At the recent MeatUp in Spring, we ate at a Mexican restaurant where I had some of the best tacos I’ve tasted. They were Birria tacos with their dipping sauce/consommé. That consommé was so good that I actually drank what was left after finishing the tacos…🤓 I’m not sure I’d had Birria tacos before but if I have, it’s been a while. I’ve never made them before and wanted to give it a shot this weekend. While at H-E-B today I ran across this Birria Taco Starter…And because I’m a lazy bastard I bought it. It looks to be pretty good and the recipe sounds easy enough. It’s basically just browning a chuck roast with an onion, then adding the sauce to the pot, cook for 2-3 hours. I’m going to try it using a small 3 lb or so chuck roast. Any tips or suggestions to make it better, and has anyone used this, or something similar, before?
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So what is in this starter? Does this just save you chasing after dried chile peppers and making it from scratch? I've done it several times using Sam the Cooking Guy's recipe, but every time I go to do it again the zip lock bags of dried peppers have gotten moldy, and i gotta chase after more at the Mexican grocery store across town.-
That seems odd. I've never had an issue with dried peppers molding. I keep mine in a Tupperware bin in my pantry. I've had them last as long as a couple of years.
As to your comment below about having to source at a Mexican grocery, do you have a Food Lion in your area? I used to make a special trip to a Mexican store myself, until one day I just by chance noticed that Food Lion has several varieties in their Spanish section...
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Jim, yeah it’s everything you need in a jar. You don’t have to make it from scratch. 👏👏 Here’s the ingredients.
INGREDIENTS:
Filtered Water, Onion, Beef Base (Oven Roasted Beef With Natural Juices, Salt, Maltodextrin [From Corn], Sugar, Yeast Extract, Onion Powder, Caramel Color, Vegetable Oil [Corn, Soy, Canola], Natural Flavoring), Vinegar, Roasted Guajillo, Olive Oil, Roasted Ancho Chile, Garlic, Cumin, Cinnamon, Dried Oregano, Salt, Ground Coriander, Paprika, Ground Bay Leaf.
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When you find a quality jarred product, just roll it. I have never heard of this brand. But what the instructions are missing is dipping your corn tortilla inside of the juice, putting it on a Comal or frying pan, Loading it with Oaxaca or Chihuahua cheese and finishing your taco that way. That way the outside comes out crunchy. The inside has the melted cheese in the meat. Then you take that and you dip it inside of your liquid.Comment
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Yes, after your dip it you’re making your taco like a grilled cheese.Comment
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Timely post! Here's a little something I whipped up using that same starter:
Or maybe I cheated and just went to La Cocina de Roberto while in Spring last week.
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Wow - if I see this starter somewhere I'm buying and trying it. That would save a lot of work. And for me, getting 3 kinds of dried chiles means a trip across town to the Mexican grocery that I seem to go to once every couple of years, mostly for dried chiles.Comment
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Just one thing that is not always clear is the dipping of the tortilla need to be in the oil that rendered during the cook and not the actual broth, otherwise you'll end up with soggy tortillas that fall apart on the griddle. I like to separate out the oil into a separate bowl and either dip the tortilla in that or just put the oil on the griddle and fry the tortilla that way - adding more oil when you flip.
I cook one side, flip and then add your cheese/meat to half and fold over.Comment
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This is your ticket, Finster. Dip your tortillas in the *oil* from the consume…nice and crispy!
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Sounds like a good short cut John. I do Birria and the only thing different is that I season the chuck a bit more than just S&P. Here's my recipe that details the rub and process.
3 lbs Chuck, cut into 3”- 4” pieces
Rub Seasoning- 4 tsp. Kosher Salt (Diamond)
- ¼ tsp. Allspice
- 1 tsp. Black Pepper, Fr. Gr.
- 1 tsp. Cumin, Gr.
- 1 Tbsp. Mex. Oregano, Dried
- ¼ tsp. Cinnamon, Gr.
- Cut Chuck into pieces. Place in large bowl and set aside.
