Our Birria Tacos Are Dripping With Brothy Goodness
These birria tacos showcase shredded beef in a chile-laden broth, with toppings to brighten your plate and your mood.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hey y'all, it's Justin here in the Delish Kitchen studios.
00:02 For a long time, birria was kind of that
00:04 like enormously famous viral sensation.
00:07 You couldn't get on TikTok without seeing like eight videos
00:10 of different birria recipes and dipping videos,
00:13 and for good reason.
00:14 So I'm gonna teach you a basic recipe.
00:16 Once you learn this,
00:17 you can apply it to all different types of things.
00:18 We're gonna be making quesadillas,
00:19 but you could make ramen, pizza, nachos,
00:22 whatever you want.
00:23 Let's get into it.
00:24 I developed this recipe a little while back
00:26 with the help of one of New York City's
00:28 premier birria chefs,
00:30 Jose Moreno from Birria Alambia.
00:32 He was super helpful in educating me.
00:34 I'd had a lot of birria,
00:35 but I needed to know the ins and outs,
00:36 so I wanna give him a huge shout out
00:38 just at the beginning of this.
00:39 The backbone of birria is dried chilies,
00:42 which is funny because it's not a very spicy dish.
00:46 What birria highlights is the incredible earthy,
00:50 floral, fruity flavors that come from dried chilies,
00:54 and it's all about balancing what types of flavors
00:57 are getting from different types,
00:58 'cause not all dried chilies are built the same.
00:59 Some are super spicy, some aren't,
01:02 and these are mostly mild
01:03 and bring a couple things to the table.
01:05 We're working with three chilies here.
01:06 The primary one is gonna be guajillos.
01:08 These are very common dried chilies in Mexico,
01:11 and they're very commonly used in birria.
01:13 The reason we're using these is 'cause they're gonna
01:15 impart a little bit of sweetness,
01:17 a bit of fruitiness, and some floral notes as well.
01:20 It's really nice.
01:21 We're also gonna be using pasilla peppers.
01:23 These are actually dried poblanos,
01:25 so if you've had poblanos,
01:26 you know they're not super spicy,
01:27 and when they're dried in this way,
01:29 they end up becoming almost like chocolatey.
01:32 It's really, it kinda smells like mole or chocolate.
01:36 It's really, really, really delicious.
01:37 The last ones we're gonna be using are morita peppers,
01:40 which are just dried and smoked jalapenos.
01:42 These are gonna be the only ones
01:43 that bring a little bit of heat.
01:44 They're also gonna bring a little bit of smoke.
01:46 Dried chilies are similar to whole spices in that
01:49 the best way to get the most flavor out of them
01:50 is to toast them.
01:51 So get them into a large Dutch oven over medium heat.
01:55 We're gonna toast them for like two to three minutes,
01:57 until your whole house should smell like dried chilies.
02:00 Everyone should know that you're making birria today
02:01 when they walk in.
02:02 These are nice and toasty and pliable, you can tell.
02:06 So I'm gonna get them into a bowl,
02:08 and then we are going to cover them with water,
02:11 boiling water.
02:12 That's gonna help to really soften them up,
02:14 and again, help to bloom those flavors,
02:15 and create like a chili tea
02:18 that we're gonna use in the sauce.
02:20 It's gonna sit for 20 minutes
02:21 until it's like totally soaked through and hydrated.
02:24 Birria is typically made with goat,
02:26 which I really love,
02:27 but I understand that that can be a problem for some people.
02:29 So this recipe is for beef,
02:32 and what cuts of beef really matter.
02:34 The first cut you're gonna wanna focus on
02:36 is something bone-in.
02:37 That's gonna be your oxtails, your short ribs,
02:40 your beef shank.
02:41 That bone is gonna impart a ton of beefiness
02:44 and richness and flavor.
02:46 Next, we want something that is gonna be like
02:48 the bulk of the meat of the dish.
02:50 Still flavorful, still important for it to be high quality,
02:52 but it's a little less important than it be bone-on.
