Tequila Beef Barbacoa (Braised Shredded Beef in a Zesty Tomato Sauce)

[HotSun]

This is a very good Mexican-style barbacoa, with lots of flavor and some good spicy heat. If you don't drink alcohol, don't worry about the tequila; the alcohol burns away pretty fast.

I will cook this outside in the summer in my Kamodo-style grill instead of the oven to keep from heating up the house, and it works famously. It can have a slightly funky smell while cooking (another reason to cook it outdoors), but the results are great. I found this recipe in the manual that came from a Dutch oven I bought from Aldi a few years ago, so credit goes to Chef Linsey, ALDI Test Kitchen. I do not follow the recipe exactly every time (see my Tips section) and I've modified the directions slightly for outdoor cooking.

Makes or Serves: 8

Takes:
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours, 20 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours, 35 minutes

Serve with:
It goes well with white rice, tortilla, sour cream, fresh chopped onions, greens, or just about anything you would serve with soft-shell tacos or stick in a burrito. Sour cream is great for cooling some of the heat. It also is good piled onto your favorite roll.

Special Tools:
Dutch oven or other heavy, oven-safe pan you can sear and braise in

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 3 pounds chuck roast
• 3 tablespoons 100% olive oil (not EVOO)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups tequila
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 7 ounce can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 10 ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F or setup your grill for 375° F, indirect heat
2. In a small bowl, stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and paprika. Sprinkle evenly over chuck roast.
3. In a large Dutch oven (pan), heat oil on high for 1 minute.
4. Reduce heat to medium and sear chuck roast on all sides, about 2 minutes each side.
5. Remove from pan and reserve.
6. Add onion and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes.
7. Add tequila and deglaze the pan
8. Add beef broth and deglaze, scraping up the good stuff from the bottom of the pan
9. Cook for another 5 minutes.
10. Add remaining ingredients and half of the cilantro, bring to a boil.
11. Return beef to pan and cover with the lid; put in the oven or on the grill for 3-4 hours until meat is tender and falling apart.
12. Remove beef from pan and place in a large bowl. Shred with two forks, discarding any pieces of fat.
13. With a spoon or ladle, skim fat from the sauce. Transfer sauce to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain sauce into bowl of shredded beef. Add remaining cilantro and stir to combine.
14. Serve in a tortilla or with your favorite Mexican sides.

Tips:

• Cheap tequila works great; I buy 1.5L bottles of the cheapest tequila I can find just for cooking this recipe
• This freezes well, as the sauce will cover the meat and prevent freezer burn. Of course, it might not last that long
• I do not use cilantro (can't stand the stuff), but I will substitute some parsley and/or oregano
• I add the garlic a little later after the onions start to get translucent so it doesn't burn
• I use bacon fat sometimes instead of olive oil
• Beef stock or base is okay if you don't have beef broth

Photos:
I only have one photo (may share more next time I make this), but here is what it looks like after braising and before shredding (step 12). Note the chipotle peppers along the edges and the chuck in the middle:

[barelfly]

Mmmmmm. Barbacoa! Thanks for sharing!

[MsTwiggy]

yeah that looks great!! I need to get a CI dutch oven, crazy I don't have one!!

[mcook2201]

Like many here I have more CI than any human needs (Least according to tha boss of the house). Grab a Dutch oven that is enamel; all the benefits of CI and much easier to clean. Think you will love it.

[TripleB]

Love trying new recipes. Will have to give this a try. Thanks for posting.

[WillTravelForFood]

this looks like a winner. Need to add to Paprika...

[WillTravelForFood]

Where you say "cover and bake or put on the grill for 3-4 hours"

Is that COVERED on the grill?

[HotSun]

Yes, covered on the grill, otherwise all the liquid will evaporate. I will edit to clarify that. In other words, it is braising, but using the grill/egg/Kamado as a heat source. My Dutch oven easily fits in my Kamander.

[WillTravelForFood]

HotSun so no benefit from any smoke source, if it's covered. That's fine, but good to know in advance.

