Birria Tacos

The SEasOning

These are all the craze now.

I ended up going down the cheesy hole about 11 months ago. I watched a Food Insiders YouTube video about it. Then the Munchies one. Then the Vice one. Then the other Munchies one…

Needless to say I was intrigued.

I actually forgot about this for a while, then my buddy Matt suggested we go have some socially distanced birria Tacos at Top Rope Tacos in Vancouver. I really should get my friends to describe what my reaction to these tacos were – but I have to imagine it was kind of like Daym Drops meets Desus and Mero reacting to anything.

After that I decided I wanted to figure out how to make them. After much reading and Google I settled on a modified version of the “Better Than Chipotle’s Beef Barbacoa Recipe” at Serious Eats by J.Kenji Lopez-Alt and the Birria Tacos Recipe from i am a food blog. I modified a few things with the recipe:

• switched up the dried chilies to whatever I had on hand
• used a whole goat shoulder (my research says goat is what’s traditionally used)
• added smoked paprika and some tomato paste for depth of flavour.

This dish seems complicated at first, but it comes together easily, spends a lot of time in the oven and is worth all the effort. Also, save yourself the hassle of running all over hells half acre and just get your goat at the nearest halal butchers. You’ll be left with a fair amount of broth at the end. You can refrigerate this, skim the fat off (or don’t, it’s your arteries so do what you want), and you’ll be left with the most amazing bone broth ever.

The Ingredients

• 1 cascabel – seeds and stems removed
• 1 ancho – seeds and stems removed
• 1 guajillo – seeds and stems removed
• 4 cups low sodium chicken stock (I used better than bullion + water)
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 1 goat shoulder (have your butcher separate the shoulder from the ribs, but don’t break it down much more than that. If the rib section is large, have your butcher cut that in half) (you’re looking for 5-6 lbs of bone in meat)
• 1 small onion – sliced
• 6 cloves of garlic – smashed
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 4 chilpotle chilis packed in adobo – roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp adobo sauce
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper
• Corn tortillas
• Cotija Cheese/limes/diced onion/cilantro for dressing the tacos

The Method

1. Adjust your oven rack to it’s lowest position and pre-heat to 275°F
2. Over medium heat in a Dutch oven, toast your dried chilies till you can really smell them. Be careful not to burn them. Once toasted, set them aside to cool a little
3. In a separate pot, bring 2 cups of your stock to the boil. Add your dried chilies, shut off the heat, cover and let sit for 10 min
4. In your Dutch oven, add 2 tbsp of the oil and brown the goat. Do this in batches. You’re not looking to get the meat browned all over, but you’re looking to get some fond – that caramelized crispy goodness – building up on the bottom of the pot. Once you’ve got the fond, set the meat aside.
5. Add the remaining oil to the Dutch oven. Add your onions and garlic. Sautée till they’re golden brown and almost starting to burn.
6. Add the cumin, cloves, oregano, and cinnamon stick. Cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
7. Add the tomato paste and cook for a minute. Then add the chilies plus soaking liquid, the remaining stock, the chipotle peppers, the adobo sauce, and the fish sauce. Stir it all together being sure to scrape up all the browned bits at the bottom of the pot. Bring everything to a simmer.
8. At this point, take the pot off the heat. Either using a blender or an immersion blender, puree the contents of your pot. It’ll take a minute or two, but keep going till it’s a nice smooth sauce.
9. Place the goat back into your dutch oven, add your bay leaves, cover, bring to a boil and then put into the oven. Leave it there for 4 hours
10. After 4 hours, remove from the oven. Remove the goat from the pot. Shred the meat and set it aside. Return the Dutch oven to the heat and keep the broth at a simmer. This would be a good point to check for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper as needed
11. To serve: Pre-heat a frying pan over medium heat. Take a corn tortilla and dip it in the broth. Place in the frying pan. Top with some of the crumbled cheese. Once the cheese has melted, flip the tortilla over. Stack with beef, onions, and cilantro. Once the cheese has crisped up, fold the taco over, plate and serve with a bowl of broth for dipping. For an extra layer of flavour you can fry up the shredded goat with some of the broth, and use that to fill your tacos.

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