Authentic Mexican Birria Recipe 3 Methods

BEEF BIRRIA

Steps:

• Season the meat with salt and pepper, then place in a large baking dish.
• Clean and devein the peppers. Slightly toast them over a medium heat, making sure you do not burn them (burned peppers make the dish taste bitter). Soak peppers in a cup of hot water for 20 minutes. Roast the onion and garlic and place in your blender.
• Toast the whole cloves, cumin seeds, and black peppercorns (this is a quick step that only takes a few seconds). Place them in your blender along with the roasted tomatoes, herbs, onion, cinnamon and the vinegar.
• Once peppers are soft, drain, add to the blender and puree until you have a smooth sauce. Add a few tablespoons of water only if your blender is having a hard time processing it. Season the sauce with salt.
• Pour the sauce over the meat, making sure it is covered all over with this sauce of dried peppers and spices. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours to allow all the meat to absorb the flavors. SEE NOTES about adding more water.
• Preheat the oven to 350º F. Bake the meat in the baking dish covered with the aluminum foil for about 4 hours or until it is fork-tender.

AUTHENTIC MEXICAN BIRRIA RECIPE

Steps:

• Season the meat with salt, pepper, and cumin
• Cut open the dried chiles with scissors and remove the seeds
• Fry the dried chiles with a small amount of oil in a frying pan for 2-3 minutes, moving constantly so they don't burn. Set aside
• Add the chiles from the previous step to a small pot with boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until softened.
• In the same frying pan where you fried the chiles, add 1 tablespoon of oil and cook the onions and tomatoes until they are browned. Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and all of the remaining spices except for the ground cumin and ginger. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, moving it around often.
• Add the chiles (including the water), the ingredients from the previous step, and the ginger, cumin, apple cider vinegar and water to a blender and blend until smooth. It will still be pretty thick, but that is fine. Strain and set aside the resulting sauce for the next step.
• Pour the sauce over the meat in a large bowl and cover. If using the oven or stovetop methods, you will want to marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight. If using the electric pressure cooker option, you can marinate it, but it isn't necessary.
• Follow the cooking instructions according to your preferred method below.
• Add the meat with the marinade to a large stockpot and cook over medium heat, covered, for about three hours, or until the meat falls off the bones and is easy to shred.
• Add the meat with the marinade to a large oven-safe dish and cover with aluminum foil and cook at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 2 hours or until the meat is easy to shred.
• Add the meat with the marinade (or just the meat and the marinade separately if you chose not to marinate it) to the pot of the electric pressure cooker.
• Follow instructions for your electric pressure cooker to bring it to high pressure and cook for 45 minutes. Release pressure naturally for 5 minutes and then use the quick pressure release option to release the rest of the pressure. Remove the lid per instructions and the meat will be tender and ready to shred.
• Remove the meat and shred it. You can then serve it over the soup made from the sauce that the meat cooked in or you can serve it with tortillas as tacos with cilantro, lime, onions, and salsa.

BIRRIA DE RES TACOS (BEEF BIRRIA TACOS)

Steps:

• Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Add guajillo, ancho, and arbol chile peppers; boil for 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat and allow peppers to soak until cool. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the water.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Rinse meat and pat dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper.
• Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add meat and cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Line a heavy cast-iron grill pan or griddle with aluminum foil and place over high heat. Arrange tomatoes in a single layer on top. Grill until tomato skin is burned on all sides and begins to peel, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Combine soaked chile peppers, cooked tomatoes, vinegar, garlic, 2 teaspoons black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, thyme, marjoram, oregano, and salt to taste in a blender. Pour in reserved 1/4 cup of chile water; blend until smooth.
• Strain chile sauce through a mesh strainer and pour over the browned meat in the Dutch oven, turning roast so it is completely covered with sauce. Cover the Dutch oven and place in the preheated oven.
• Bake, basting meat every 45 minutes with the sauce, until birria begins to fall apart, 3 to 4 hours. Remove lid and bake uncovered until birria is crispy on top, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, cover with 2 layers of aluminum foil, and allow to rest in a warm area for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, warm tortillas on a griddle. Fill each tortilla with birria and top with chopped onion and cilantro.

MEXICAN BIRRIA RECIPE (GOAT OR BEEF STEW)

Steps:

• Heat a large pan to medium heat and add the dried peppers. Dry toast them in the hot pan 1-2 minutes per side, until the skins darken.
• Remove from heat and add the toasted peppers to a large bowl. Cover with hot water and steep 20 minutes, or until softened.
• While the peppers are rehydrating, heat the olive oil in the same pan to medium heat.
• Add the onion and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes to soften.
• Add the garlic and cook another 1 minute, stirring.
• Add the cooked onion, tomatoes and garlic to a food processor.
• Remove the softened chilies and add to the food processor, but reserve the soaking liquid.
• Add the seasonings to the food processor along with the vinegar and 1 cup beef stock. Process until smooth. It should be fairly thick. You can strain if you'd like for a smoother sauce. See the RECIPE NOTES below.
• Cut the lamb (or beef) into large chunks and add to a large bowl.
• Pour the birria sauce over them and rub it into the meat. Cover and marinate the meat in the refrigerator for 2 hours minimum. Overnight is better.
• When you're ready to cook, add the meat with all of the marinade, the chopped roasted tomatoes and remaining 3 cups beef broth to a large pot. Cover and cook at medium heat for 3 hours, or until the meat is fork tender and easy to shred. Add more beef stock or some of the reserved soaking liquid if needed for a soupier birria.
• Serve the braised birria into bowls as a soup, or shred the meat and serve it up onto tortillas as birria tacos, with the reserved liquid consome from the pot as a side soup/broth.

MEXICAN BIRRIA

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Toast all of the chiles on a hot griddle or in a skillet over medium heat until browned, but not burned.
• Remove the seeds and veins and discard; place the chiles in a bowl, cover them with very hot water, and let sit for 15 to 20 minutes.
• When the chiles have rehydrated, drain them.
• Place the chilies and vinegar in a blender and process to make a paste.
• In a small bowl, mix together all of the rub ingredients. Rub the meat well with this mixture.
• Coat the meat with half of the chile paste.
• Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the meat marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Pour the 1 cup of water into a Dutch oven or deep casserole dish. Add the coarsely chopped onion, bay leaves, chopped garlic, and the remaining chile paste.
• Place the meat on a rack or steamer basket that sits just above the liquid mixture.
• Place the lid on the pot, making sure that it covers tightly, and bake for 4 hours.
• Remove the meat from the Dutch oven to a cutting board. Cut or break into pieces a little larger than bite size. Distribute the meat among 6 to 8 bowls. Add a bit of the broth to each serving, more if serving as a stew, less if for tacos.
• Serve as a soupy stew or as a taco filling with warm corn tortillas, garnished with the chopped cilantro and onion.