You're just cooking outside to alleviate any in-house oven usage then.

[HotSun]

@WiilTravelForFood, absolutely. We had a heat index of 114 the other day, so the more cooking I can do outside, the better. Our upstairs gets incredibly hot on days like that. I do not add any wood for smoking since it doesn't add anything to the flavor, just lump charcoal and indirect heat. Plus, it's kind of a fun and challenging to braise over fire.

[rlozinak]

That looks Fantastic!

[djl]

Thanks, definitely giving this a try

[WayneT]

Thanks for sharing/posting this. On my to-cook list.

[58limited]

Looks great! I'll give it a go soon on one of my kamados. I'll probably leave the lid off of the pot for awhile to get some smoke in it, or pre-smoke the meat to 135^o or so instead of searing it.

[HotSun]

Wow, pre-smoke, what a great idea 58limited! I might give that a try, too.

[58limited]

OK, I pulled out an elk chuck roast to thaw plus a quart of elk stock. Gonna make this tomorrow on my Bayou Classic kamado - I haven't used it in close to a year but I refurbished it a few months ago.

[HotSun]

Let us know how it turns out with the elk. I think it should work.

[58limited]

HotSun I'm cooking this right now. I don't want to hijack your post so if you don't want me to post my cook here let me know and I'll delete it.

[HotSun]

58limited, post away. I would love to hear how it turned out and your opinion.

[58limited]

This is cooking right now, I'll add pictures to this post as the cook progresses. The only changes I made are: I used lemon juice since I was out of lime juice. I added 1/4 tsp each of Chipotle Morita and Chipotle Meco powders to the 1Tbsp of chili powder. I used Rotels with Chipotles - I was out of the regular Rotels. I dry brined the meat overnight so I didn't add the salt to the rub.

11 am - Getting some smoke. I smoked the chuck at 275^o until the internal temperature reached 135^o or so. I used some hickory and mesquite chunks. This elk is farm raised and had more fat that I thought it would.



12:30 pm - I increased the temperature to 375^o to braise the meat, I left the lid off of the Dutch oven because 1) I added extra elk stock the needs to evaporate and 2) I wanted more smoke. I flipped the meat every hour to keep it from drying out.



One hour into the braise and it is starting to rain....

3:30 pm - Removed after three hours, shredded the meat and blended the liquid and veggies. Just added the last of the cilantro. It rained three different times while I was braising this.



This tastes amazing, thanks for posting the recipe HotSun

I used a little Asian chili oil to toast the tacos Birria-style.

[HotSun]

Wow, that looks phenomenal 58limited! Personally speaking, I can just eat the puree with a spoon. I'll have to try your method, brilliant adaptation.

[Rfhd69]

That looks really good. I’m going to have to try this. Thanks for sharing!

[Whiskeyman53]

I love cast iron and Dutch oven outdoor cooking, I plan on making this sometime over the next couple of weeks . I like the idea of hitting it with a little smoke before the covered braising .

[WillTravelForFood]

there are no photos, but this is currently still in the process of being prepared.

We went off-script, however -- we chunked the chuck into 2-3" sized pieces and marinated overnight in an ancho-inspired sauce we will call "mini-mole". Patted the chuck a bit dry (kinda not really), then tried searing in the dutch oven. That didn't work fantastically well (as one one expect with overly sauced meat), so did a tiny bit of sear on a nearby cast iron skillet.

Still, the smell of the cook seems really nice, and some test pulls of the meat halfway through the cook seem extremely promising.

One suggestion (which is probably due to the mini-mole more than the original recipe) is that the braising liquid may need a smidge of sugar to lighten it up towards the end when it gets blended into its final sauce format.

Full verdict to come later, but we're really looking forward to this. Even if the version we ultimately serve isn't entirely the version presented at the top of this thread, HotSun still gets credit for the inspiration. Wouldn't have attempted it if we hadn't read this thread.

[mnavarre]

Instead of trying to sear the chunks roll some on 'em instead. Just until you're starting to bet some bark set. Really adds to a barbacoa.