Tag: beef
Tacos de Alambres
Tacos de Alambres
Here is a version of alambres in taco form. Instead of grilling skewers of beef, bacon, onions, and peppers, they are cut into small pieces and sautéed in a cast iron skillet for tacos. Serve in corn tortillas with your favorite salsa and fresh lime wedges.
Equipment
- cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 4 strips bacon diced
- 12 oz top sirloin cut into 1/2” cubes
- 1/2 lime juiced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 red bell pepper diced
- 1/2 green bell pepper diced
- 1/4 medium white onion diced
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- corn tortillas
Instructions
- Squeeze the lime juice over the beef. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Sauté the bacon in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat for 4 minutes.
- Add in the beef and sear for 3 minutes.
- Add in the bell peppers and onions. Sauté for 3 minutes.
- Top with cheese. Take off the heat and place a cover over the skillet.
Birria Enchiladas
Birria Enchiladas
I had previously made birria tacos and made way more than I needed. So I froze down the leftovers for later use, which led me to now: behold the birria enchilada. The leftover meat was put into a corn tortillas with chunks of mozzarella, then bathed in the birria broth. I topped it off with more cheese and baked it for 20 minutes until the cheese was bubbly. Easily the best enchiladas I’ve ever eaten.
Servings: 12 enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 lbs birria meat
- 2 cups birria broth
- 12 corn tortillas pan fried for 1 minute to make pliable
- 8 oz block mozzarella cheese cut into 12 equal wedges
- 4 oz monterey jack cheese shredded
Garnish
- white onion finely chopped
- avocado sliced
Instructions
- Place 2 heaping tbsp of birria meat across the center of a corn tortilla. Top with a chunk of mozzarella cheese.
- Tightly roll up the enchilada. This recipe yields 12 enchiladas.
- Place all of the enchiladas seam side down in a 9×13 glass baking dish.
- Pour the birria broth over the enchiladas.
- Top with more cheese.
- Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
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.
Smoked Corned Beef and Cabbage
Smoked Corned Beef and Cabbage
Corned beef is probably my favorite processed meat. I only ever really get to gorge upon it once a year during the month of March. Well, it’s March, so it’s that time. So I decided to smoke one instead of boiling it like everyone else. What I’ve learned from this is that smoking corned beef is the only way to go. Anybody that boils or crockpots your corned beef: the jokes on you. This ended up being hands down the best corned beef I’ve ever eaten. There’s no comparison. The brisket will take about 90 minutes a lb; needing to reach an internal temperature of 200 degrees.I decided to try and smoke a whole head of cabbage as well. I cut the yop of the vote off, creating a cap. Then I hollowed out the center and filling it with garlic and butter. I wrapped about 2/3 of the cabbage in foil so it wouldn’t turn completely black when smoking. A 3-4lb head of cabbage will take 4-5 hours to smoke. The cabbage turned out sweet and smokey, with a garlic buttery goodness.
Equipment
- foil
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 3-5 lb corned beef brisket flat
Smoked Cabbage
- 1 head green cabbage
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2 garlic cloves
- salt
Wood Chips
- 1/2 mesquite wood chips
- 1/2 hickory wood chips
Instructions
- Rinse your corned beef of the brine. Pat dry. Let dry out in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Place on a smoking rack and sprinkle with the corned beef seasoning packet. Let sit at room temp for an hour before smoking.
- Cut the top part of the core of the cabbage off, creating a cap.
- Using a paring knife and a melon baller, hollow out the center of the cabbage.
- Stick garlic cloves and a half stick of butter inside the cabbage.
- Place the cap back on the head of cabbage.
- Wrap 2/3 of the cabbage in foil.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place the corned beef and head of cabbage in the smoker. The corned beef with take about 90 minutes per lb, with an internal temperature of 200 degrees. The head of cabbage will take 4 1/2 – 5 hours.
- Let the corned beef rest for 30 minutes before slicing.
