Barbacoa Beef Tacos

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg beef brisket or chuck, in large chunks
• 4 tbsp chipotle in adobo
• 2 dried ancho chillies, soaked
• 2 onions, quartered
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 3 cloves
• 3 bay leaves
• 500 ml beef stock
• juice of 2 limes, plus wedges to serve
• 3 tbsp cider vinegar
• 18 corn tortillas

Method

1. Brown the beef hard

   Season and sear the chunks on all sides in a heavy casserole until darkly crusted. Three hours of braising will not put back the flavour you skip here.

   15 min

2. Blend the sauce

   Blend the chipotle, soaked anchos, onions, garlic, cumin, cloves and vinegar with a splash of water into a smooth paste.

3. Braise low and long

   Pour the sauce and stock over the beef, add the bay, cover tightly and cook at 150°C until it falls apart under a fork. Low and slow — a hard boil tightens brisket into strings.

   3 h

4. Shred in the sauce

   Lift out the beef, shred it, and return it to the pot. If the sauce is thin, reduce it hard first and then put the meat back, so the meat is not boiling while you do it.

5. Sharpen

   Stir in the lime juice and check the salt. After three hours of cooking it will taste rich and slightly flat, and the acid is what wakes it up.

6. Serve

   Warm the tortillas in a dry pan and fill, with more lime alongside. It is better the next day and freezes well.