Tag: goat
Birria Tacos
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.
Goat Rogan Josh
Goat Rogan Josh
This here is some serious cooking. Rogan Josh is a Kashmiri dish of goat or lamb that’s seared then braised in its own ginger/garlic/yogurt based marinade. A spice powder of cinnamon, cloves, mace, peppercorns, and cardamom seeds, and saffron are added the last 20 minutes of cooking. The goat meat falls right off the bone. I purchase my goat meat already cubed in 2lb bags found in the frozen section of my local Asian market. If you don’t like goat, bone in cubed lamb shoulder will work just fine. If you want to be a punk about it, you can use boneless lamb shoulder. There are a couple of ingredients that might be new to you. Asafoetida, aka hing, is made from the sap of the root plant, ferula. A tiny bit gives a strong oniony taste. Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. It is the stigmas of the saffron crocus flower. They can only be picked by hand. 250,000 stigmas weighs half a kilo, hence the price. A small amount added to curries brings out a sweet flavor. Mace is the shell around a nutmeg kernel and has a similar taste. All of these ingredients can be found at most Asian markets.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Spice grinder
Ingredients
- 2 lbs bone in goat cubed
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida
- large pinch saffron soaked in warm water
- salt to taste
Spice Powder
- 1 small cinnamon stick about 2”
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 whole mace blade
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 5 green cardamom seeds
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Whisk together the ginger garlic paste, Kashmiri chili powder, and the Greek yogurt.
- Add in the cubed goat, making sure that it is evenly coated. Marinate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Grind all of the spice powder ingredients together. Set aside.
- Soak the saffron in a 1/4 cup of warm water. Set aside.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Toss in the asafoetida, little game it sizzle for 30 seconds until aromatic.
- Add in all of the goat and it’s marinade. Brown on all sides for 10 minutes.
- Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Add in the saffron and its water and the spice powder. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Add a little bit of water if it gets too dry. Garnish with cilantro.