- Make Rub Seasoning. Season beef in bowl. Wrap in cellophane and refrigerate overnight.
FWIW.......Comment
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PJ - add some carrots with the onion, maybe two whole carrots sliced lengthwise. They can add a touch of sweetness and are good to eat afterwards.
But you have some good tips above! Have fun with this cook!Comment
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I second what brother HouseHomey said. If you don't dip your tortillas in the sauce before you put them on your cooking surface you'll miss the entire experience.Comment
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I posted a while back about a powered birria mix that I tried. It turned out pretty good and I had enough shredded chuck and sauce left over for 3 more meals. I bagged the meat and added a zipper bag of sauce to each freezer bag before sealing and freezing.Comment
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One more thing John. As mentioned above, for tacos it's good to dip the tortillas in the sauce and cook on a flat top with cheese.
I saw this at a taco truck the other day and though it was for a burrito, the same process would apply here:
The taco truck cook put the cheese directly on flat top and then put the tortilla on top of the cheese. Let it cook a few minutes to fry the cheese and then flipped it over to cook on the other side. The cheese stuck to the tortilla. So if you placed the cheese directly on the flat top, dipped the tortilla in the sauce, place it over the cheese, fry a few seconds and then flip it over to finish frying the other side, I bet it would be great.Comment
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I have made birria numerous times and now this last batch last week I didn't even use a recipe. I've made it enough that I kinda have it down by heart.
I do like to add the carrots in the sauce. I like to add thick chunked up onions, too - some people but this in the consommé/sauce and blend them - I like the chunks.
I like to use pork butt instead of beef. I just can't bring myself to buy beef very often these days between work and prices. Pork butt works EXCELLENT for this! Especially if you do it the way I do, chunked up to maximize bark, then pull during/after the stall to add to the sauce.
We use flour tortillas. The Wife doesn't really like corn tortillas much and finding the right ones here is a bit of a challenge anyways.
I like the tip above about separating the oil and the sauce. I've never done this. I did the flour tortillas in the sauce, both sides and do my best to crisp them up on fairly high heat in the skillet or griddle. It doesn't work out great, they're never really crisp. However, the flour doesn't fall apart in this scenario like corn would. But I think I am going to try to separate out the oil next time so's I can use this for dipping and see if I can get crispiness in my tortillas. Then use the sauce as consommé to dip when eating. Very good tip.
Love adding in a good spicy pepper cheese (again, difficult to find here), fresh chopped white onion and fresh chopped cilantro in my tacos.
This has become on of my favorite meals of all time. Our local best taqueria does birria on Thursdays and we always used to struggle to be able to get there before they sold out - it's quite popular. Now, my version is better than theirs, no joke. And with the tip on the chili oil, I am sure it is going to be even better.
I still have leftovers from last week, and I'm looking forward to making it again! lol
Why do I have leftovers???? We had friends visiting last week AND had a big birthday party for a friend's 71st/combo Memoriam party for a friend who pass so I cooked a LOT and we have a ton of leftovers of various types. I smoked 8 chikkins to shred on Saturday. We'll eat what we can, but I am sure some will get tossed. I need to freeze what I can. I think.... I'm going to do some of the consommé on the chikkin - not a damned thing I can think of that is bad about smoked pulled chikkin birria!
<edit> I also want the chili oil recipe, or I'll come up with my own - I need a Mexican-inspired version just for this. In fact, I did try a Mexican version I picked up at.... Sam's, I think? Kinder brand? I didn't care for it and tossed it, but I was addicted at the time to the Asian version and maybe I just wasn't "ready" for the Mexican version. But that might be perfect (in a homemade style, of course) for this, frying birria, especially chikkin birria tacos, as I have pounds and pounds of shredded chikkin I need to use up or freeze....Comment
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Lots of good tips in this topic.
thanks all. I look forward to trying some of them to see if I can improve my game.
I enjoy the flavor I get from my recipe, but struggle with the texture of the finished product.
Hopefully some of these tips help.Comment
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