Quesabirria Tacos
If you haven't had Quesabirria Tacos yet, you've been missing out. It's a style of taco made with mouth-watering meat that's been slow-cooked in a delicious marinade and the tortilla is fried in chile-infused oil. Add to that some cheese that melts while frying, and a consomé to dip your taco in, and you have heaven on earth!
Ingredients for the birria
For the Consomé you will need
For the Tacos you will need
Instructions
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To make the birria (slow cooked meat)
Rinse the meat clean and pat dry with paper towels. Cut meat into pieces that are about the 5 to 6 inches. Season generously on all sides with salt. Sear pieces of meat in skillet that's been coated with oil. Once meat is lightly browned, place in crockpot that has been set to Low.
Take chile pods, onion and garlic and fry them in same skillet. (You may need to add a little more oil.) When you begin to see char marks, pour about a cup of hot water into the pan so that the chile pods can soak in it and begin to soften. Turn off burner and let sit approx. 5-10 minutes.
Carefully transfer chile, onion, and garlic to blender. Pour in water left in skillet. If the water does not almost cover the chile, feel free to add a little more water. You want the water to almost cover everything in the blender. Add oregano, cumin, kosher salt, thyme and blend until you have a smooth sauce. Pour sauce over meat in crockpot. Place cinnamon stick and bay leaves on top. Cover and let cook on Low for 6 hours, until meat is fork tender.
Remove pieces of meat from crockpot and place in a dish where you can use a fork to shred it. Add a little sauce over the meat to keep it moist.
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For the Consomé
(The amounts are not exact, depending on how much you want to make. It's roughly a 3-to-1 ratio of chicken broth to chile sauce, and you add as much cilantro and onion as you like. This is just to give you an approximate idea.)
Take a cup of chile that was used to cook the meat in out of the crockpot and place it in a saucepan. Add chicken broth to it, and let heat on stove top over medium high heat. Once heated, add fresh cilantro and onion. Cover and turn off heat. Pour into small, individual dishes for dipping.
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To make Quesabirria Tacos
Dip individual tortillas into chile-infused oil that is left in the crockpot, then place on hot skillet to fry. Immediately cover top of tortilla with shredded cheese. Add shredded birria meat and fold tortilla over to form taco. Let fry on both sides until cheese in melted. Use a spoon to add more chile oil, if necessary.
Serve tacos while hot with a side dish of consomé for dipping, and addition cilantro, onion & lime wedges for garnish.
