Red Beef Barbacoa
Red Beef Barbacoa
There are numerous versions of barbacoa recipes all over Mexico. Traditionally, barbacoa is meat wrapped in banana leaves and roasted in a pit in the ground. The pit is covered with firewood, then soil. The meat is roasted overnight for the next day. While there are areas in Mexico that still prepare barbacoa this way, most people make it in the oven and stove top. This particular recipe cooks the beef in an Instant Pot, then finishes on the stove top. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, the beef can be cooked in the oven at 300 degrees for 4 hours or in a crock pot for 6 hours.Once the meat is cooked, it’s tossed in an adobo sauce made of ancho and morita peppers. If you’ve never had a morita pepper, it’s really similar to a chipotle pepper, but dried. Beef barbacoa is great as taco meat, on tortas, huaraches, or just on its own.
Equipment
- instant pot
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chuck cubed
- 1 lb beef shank bones
- 1/2 medium onion
- 10 garlic cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 avocado leaves
- 2 cups water
Adobo Sauce
- 6 dried ancho peppers
- 1 dried morita pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp Mexican oregano
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Place the cubed chuck, beef bones, onion, garlic, bay leaves, and avocado leaves in the Instant Pot. Turn the function to pressure cook on high for 60 minutes. Place the cover on and push start.
- Release the pressure. Throw away the beef bones, bay and avocado leaves. Scoop out all of the beef from the liquid and set aside.
- While the beef is cooking, soak the dried peppers in hot water for 30 minutes.
- In a blender or food processor, combine the dried peppers, garlic, oregano, and 1 cup of the water the peppers soaked in.
- Purée until smooth.
- Heat up vegetable oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Pour in the sauce and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add in the beef, making sure that it’s coated in the adobo sauce. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat. If the meat gets too dry, add in a half cup of the liquid from the beef.
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