set aside.
7Pour the adobo into the same pot and fry it for 5 minutes, stirring, until it darkens and thickens. Frying a blended chilli sauce rather than simply simmering it is what gives birria its depth.
8Return the beef, add the bay leaves and the remaining stock, and bring to a bare simmer.
9Cover and cook very gently for 3 hours, until the beef pulls apart with no resistance. It should never boil.
10Lift the beef out and shred it with two forks. Skim the bright red fat from the surface of the broth into a small bowl — this fat is what the tortillas get dipped in, and it is the point of the whole dish.
11Taste the remaining broth, season, and keep it hot. This is the consommé.
12Heat a griddle or frying pan over medium-high. Dip a tortilla into the reserved fat, lay it on the hot pan, scatter cheese and shredded beef over one half, and fold it over.
13Cook for 90 seconds a side, until the tortilla is crisp and the cheese has melted.
14Serve with chopped white onion, coriander and a small bowl of hot consommé for dipping.

Birria began as a goat stew from Jalisco. The taco version — dipped, griddled, served with a cup of the braising liquid — is newer and has spread further than the original ever did, for the obvious reason that it is very good.

Toast the chillies for thirty seconds

Guajillo brings brightness and colour, ancho brings dark raisiny depth, and chile de árbol brings the heat. All three are dried, and all three benefit from a brief toast that wakes up their oils.

Thirty seconds a side is the whole window. A dried chilli that turns black is bitter, and one bitter chilli will carry through three hours of braising and ruin the pot.

Fry the adobo

The blended chilli paste goes into the pot and gets fried before any liquid returns. It spits, it darkens from bright red to brick, and it thickens.

This is the same step as in chilaquiles and mole, and it is what separates a Mexican braise from a stew with chilli powder in it. Raw blended chilli simmered in stock tastes flat and slightly sharp; fried first, it tastes round and deep.

Beef shin, and three hours

Shin and short rib are full of collagen. Three hours at a bare simmer converts that collagen to gelatine, which is what makes the meat shreddable and gives the consommé its body and shine.

A rolling boil does the opposite — it tightens the muscle fibres and squeezes moisture out, giving you dry meat in a thin broth.

The fat is the technique

When the braise is done, a layer of brilliant red fat sits on top of the liquid, coloured by the chillies. Skim it off.

Dipping each tortilla in that fat before it hits the griddle does three things: it colours the taco red, it fries the tortilla rather than toasting it, and it carries chilli flavour into the shell itself. This is the step that makes a birria taco a birria taco.

The consommé is not a garnish

The remaining braising liquid, seasoned and served hot in a small cup, is meant for dipping. It is also the reason to make the full quantity of stock — you want liquid left over, not a dry pot.

Nutrition

Around 820 calories a serving with three tacos — this is a rich dish and there is no getting around that. Beef shin is an excellent source of iron, zinc and B12, and the long braise makes it very digestible.

Everything except the griddling is better made a day ahead. Refrigerating overnight also makes skimming the fat trivial, since it sets solid on top.

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