02:54 So these are where like something like
02:56 if you wanna spend a little bit more money,
02:57 brisket would be awesome.
02:58 That's what we have here.
02:59 You could use like a beef chuck roast as well.
03:01 Like any good braise, we're gonna brown this off first,
03:04 but before we even do that,
03:05 we gotta season this pretty heavily
03:07 with a lot of salt and pepper.
03:09 Get on all the sides, get in all the nicks and crannies.
03:11 Really do your due diligence here.
03:13 You don't want something that is under seasoned.
03:15 To sear off this meat,
03:16 you're gonna have to work in batches,
03:17 but you can use as big of a Dutch oven as you want.
03:20 We're gonna have a bunch in here, about two pounds.
03:22 So into your Dutch oven,
03:23 we're gonna go in with some neutral oil,
03:25 for medium high heat.
03:27 Add in your meat, basically brown all the edges.
03:29 You want a good, nice sear for this.
03:31 Developing color on the outside.
03:33 All your meat now is going to help you in the future.
03:35 Especially with something like short ribs,
03:36 like we're using here,
03:37 they have a lot of dimensions and sides that you can get to.
03:39 So we wanna amplify the amount of caramelization
03:42 we can get on them.
03:43 The brisket's nice and browned
03:44 and these short ribs look amazing.
03:46 I'm gonna take them off the heat.
03:48 Do not clean this pan.
03:50 All that like brown goodness is in there
03:52 and we're gonna want that in our birria.
03:54 So definitely do not clean this
03:55 before we move on.
03:56 But our chilies have been soaking
03:58 and I think we're ready to make the base of our sauce.
04:00 We just did the brunt of the work
04:01 and now we're just gonna blend together
04:03 all of these ingredients into a luscious paste.
04:05 Pour it over our meat with some water
04:07 and then get it braised
04:08 and that's literally all we have to do.
04:09 So we have our soaked chilies.
04:12 These have been going for about 20 minutes.
04:13 They're nice and pliable.
04:14 We're gonna get them in here
04:15 along with about a cup and a half of that chili liquid.
04:18 As I said before, it's kind of like a chili tea.
04:20 It's gonna impart even more of that flavor.
04:22 We're also gonna add tomatoes,
04:24 a bunch of garlic, cumin seeds,
04:26 oregano, cinnamon, bay leaves, and some cloves.
04:30 You wanna blend it until it's a thick but pourable paste.
04:32 You might need to add a little bit more
04:33 of that chili liquid if you need to.
04:35 This smells amazing.
04:37 I would like, it would be crazy.
04:39 I could see myself drinking this
04:40 and I would be very, very happy.
04:42 It's not very spicy smelling
04:43 but it does smell like chili.
04:45 It's like a punch you in the face big thing of chilies.
04:47 That's exactly what we want here.
04:48 So we're gonna go into our pot
04:51 with our meat that has been seared off.
04:53 Put everything on in there.
04:55 Cover it with our chili paste mixture.
04:57 And then you wanna add enough water
04:58 just to cover all of the meat.
05:00 It's gonna reduce down a lot during cooking, which is good.
05:03 But we want enough water in there
05:05 so that everything stays hydrated
05:06 and you have enough left so we have that consomme,
05:08 that dipping sauce at the end of cooking.
05:10 We're gonna put in a quartered onion.
05:13 That's just gonna add a little bit more
05:14 extra aromatics in here.
05:16 Let it float on in.
05:17 We're gonna wanna add a big pinch of salt here.
05:18 We want this to be well seasoned
05:20 and this is the perfect time to do it.
05:22 And then we're gonna bring everything to a simmer.
05:24 We're gonna top this up and put it in a 350 degree oven
05:27 for about four to four and a half hours.
05:29 You wanna cook this until the meat is falling apart tender.
05:32 I have a little secret though.
05:33 I made a batch of this birria last night
05:36 and then it's in this oven right down here.
05:38 It has been cooking away.
05:39 It has been making this kitchen smell incredible.
