This beef birria taco recipe is to die for. It takes some time but is well worth it. We are going to use beef short ribs for this recipe and cook them in a sauce made from guajillo and ancho chilies (with some secret ingredients of course).
Birria is a Mexican dish that can also be made with goat, beef or pork. It can also be served as a soup. Once you have your shredded meat you simply add the broth to it and serve it with lemon juice, chopped onions and cilantro. You can also serve it with a reduced sauce. This is what we are going to do. We will shred our beef and mix it in with our reduced sauce.
The salsa we are going to make for these tacos is very spicy as it is made with chile arbol. You do not need to add this salsa to your tacos in order to enjoy them. However, if you like spicy food I highly recommend it.
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Make sure to clean your short ribs well for this recipe. Remove most of the excess fat — leave a little bit for flavor — and remove the membrane from the back of the bone. Try and purchase the beefiest short ribs you can find and be patient. These need to cook for at least three hours in order to be tender and at their best.
This is what you are going to need for this exquisite beef birria taco recipe:
Serves eight
FOR THE CHILI SAUCE:
8 dry Guajillo chilies
2 dry Ancho chilies
A small piece of peeled white onion
2 large or 4 small peeled garlic cloves
1 small piece (about ½ inch) of peeled fresh ginger
½ tsp. ground cloves
8 whole black peppercorns
Stem and seed the dried chili pods and place them in a pot. Cover them with water and let them simmer for about 20 minutes. Don’t worry if you have some seeds in there. Transfer the hydrated chilies into a blender and add about 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, ground cloves and peppercorns. Blend until you have a nice uniform paste.
6 pounds of beefy short ribs – bone in
½ a small white onion – peeled
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves – peeled and smashed
½ a tsp. of dried thyme
1 tsp. oregano
Salt to taste
Trim the ribs by removing the extra fat and the fascia from the back. Leave a little bit of fat on them. Place them in a large pot with the onion, bay leaves and garlic cloves. Strain the blended chilies over the ribs, adding some of the soaking liquid to the sieve. Rinse out the blender with some water and add it to the sieve as well. Don’t leave any chilies in the blender. Once you are finished add enough water to cover the meat.
Add the thyme, the oregano and the salt and mix well. Push the meat down into the pot and cover it with the liquid. Bring the pot to a boil, cover it and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the ribs for about three hours until the meat is super tender.
Remove the cooked beef from the pot shred it, getting rid of bones or any little pieces of fat. While you are doing this allow the remaining sauce in the pot to boil until it is thickened and reduced, about 13 minutes. Return the shredded beef into the reduced sauce and mix it all well.
FOR THE SALSA:
10 dry chile Arbol pods
2 tomatoes
2 peeled garlic cloves
a pinch of oregano
Salt to taste
½ a TBS oil
Place the chile Arbol and the tomatoes in a small bowl and bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes until the pods are rehydrated. Place the tomatoes and the chilies in a blender, add the oregano and salt and blend them.
Heat the oil in a skillet and add the blended chilies and tomato. Add a little more salt and mix well. Simmer for about five minutes, stirring occasionally and turn off the heat. Cool down the salsa and serve it in your tacos.
TO ASSEMBLE YOUR TACOS:
Corn tortillas — warmed
Shredded beef
Salsa if using
Finely chopped white onion
Finely chopped cilantro
Place two tortillas, one on top of the other, on a plate and add a generous amount of meat in the middle. Top with the salsa, onions and cilantro. Enjoy.
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