Birria Tacos with Consommé
Anika Cheerla, Michael Chen, and Feli Xiao
Servings: 250
Used this recipe, scaled up!
Ingredients:
Enough hot water to fill 14 stock pots
75 lbs chuck roast, cut into large chunks
30 lbs short ribs (bone in)
40 heads of garlic (with peel)
20 white onions
160 carrots
20 potatoes
600 mini corn tortillas
36 lbs Oaxaca or mozzarella cheese
Aromatics:
40 Bay Leaves
200 Guajillo Chiles
28 tablespoons cumin
28 tablespoons oregano
28 tablespoons chilli powder
60 tablespoons Chicken Bouillon
28 tablespoons Black Pepper
28 tablespoons Clove
(for garnish)
40 fresh onions
40 bunches of cilantro
50 limes, quartered tablespoons Clove
Procedure:
Split across 14 large stock pots, add meat (in a ~70: 30 ratio of chuck roast : short rib), onion, garlic, carrots, bay leaves and dried peppers. Cover with water.
Add your aromatics and bring to a boil, skimming to remove impurities. Reduce to simmer.
~30-40 minutes after boiling, remove the Guajillo Chiles into a blender, combining with a generous few tablespoons of your stock. Blend until smooth (this should be a gorgeous, thick red paste), then combine the blended peppers into the broth and stir to combine.
Cover and continue to simmer for ~3-4 hours until the meat is tender and falls apart easily. Continue to remove impurities.
Remove the onions, garlic, carrots, and bay leaves from the broth.
Remove and shred the meat from the broth. Reserve the broth (this will be your delicious consommé).
(assembly)
Blister tortillas on a hot skillet*, keeping warm by covering with a clean kitchen towel.
Dip the corn tortilla into the reserved consommé.
Place corn tortilla onto a baking sheet, then stuff with meat and top with cheese.
Broil** on high for one to two minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
Finish with a generous ladle of consommé and garnish with onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.
*Sophia’s tip: cast iron is great for blistering. You can tell the surface is hot enough when you splash a few drops of water in, and the water rolls around rapidly like a ball!
**We broiled instead of traditionally frying on a heated griddle because of time and quantity constraints. Broiling on large pans that could hold 8 or more tacos at once was more efficient.
