Beef Barbacoa
I made this yesterday. Well, that only applies if you’re reading this today. Is it today, today? Doesn’t matter. The point is this was so good I dropped what I was doing today to make sure I blog this recipe right away. Traditional barbacoa is made in an underground oven and covered with dirt. Nope. Not doing that. That said, if Dexter digs up enough of the back lawn I may as well give it a shot. What I did was throw the meat in the smoker for a couple hours before returning it to the kitchen to finish in the slow cooker. No smoker? No slow cooker? No problem. This meat just needs to be cooked low and slow. On a pot simmering slowly for hours on the stovetop or in the oven works great too. BTW, have you seen Tiger King on netflix? It’s crazy.
What you’ll need -
• 2 lbs chuck steak
• 2 guajillo chiles
• 2 ancho chiles
• 2 chipotles in adobo
• 1 can ck broth
• 1 tbsp mexican oregano
• 1 medium garlic clove
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
Take the chuck and season it with salt and pepper. I like to throw it in the smoker for a couple hours to mimic any smokiness you’d get by cooking over fire in the ground like with traditional barbacoa. It’s not crucial to the recipe. So if you want to skip that step that’s ok. I guess. Loser.
In the meantime take out the stems and seeds from the guajillo and ancho chiles. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil turn off the heat. Submerge the chiles in the hot water and leave them in there submerged for at least 20 minutes. When the chiles are fully re-hydrated put them in the blender, along with the chipotles, broth, oregano, garlic, vinegar, and sugar. I also like to include a little bit of the water left over from soaking the chiles. Blend. Take the beef out of the smoker and put it in your slow cooker (or pot/dutch oven with a lid). Pour the liquid on top of the beef. If the liquid is too low (should be more than half way up the meat), add some more of the chile water from the pot.
Now cook it! If on the slow cooker it will take several hours. If simmering on the stovetop on low (with the lid on) it will take less time but at least a couple hours, probably more. Just monitor it. Keep it going until the meat is tender and shreddable. As the meat gets close to being done remove the lid and let the broth it’s cooking in reduce. While it’s reducing make some guacamole and crack a beer.
When it’s reduced enough to be more saucy than brothy shred the beef in the sauce. Then put it on some tortillas with guacamole, onion, and cilantro. Or put it on anything else. It’s great on rice, on nachos. If you spill it on your driveway on the way to the neighbors just lick it off the ground (don’t really do that). It’s that good.
