One of my favorite cuisines is Mexican. I love to go to Mexican restaurants and cook it at home. One of the first entrees I made was tacos. I got the ground beef, I seasoned it, then I added taco seasonings from El Paso, I diced onions in it, and smashed away at the meat with my fork. I let it simmer for a few minutes to let the flavor blend through while I put grease in another skillet to fry tortilla shells to a medium consistency. I thought I was that girl...lol Granted I was problem twelve or thirteen the first time I made them. I then moved up to nachos. Speaking of nachos, I've had some bomb card parties with a nacho smorgasbord.
You can imagine my dismay thirty something years later when I found out using ground meat is not authentic Mexican cuisine. This particular way of fixing tacos with ground meat topped with fried taco shell, lettuce and tomato is a Tex-Mex dish. Basically, Texans who created Mexican dishes based off authentic Mexican dishes but made American style.
I was introduced to Birria tacos and fell in love. This taco is made with shredded beef inside a corn tortilla shell dipped in the flavorful birria broth, then pan fried until crispy then dipped again in the broth. When I say this taco is the bomb, I mean it's the bomb. It takes longer to make than ground meat tacos, but it is so worth it. Really, once the meat is done the process time is about the same.
Here's what I did. I had a chuck roast. I put it in a crockpot, covered it with beef broth and then added all my seasonings (listed below). I let it cook for 6 hours till it was tender and easily shredded. I diced a sweet onion (Vidalia), queso fresco cheese and pulled the sprigs off of my cilantro. I got my flat cast iron skillet and heated with a little oil. You can use the oil in a spray can or just pour in enough oil to cover the skillet. I took my corn shells and dunked them in my broth with a pair of tongs. This is probably the most difficult part but not. The trick is to dunk it and fully submerge shell in broth but pull out immediately so that you don't over saturate the shell and cause it to fall apart. Fry for about 1-2 minutes on both sides. I forgot to mention earlier that I took out my meat and shredded with a fork and keep it in a separate container. I then assembled my tacos with the onions, cilantro, cheese and juice from a fresh lime. I grabbed a ladle and placed some of the broth in a bowl for dipping.
The Birria taco is delicious. I love the authentic flavors with the fresh cilantro. It's a great alternative to the Tex-Mex tacos we're used to.
Bon Appetit'
Seasonings: Garlic & Onion Powder, Salt & Pepper, Taco seasoning packet (of your choice), Tajin seasoning, Cumin, Garlic cloves (3 to 4), 2 cans of beef broth, a couple of tablespoons of Adobo sauce and 1 chipotle pepper.
If cooking from the spirit isn't quite your thing, here is a recipe to follow:
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