Beef Birria Quesa Tacos With Consome

Step 1

Place the short ribs and chuck roast into a large glass bowl. Season all sides of every piece of meat generously and evenly with flaky kosher salt. Set aside.

Step 2

Pour a tablespoon of canola oil into a 12-inch cast-iron or stainless-steel skillet over medium-low heat. Add the dried and de-seeded peppers and toss to make sure they’re all coated thinly in the oil. Continue to move them around and toast them for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until fragrant and just starting to release their natural oils. They will blister and blacken in SOME spots, and that’s fine. Do NOT let them burn or blacken all over! They will become very bitter if so. If your heat is too high, turn it down.

Step 3

Transfer the toasted peppers to a medium saucepan. Place the 3 onion halves, chopped carrots, chunks of ginger, and garlic cloves on top of the peppers and pour in 6 1/2 cups of water. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Allow the entire mixture to boil uncovered until the peppers are softened and the carrot is partially tender — about 10-15 minutes.

Step 4

Drain the pepper/onion mixture and toss out the bitter water — we don’t need it. Transfer the pepper/onion mixture to a high-powered blender, along with the white distilled vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt, black pepper, cinnamon, whole cloves, bay leaves, dried Mexican oregano, dried thyme, ground coriander, granulated garlic, granulated onion, smoked paprika, cumin, crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, the can of fire-roasted tomatoes, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, and 2 and a half cups of cold water.

Step 5

Blend until completely smooth. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you may have to strain this mixture after you puree it to remove any large unblended chunks.

Step 6

Place the salted meat into the pot of your pressure cooker, and pour all of the pepper mixture over the meat. Toss to coat. Add 8 cups of water. Set the pressure to High and cook for 50 minutes. Allow the meat to rest for 30 minutes before releasing the steam.

Step 7

Remove the tender cooked meat from the pot into a large bowl. Shred the meat to your desired consistency. I used two forks to break the meat apart, then used kitchen shears to make some pieces smaller. You can hack it with a cleaver if you choose.

Step 8

Carefully transfer the consome to a large pot, and reduce 2/3 of the way down over high heat, about 25 minutes. This will thicken the consome just slightly and also deepen its flavor. Once it’s reduced to your desired consistency, taste it! Add the apple cider vinegar and remaining tablespoon of brown sugar to balance it out if needed. If you need to add more salt, feel free to do so.

Step 9

You will have a lot of consome — check the notes below for suggestions on what to do with it.

Step 10

Skim some of the fat from the top with a spoon into a small bowl. You will use this to fry the tortillas when you’re ready to make the tacos. Add some of the consome to the meat to make it juicy and moist.

Step 11

Mix the onions and cilantro together and squeeze the juice of half a lime all over along with a small pinch of salt. Toss until evenly combined.

Step 12

Pour some of the consome into small bowls for each person eating, and add some of the onion/cilantro mixture to the consome bowl.