Birria Tacos
Birria tacos, if you haven’t heard of them yet all over social media and the internet, is traditionally an addictive sweet, sour, slightly spicy, and utterly savory Mexican beef stew that’s slow cooked until the beef is tender and fall-apart juicy and delicious. Someone had the bright idea to stuff this beefy goodness into a taco shell, and then dip the whole mess into the stew and fry it up. They blew up after that, and the rest is history. But unlike most fad foods, Birria tacos are so good you’ll be making them every week.
It’s really in dipping the tortilla into the stew and frying it to a crisp that the magic happens, so don’t skip this step. Tacos are good but very few people who don’t live in the southwest know that tacos only become truly transcendent once you cook the tortilla in fat. Traditionally they do this in butter or lard, but here we use the fat from the top of the stew to give it that extra kick. Once you bite into a crisp fried taco shell, you’ll never go back. You can make this stew any way you like, but I prefer it in the instant pot because it’s so much faster, and keeps more of the flavor locked inside the dish. Those yummy smells that fill up your house when you slow cook for hours? Those are flavor particles, and that means that’s flavor that’s not in your soup. But, regardless of how you make this, it’ll come out absolutely delicious, so pick whatever method is best for you.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb beef shank
- 1 lb cab sirloin or other roast/steak
Marinade
- 3 dried guajillo peppers see notes
- 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
Stew
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 whole cloves
- chicken stock to cover sodium free, about 1 quart
Tacos
- 4" corn or flour tortillas as needed, 12-16
- 1 medium onion chopped, optional
- 1 bunch cilantro chopped, optional
- 1 cup mexican cheese blend grated, optional