Birria Tacos

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Last year we had Margaritas, Mexican restaurant number four, (or was it five?) open up in our small community. Local food truck La Plasadita had closed down, which is where I learned of birria tacos. As I scanned the lengthy menu, I was excited to see they offered them. First, let me say, I judge the birria taco by the flavor of the consomme the meat is cooked in. If you don't want to grab a straw or just sip it out of the bowl, it's not gonna pass my taste test. Margaritas has some extra meat and veggies in their consomme and that stuff is really good. Needless to say, I have tried the birria tacos at several of the restaurants and Margarita's is the best if I am eating out. But I think mine are pretty spectacular. 

The challenge was on and I ordered a bag of birria balls off Amazon to see if I could make them without going through the process of preparing all the different peppers and spices. They were kind of pricey, but I imagine it would be more so if making from scratch. The bombs had guajillo chili powder, tomato powder, ancho chili powder, garlic powder, beef bouillon, chicken bouillon, salt, Mexican oregano, chili powder, arbol chili powder, and bay leaf powder. Not spicy hot, but spot on flavor-wise.

The directions on the pack were kind of vague, 1-3 pounds of meat with beef being the recommended choice or pork. 2-5 cups of water with broth recommended. Then it had to add 1-2 bombs. What the what? That math wasn't mathing for me. Did they mean one bomb per pound of meat? These golf ball sized bomb balls looked and smelled amazing.

I went back and forth on what to add and decided to cook a 3 lb. beef roast with two of the bombs and four cups of beef broth. Perfection! I mixed up four cups of hot water and four healthy teaspoons of Roast Beef Base Better than Bouillon for the broth.

It's easy to buy a jar of salsa off the shelf. My recommendation is to whip up some of my friend Troy's Best Salsa ever. There's plenty of time to fix it and let the flavors meld as the meat is cooking.

And while you're at it...plenty of time to whip up a pitcher of margaritas!

INGREDIENTS:

3 lb. beef roast

4 cups beef broth

2 birria bomb balls

Toppings of your choice: Cilantro, salsa, cheese

Crock pot was set to high the first couple of hours. I changed that to low and let it go for another six hours. That roast was very tender and shredded easy when it came time to serve.

When I was ready to prepare them to eat, I dipped the tortilla shell into the consomme and then on to a hot skillet to fry on both sides.

Each shell was loaded with the flavorful meat, salsa, cheese, and lots of cilantro. I am obviously missing the gene that causes some people to think cilantro tastes like soap. Thankfully! Each person filled their shells with their favorites along with a bowl of consomme.

The next day, I made a plate of birria nachos with some of the left over meat (Yes, I like sour cream too.) for the win!