05:42 I have not looked at this in a couple hours.
05:45 I'm very excited.
05:47 Wait for this steam reveal.
05:48 Oh yeah.
05:51 Oh, this looks amazing and it smells even better.
05:55 You know that the meat is gonna be fully cooked
05:57 to a perfect doneness when you can reach
05:59 into your oxtail or your short rib
06:01 and the bone comes out this clean.
06:03 This is perfect.
06:04 It was in there for about like four hours and 25 minutes.
06:07 I can put these tongs into this brisket
06:10 and start like shredding it like that.
06:12 That's how you know.
06:13 So we're gonna transfer just the meat to a large bowl
06:16 and we're gonna start shredding it up.
06:18 You can toss any of the remaining onion that's in there.
06:20 Get it nice and shredded and we're gonna hold
06:22 onto that liquid and then we're gonna make
06:24 these quesadilla tacos.
06:25 I've made myself a little station.
06:27 We have the shredded beef.
06:28 We have a little bit of that consomme,
06:30 the liquid that I separated and strained out
06:33 and now it looks gorgeous.
06:35 There's like a beautiful layer of dark red fat
06:38 on top of it.
06:39 We're gonna utilize that in the cooking
06:40 of these quesadilla tacos, quesadillas.
06:43 They're like small quesadillas.
06:44 The process is pretty straightforward.
06:45 On half of the skillet, you're gonna add
06:47 about a third of a cup of beef.
06:49 You could add a little bit of fat from the pot
06:50 or just a little bit of vegetable oil.
06:51 We just wanna crisp it up a little bit.
06:53 Then you're gonna take a tortilla
06:54 and kind of gently wave it through the fat
06:57 on top of the consomme in that pot
07:00 and we're gonna add that to the skillet.
07:01 We're gonna add a little bit of cheese.
07:03 You could use mozzarella or a Mexican blend.
07:05 That would be maybe the most easy to find
07:07 but if you can find it, I love using Oaxaca cheese.
07:11 It kinda looks like this crazy little ball.
07:13 It is basically Mexican mozzarella, super delicious
07:16 and it kind of tears like string cheese.
07:19 It makes me feel like I'm a kid.
07:20 It comes apart in these little strings
07:23 and it's very fun to play with
07:25 but it's also really, really delicious.
07:27 That cheese is gonna melt
07:28 and once the beef is browned and seared,
07:30 you're gonna put the beef on top of our melted cheese,
07:34 add a little bit of onion, a little cilantro,
07:36 fold over the tortilla and then just cook
07:38 until we're nice and crisped up and you're done.
07:40 You can serve them up with some lime wedges,
07:42 a little bit more onion and cilantro.
07:44 Don't you dare think about serving these
07:46 without a cup of consomme.
07:48 That is half of the effort right there.
07:50 It's super luscious and delicious
07:51 and filled with all that chili flavor.
07:53 Not only are you gonna wanna eat it with a spoon
07:55 but you should be dunking everything in it.
07:57 Everything on the table should be going into that cup.
07:59 It's been many hours.
08:00 This is burning hot.
08:02 I'm doing a good dip.
08:04 Oh my God, I'm psyched.
08:05 There's a restaurant in New York
08:10 called Five Napkin Burger.
08:12 Like you have to use five napkins to get into it.
08:14 This should be called 20 Napkin Beeria.
08:16 You should be having juice dripping down your face,
08:18 down your arms while you're snacking.
08:20 You should be sipping on this cup of consomme.
08:24 It is so delectable.
08:25 And that consomme, it truly just like so big, bright flavors.
08:30 I understand why everyone is so, so obsessed with this.
08:34 It's warming.
08:35 It is like definition comfort food.
08:37 So delicious.
08:38 All right, y'all.
08:39 I hope that you feel a little bit more confident
08:41 that you can make something
08:42 that has become so famous on the internet.
08:44 So for this and more viral recipes,
08:46 stick around here on delish.com.
08:48 (gentle music)
08:50 (gentle music)