Birria Basics - Recipe and Guide
Tempted by the mass posts for birria online, my wife and I adventured to our favorite Mexican restaurant to taste what all the hubbub was about. The quesabirria entree was presented as four red, crispy corn tacos accompanied by raw onion, radish, and cilantro. To the side of the platter was a cup of broth soup. I started eating just the taco, then taco + cilantro and onion, then taco + dipping sauce. The magic combo is dipping the taco in the flavorful broth. I asked the waiter how the tortillas were fried as we paid our bill. He shared the process of dipping the tortillas in the stock before frying. Fully full and inspired, I digested the meal and started thinking through how to make it in our home kitchen.
With Birria on my brain, I started reading blogs and recipes to explore how to make this delicious dish at home. Your first decision is which meat to use. Traditional birria is goat, but you can use beef or pork. Your second decision is method of attack: low and slow or pressure cooker. I opted for the trusty dutch oven combined with an overnight marinade session in chili paste. If you opt for pressure cooker, you could skip the overnight chili bath. I'd also advise to thin out the marinade or add stock to ensure the chili paste doesn't burn in your pressure cooker.
Let's chat about the birria process to get you on your way to birria town.
Marinade:
4 ancho chilies
4 guajillo chilies
1 chipotle pepper with adobo sauce
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
2 cups boiling water
Juice of 1 lime
Dash of cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
1 tsp salt
Process:
Heat a dry skillet. Add dried chillies to toast. The peppers will turn black and become fragrant. They can smell like raisins. The goal isn't to burn the peppers. You're toasting them.
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in microwave (3 mins).
Transfer toasted peppers from the skillet to boiling water. Enjoy the sizzle sound!
Cover the container with water and peppers. I used a large Pyrex to rehydrate the peppers. Let sit for 5 mins or until peppers are tender.
Transfer peppers and water to blender. Add garlic, lime juice, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, salt.
Whizz it until it forms a paste. Mine was more runny than a thick paste.
Coat your meat of choice in the marinade in an airtight container and move to the fridge for its evening spicy sleep.
After a night's rest, you and the meat should be one! I let my pork shoulder marinade for about 12 hours. Now it's go time!
Reminder: You have two choices for how to cook the meat -- braise or pressure cooker. I opted for braising the birria in my dutch oven for 5 hours at 325. To braise - pre-heat your oven to 325. Start heating your pot on the stove to medium heat. Add 1 tsp olive oil. Add a sliced onion to the oil before adding the pork shoulder. Sear the meat on all sides. This liquid should be simmering by this point. Put on the dutch oven's hat and transfer to the oven. Go about your day for 3-4 hours. I checked mine at the 3-hour mark. Big fatty cuts of meat like pork shoulder require time, not temperature to get juicy and irresistibly tender. After three hours, the pork may have been to temperature but it wasn't tender. Back into the oven for a few more hours. By hour 5 the meat had fallen off of the bone and it was time for the next step!
Birria Dipping Sauce
This is the game changer that takes this meal to another level.
At the 4-5 hour mark, I ladel'd out 2-3 cups of the broth from the dutch oven. In a saucepan combine:
stock
2 cups diced tomatillos
1 tsp oregano
3 cloves of garlic
sliced jalapeno
juice of 1 lime
2 cups of chicken stock
Bring this to a light boil and cook for 5-10 mins.
Now you have the meat. You have the sauce. It all comes down to technique. It's super helpful to have a birria partner for this stage.
Birria Go time
Heat a large skillet on medium heat.
Dip corn tortilla in birria dipping sauce.
Add to skillet. Flip to fry the tortilla. Total time per side was 30 secs before flipping. The more time you spend on this step the less you'll need to fry in step 6.
Sprinkle shredded cheese (we used mozzarella). Add shredded meat.
With a spatula fold the tortilla onto itself to make a taco.
Fry for 1-2 mins per side before flipping.
Once both sides are crispy, transfer to a platter.
