Good morning everyone!

Hope you enjoyed last week’s “Boots on the Ground” travelogue. I always enjoy doing those. Not quite as much as I enjoy the experience but it’s cool as fuck to be able to relive the experience by writing about it for you all.

We’re back in the gravy business today though. Back to the shit we do best.

As some of you know I not only cook and write this here Sunday Gravy thing, I also stay current on food trends and food gadgets and the like. It’s a tough job but that’s what I’m here for.

Our menu today features a “trending” food item. We will be making birria and “quesabirria” tacos.

Birria has been starting to get it’s day in the spotlight lately with even some of the fast food Mexican food chains getting involved.

For the record I would like to clearly state that if there is a food debate between Del Taco and Taco Bell, I am team Del Taco. Clearly, unequivocally, no fucking doubt. Period. End of sentence.

That being said the homemade shit is clearly the way to go.

PLUS it gives me another menu item to add to my already ridiculous Mexican food curriculum. No shit. I’ve got a BUNCH of them if you are willing to do the search.

For the uninitiated to the world of birria, the beef version is basically “Guero” birria.

Real authentic mexican birria is made with GOAT.

Fact dropped.

Now that every pseudo-Mexican food chain is offering “birria” it has been further americanized by using beef instead of goat. Yes, we’re furthering the issue right here today on Sunday Gravy by using beef.

And also yes, I’ve had authentic birria made from goat and it was delicious. Gamey for sure but still delicious. 

Birria is basically stewed meat, braised slowly with some chilies, onion, garlic and spices. It’s then shredded and can be served as is in a bowl with some tortillas and a few toppings of choice OR it can be made in to tacos.

We are making tacos today.

Yes, I was of course inspired by my recent taco addiction that we’ve already extensively discussed.

Fuck man, I had them again just last week.

I may need therapy but I don’t even give a SHIT.

Let’s get this party going shall we?

Birria Tacos!

recipe courtesy Houseofyumm.com

7-8 cups hot water or stock

2-3 lbs chuck roast cut into 4 large chunks

1-2 lbs short ribs (bone in) or back ribs bone in

1 large white onion dry skins removed, cut in half crosswise

1 garlic bulb – cut the narrow top off, no need to peel

1 carrot cut in half crosswise, then cut in half (4 large pieces of carrot)

5 bay leaves dried

8 guajillo chiles stems cut off and seeds removed

3 tbsp chicken bouillon

1-2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp mexican oregano

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)

For the tacos you’ll need

12-16 corn tortillas

Reserved beef fat

Good Mexican melting cheese like asadero or 4 cheese Mexican blend

White onion finely minced

Cilantro finely minced

Squeeze of lime – ENTIRELY OPTIONAL

 

We start by using a couple of quality cuts of beef. Both chuck roast AND short ribs. Goddamnit is that $27 dollars worth of meat? Jesus, every fucking thing is stupid expensive any more.

Ah hell, it’s worth it. This shit is going to work already. Sometimes you can just tell by the recipe and the ingredients.

Since we’re going all Mexican on the cuisine scene today we may as well get a pot of beans going too.

For our “secret” ingredient today, reflect back to our lamb qorma recipe. If you remember correctly I made a little side action with the lamb bones…

from the primary cuisine to make this.

Lamb stock! We will be using this along with enough hot water to make our 7-8 cups of cooking liquid.

Concept here is to add a bit of gaminess from the lamb stock in order to pay just the slightest homage to the goat version of birria.

Grab a whole head of garlic and chop the top off.

Don’t worry we’ll squeeze out the garlic cloves later. Add it to all of the other veggies in the pot.

Cut the beef up into chunks.

Damn. That’s a good looking slab of chuck roast!

Let’s meet our special guest for the day.

Guajillo chilies! For those of you who don’t fuck around with the heat as much as I do, don’t panic. These chilies are actually a little sweet and fruity with only a slight kick of heat. If you want to bring up the heat add some chile de arbol. Guajillos are a lot more tame. They are also excellent in salsas.

Add the chilies and the water/stock to the pot.

Slap a lid on there and get to simmering.

After an hour or so remove the carrot, garlic, onion and chilies. We’re going to blend these bastards up so let them cool a bit.

NOW you can squeeze the garlic cloves from their paper sacks. It’s a hell of a lot easier when they’ve cooled off though.

The meat can continue to simmer along while we do this part.

Then we blend.

If you have trouble getting the veggies to blend, just add a little water until the blender engages.

Now we dump the blender contents back in the pot.

Put a cockeyed lid on there then simmer for two more hours.

Let’s see how them beans are doing.

Looking sexy.

When the birria has cooked and is nice and tender we’ll separate the birria meat from the consomme.

Let’s get a look at that consomme.

Kind of makes you want to just grab a ladle and start drinking it doesn’t it?

You could too!

Since we’re using a whole bunch of saved ingredients from previous episodes, how about one more?

This shit?

Yep. Pure beef fat from our prime rib episode. Why, to cook our tacos in of course!

Before we start on the tacos, take an immersion blender to the beans a few times.

Just a pulse or two, we’re not trying to make fucking bean dip over here.

For proper taco prep we will be using the “Two Tortilla Method” [Patent pending.]

Corn tortillas obviously. The bottom tortilla is scattered with a small bit of cheese – yes you can absolutely over cheese this step so use caution – while the next tortilla…

gets the birria application. It will take a few tries before you get your meat and cheese ratios right.

This will go into a skillet that has some of our hot melted beef fat in it.

For proper fatty taco preparation!

Drop the whole thing in for a minute or so.

Love the chunk of beef fat just hanging out in the skillet there for decoration.

While still slightly pliable, fold the taco over.

When both sides are toasty remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain some of the grease.

Go ahead and give it a bite. I won’t stop you.

Now, since I’m only one person in the kitchen and still only equipped with just the two hands, and I’m only cooking one taco at a time, you’re going to want to set up a “birria station” for proper taco consumption.

This way you can dress up and devour each taco as they come out of the grease.

One thing you will absolutely want to do is this.

Use that consomme dammit! USE IT WELL!

These would be fun to make if you had a couple of friends around to maybe assist with the preparation. For one person, the taco step is a bit of work.

These tacos are SO goddamn good. Maybe even better than my new “taco addiction” restaurant.

I did encounter the dreaded “Now I’m too fucking tired to eat properly” situation, which sometimes happens to cooks when they’re doing a laborious menu.

Times like these I’ll just grab a beer, maybe sit outside for a few minutes to cool off and basically chill. The hunger WILL return I promise.

You can reheat this shit just fine and the leftovers are even better the next day.

Absolutely fucking delicious menu right here.

Now I understand why a lot of folks just serve the birria in a bowl in it’s consomme. The taco step is some work, Jack.

Please try this out. This would be great for a family gathering.

“You want to do a taco night? I got your taco night, RIGHT HERE!”

Enjoy this one people. It’s a beauty.

Thanks as always for being here. You folks are the fucking best.

Be well and I’ll see you next week.

PEACE!