Birria Bowl
Birria Tacos are some of the best ever, and I will fight about it. I’d rather eat it, of course, and so I’ll share my recipe so you can swoon too. And while I’ll never deny myself tacos if they’re what I want- let me share a secret- put it in a bowl, eat it like soup, and tell me it’s not absolutely decadent.
Birria Bowl
This recipe does take a bit of prep, but I promise you it is WELL worth the effort. Once it’s in the pot, you can forget about it for a few hours- if you can ignore the incredible smell of it cooking, that is.
Ingredients
Beef roast. I use beef chuck and it’s great. In fact traditionally, birria is made of cheaper meats.
2-3 quarts beef bone broth
6 dry chilies- ancho and/or guajillo peppers are best.
Fresh onion, tomato, garlic, and bell or sweet peppers if you like.
Spices: Mexican oregano, cinnamon stick, salt, cumin, bay leaves and pepper, and LOTS of cilantro.
Crock pot or a Dutch oven, and a good blender/food processor.
Put it together
If you like it hot, remove some but not all seeds from your chilies, by ripping the tops off your dried chilies and shaking them out. If you’re more on the mild side, remove as many seeds as you can. In a bowl, place your chilies, and cover with approximately 2 cups of hot water. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove chilies and set aside the water- you’ll use it later.
Quarter up the onion, tomatoes and optional bell peppers and peel the garlic. Oil a pan or your Dutch oven with a little olive oil, and heat on medium. Place the onion, tomatoes and peppers in the pan and roast them until they’re getting a nice toastiness to the outsides and are soft. When they’re quite soft and beginning to fall apart, remove them from the pan with the juices and place them into your blender or food processor, adding the soaked chilies, and about 1/2 cup of the chili “tea,” you made when you soaked them. Blend until you have a loose paste.
Grab your meat, and begin coating it with the chili and veggie paste you made. Coat thickly and then cover and let it rest for 20-30 minutes.
Preheat your oven, 300° or if you’re moving this into a crockpot, heat it on low. Use some of the beef bone broth to get the remaining chili paste out of your blender/food processor, and add it, and the roast to your pot. Add in the spices and the garlic cloves, cover and let it cook for 3-4 hours, adding more bone broth as needed to keep the meat well hydrated. You want it to be falling apart in the pot, easy to shred if need be. Add salt to taste if needed. Remember to remove the remains of the bay leaves and cinnamon stick before eating, lest you chomp into one unknowingly.
My favorite way to eat this is in a bowl, maybe with a small bit of black beans, or rice, or even some sweet potatoes would be good, a sprinkle of Monterey jack cheese, and maybe a little sour cream if I made it real spicy. It’s so good it feels like it’s bad.
Comments