Birria Tacos

Sharing this in the hope that some of you may find it useful.

After 50+ years of eating Tex-Mex food I'm not sure sure my opinions are valid but I am going to share them and the recipe that I used to to cook this Birria Taco meat.

I will tell you right at the beginning that I failed to get anywhere close to the amount of chilies called for in the recipe. I had previously stemmed, seeded and coarsely chopped the dried Ancho Peppers that I had on hand and probably got about 1/6th of what is needed to make this semi-authentic. You can however build on what I am posting an make it to your taste.

Other than the amount & kind of chilies I feel fairly confident that this small batch recipe is fairly close to what it should be.

I tasted the meat as I shredded it. Later I ate it 3 different ways:
on a pan fried corn shell cooked in the meat grease with fresh Cilantro, raw onions, and shredded pepperjack cheese,
in a soft, warmed flour tortilla burrito style with a 4 blend Mexican cheese,
as a slider taco (nacho) on a crisp, warmed Aldi Big Dipper chip with a 4 blend Mexican cheese

The pan fried corn tortilla was my least favorite. I failed to achieve any crisp to the shell and that was a lot of grease. If you watch a few videos you will notice that most use a double tortilla and I suggest you do it that way. A single tends to not hold together.

I froze 2 meals worth of meat and sauce so that I can revisit this. My initial summary follows. I think after 50+ years of Tex-Mex I lean towards liking that flavor over this flavor; however , this meat is quite tasty and could be enjoyed on a store bought taco shell or with a warm flour tortillia for a healthier meal. The sauce might be made without the meat and might add a unique flavor to fried, Tex-Mex, ground beef.

--------------------------------------- recipe as made with comments ----------------------------------
1.5 lbs Brisket, cut into thick strips & pan seared
16 dry grams Ancho chili peppers *
1 cup hearty beef stock
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup cold water
1 Cup tomato puree
2 Bay leaves (forgot)
1 medium Onion, coarsely chopped
5/8 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Lime juice
2 tsp white vinegar
4 cloves Garlic **
4 tbsp Brown Sugar (forgot)***

* ground to order, not nearly enough
**(4 rounded tsp from jar of minced)
*** meat tasted sweet after cooking without sugar, final judgement reserved for now.

After searing the meat, add a little neutral cooking oil if needed and sweat the onions & garlic. Add to pot.

De-glazed the pan with half cup of water. Dissolved chili powder, salt, pepper in the pan. Heat for bit to color the water. Added to cooker with the all the ingredients except the meat & mixed well. Did this way to bring out the color in the chili powder.

Added meat & any water need to cover. Cooked on high for 45 minutes (until it simmered).
Reduced to low heat and cooked for an additional 5 hours, 45 minutes.

Removed about half the liquid when the meat began to shrink (about 3 hours in) to keep the slow pot hot liquid reserved.

Rotated the floaters to bottom of the pot a couple of times during the slow cook

Meat removed, liquid reserved. Meat shredded and lightly chopped. Tightly covered to Fridge.

All liquid combined, covered & stored cold to allow the grease to rise to the top.

Grease will be skimmed and used to fry the shells. Liquid will be filtered and used for the sauce.

For eating the next day a small batch was warmed with the sauce added back in and warm filtered sauce served for dipping.
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Sorry no pics but here is a video to show how the pros do it on a large scale.