Birria

• 4 lbbeef chuck roast · cut into 3 inch chunks, fat cap trimmed to about a quarter inch
• 1 1/2 lbbone-in beef short rib · or shank, the bones are what make the consomme
• 6 wholeguajillo chiles · stemmed and seeded
• 4 wholeancho chiles · stemmed and seeded
• 2 wholechiles de arbol · more if you want real heat
• 3 wholeroma tomatoes · halved
• 1 largewhite onion · halved, plus a second one finely diced to serve
• 6 clovesgarlic · unpeeled, charred in the dry pan with the tomatoes
• 1 stickcinnamon · Mexican canela if you can get it
• 4 wholecloves
• 1 tbspcumin seed · toasted and ground
• 1 tbspdried Mexican oregano
• 2 wholebay leaves
• 3 tbspapple cider vinegar
• 4 cupslow-sodium beef stock · plus water to bring the liquid halfway up the meat
• 1 tbspkosher salt · plus more at the end, taste the broth before you commit
• 24 wholecorn tortillas · for the tacos
• 1 cupcilantro · chopped, to serve
• 2 wholelimes · cut into wedges

Method

1. 1

   Chuck for the meat, bone for the broth, and you need both

   Chuck gives you the shreddable muscle and enough intramuscular fat to stay moist through four hours. Bone-in short rib or shank gives you the collagen and marrow that turn the cooking liquid from a thin chile soup into a consomme with body. Meat alone produces a perfectly good braise and a disappointing broth, which is backwards, because the broth is the reason this dish is worth five hours. If your butcher has neck bones, add a pound of those too.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles for thirty seconds, and not a second longer

   Open the dried chiles flat, pull the stems and shake out the seeds, then press them onto a dry hot pan for about fifteen seconds a side, until they smell nutty and go slightly pliable. They should never darken. Burnt chile is bitter in a way that no amount of salt, sugar or acid will rescue, and it is the single most common failure in this dish. If one goes black, throw it away rather than blending it in and hoping.

3. 3

   Char the tomatoes, onion and garlic in the same dry pan

   While the pan is hot, put the halved tomatoes cut side down, the onion halves and the unpeeled garlic cloves in and leave them until they blacken in patches, roughly eight minutes with a couple of turns. This is where the smoky depth comes from, and it is not the same as sauteing them. Peel the garlic once it is cool enough to handle. Everything from this step goes into the blender with the chiles.

4. 4

   Soak, blend, and then push it through a sieve

   Cover the toasted chiles with just-boiled water and weigh them down with a plate for twenty minutes. Blend them with the charred vegetables, the whole spices, the oregano, the vinegar and a cup of the soaking water until completely smooth, at least two minutes on high. Then push the whole thing through a fine sieve, pressing hard. The skins that stay behind are what makes a gritty adobo, and this is five minutes that changes the texture of the finished broth entirely.

5. 5

   Sear the beef in batches or you will steam it

   Salt the beef and let it sit while you do the chiles, then dry it and brown it hard in a Dutch oven, three or four pieces at a time with space between them. Crowding drops the pan temperature, the meat releases water, and you end up with grey beef and no fond. This takes about twenty minutes across four batches and it is the flavour foundation. Pour off most of the rendered fat afterwards but leave the browned bits stuck to the base.

6. 6

   Four hours at 300F, covered, and the oven beats the stove

   Return all the meat to the pot, pour over the strained adobo and the stock, add water until the liquid comes about halfway up rather than covering, tuck in the bay leaves, and bring it to a bare simmer. Lid on, into a 300F oven for four hours. The oven surrounds the pot with even heat so nothing catches on the base, which is the risk over this length of time on a burner. It is done when a fork twists out of the chuck with no resistance.

7. 7

   Skim the fat and keep it, because that is what the tortillas go in

   Lift the meat out and let the liquid settle for ten minutes, then skim the deep red fat off the top into a small bowl. Do not throw it away. That fat, stained with chile, is what you dip the tortillas in before they hit the griddle, and it is the entire reason a birria taco looks and tastes the way it does. Under it you are left with the consomme, which now wants salt, a squeeze of lime and possibly ten minutes of reduction.

8. 8

   Shred, then put the meat back into the broth

   Pull the beef apart with two forks, discarding bone, gristle and the large seams of fat. Chop it roughly rather than shredding it to threads, because you want texture in the taco. Then return it to the consomme and let it sit there for at least fifteen minutes. Meat that rests out of its liquid dries out fast, and this step is the difference between juicy filling and a pile of dry strands on the board.

9. 9

   The tacos: fat on the tortilla, then a hot griddle, then the filling

   Dip a corn tortilla into the reserved red fat, lay it on a hot dry griddle, and let it take thirty seconds before you add drained meat to one half. Fold, press, and cook until the underside is genuinely crisp and blistered, about ninety seconds a side. The order matters: fat first and filling second, because a wet filling added to a cold tortilla steams it and you get the soggy version. Serve with a bowl of the consomme for dipping, diced onion, cilantro and lime.