Beef Birria Pizza
Beef Birria Pizza
Most standard “Mexican” pizzas that I’ve seen look like a taco salad with ground beef. They’re typically really boring and uninspiring. My Mexican is the opposite of that. This pizza features a homemade nacho cheese sauce; topped with beef birria meat, mozzarella and quesadilla cheeses, green onion, white onion, cilantro, and cotija cheese; served with birria consommé for dipping. If birria isn’t your thing, you can add any protein of your liking such as carnitas, shredded chicken, chorizo, al pastor, carne asada, lengua, or even tripa. Additional toppings could include jalapeños, black olives, roasted corn, cactus, black or pinto beans; just to name a few.
Equipment
- pizza pan or stone
Ingredients
- 1 pizza dough recipe or half the recipe for thin crust
Nacho Cheese Sauce
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup mild cheddar cubed
- 2 tbsp red salsa
Pizza Topping
- 1 cup mozzarella shredded
- 1 cup quesadilla cheese shredded
- 1 cup birria meat
- 1/2 cup white onion finely chopped
- 1/2 cup green onion finely chopped
- 1/2 cup cilantro finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cotija cheese finely crumbled
- birria consommé for serving
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a small pot over medium low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
- Whisk in the milk.
- Whisk in the cheese and hot sauce.
- Let thicken; about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Stretch out your pizza dough to your desired thickness. Spread out the nacho cheese sauce; leaving a 1/4” of crust.
- Top with the mozzarella and quesadilla cheese; followed by the birria meat, green and white onion.
- Bake in a 475° preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.
- Top with cilantro and cotija cheese. Serve with a side of birria consommé for dipping.
Pizza Dough
For the last 8 months, I’ve been trying to perfect the perfect standard pizza dough. Through lots of trial and error, I think I may have done it. This recipe is basic and straightforward, yielding what I consider a really good medium thickness crust for a 14” pizza. If you divide the dough into two, you will have 2 – 12” thin crust pizzas. Once assembled, these pizzas bake at 475° for 12-15 minutes depending on the crust thickness and the type of pan or pizza stone you use. This dough can keep in the refrigerator for 3 days and can also be frozen.
Equipment
- upright standing mixer with dough hook attachment
- plastic wrap
- rolling pin optional
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
- 2 tsp sugar
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 2 cups flour plus extra
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Mix together the yeast and sugar. Dissolve in the warm water and let activate until bubbly; about 5 minutes.
- Mix the flour and salt in an upright standing mixer for 30 seconds on low. Pour in the yeast mixture and olive oil.
- Increase the speed to medium and continue to knead for 5 minutes. At this point, the dough will pull away completely from the side of the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm area for about 30 minutes.
- Gently flour a clean surface. Place the dough in the center of the floured surface and lightly flour the top.
- Using either your hands or a rolling pin, stretch out the dough to your desired thickness.
Birria Tacos
Over the last 6 months, there has been a huge trend in the Mexican culinary world. All of a sudden, every Mexican restaurant is carrying birria tacos. So what is a birria taco? Birria originated from the Mexican state of Jalisco; also home of pozole and menudo. It all started with caldo de birria, a meat stew in a pepper broth. Traditionally goat and lamb are used, but beef can be substituted. I used a combination of all 3 meats. Corn tortillas are dipped in the birria broth, then assembled with the meat, onions, and cilantro. The tacos are folded over and grilled on a griddle until they are crispy. The tacos are served with a side of the birria broth to dip the taco in; just like a French dip sandwich. I chose to use an Instant Pot to make the birria. It only took 90 minutes to prepare. You can make this in a Dutch oven or a crockpot if you don’t have a pressure cooker. It will take anywhere from 4-6 hours to get the meat tender enough to shred. Either process will get you the same results.
Servings: 24 tacos
Equipment
- food processor
- instant pot
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs beef chuck cubed
- 1 beef shank
- 1 1/2 lbs bone in goat shoulder cubed
- 1 lamb shank
- 3 dried ancho chilies
- 6 dried guajillo chilies
- 3 roma tomatoes
- 1/2 medium white onion sliced
- 6 garlic cloves
- 4 whole cloves
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp Mexican oregano
- 1/2 tsp marjoram
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- salt to taste
- 2 cups water
- corn tortillas softened
Garnish
- white onion finely chopped
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Dry toast the dried peppers in a sauté pan over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Place the peppers in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes.
- Dry toast the cumin seeds, cloves, and cinnamon stick for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Dry toast the tomatoes, onions, and garlic for 10 minutes.
- Place the rehydrated roast peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, whole spices(except the cinnamon stick), oregano, marjoram, vinegar, and salt in a blender.
- Purée until smooth.
- Arrange all of the meat in a glass baking dish.
- Pour the sauce from the blender over the meat. Cover with foil and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
- Place all of the meat and sauce in the Instant Pot along with 2 cups of water. Toss in the cinnamon stick. Turn the function to pressure cook on high for 90 minutes. Put on the cover and push start.
- Remove all of the meat and bones from the Instant Pot.
- Keep all of the birria juice warm.
- Pick out all of the bones from the meat. Place the meat in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.
- Cook down the meat until the majority of the liquid has evaporated.
Birria Taco Assembly
- Dip the softened corn tortillas in the birria juice.
- Top the tortillas with the meat, onion, and cilantro.
- Place the tacos on a griddle over medium high heat. Fold the tacos over.
- Grill the tacos for 3-4 minutes a side until the tortillas are crispy.
