Beef Barbacoa

• servings: 4-6

Ingredients

2 lbs beef brisket

2 lbs beef cheeks / or 4 lbs of beef chuck or a slow cooking cut instead of these two

2 cups beef stock

8 smashed garlic cloves

4 dried guajillo chillies

2 tsp ground cumin

3 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick / or 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon to taste

¼ cup water

High smoke point oil for searing

Directions

Begin preheating your oven to 300 F.

Cut the beef into 3 inch chunks and season with salt.

Heat an oven safe pot over medium high heat with some oil and sear your beef chunks all around, in batches if you need.

Return the beef to the pot and add the rest of the ingredients, bringing it to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer. Add a layer of parchment paper on top, followed by the lid. This creates a double layer to mimic the way it’s traditionally roasted in leaves.

Place the pot in the 300 F oven for 4-6 hours.

Pull out the cinnamon, bay leaves, and chillies. Shred the meat using two forks for ideal consistency, mixing the fat in with the meat. A spritz of lime juice over the meat is optional but works well. Serve as a taco / burrito filling.

Notes

Description:

A Mexican slow cooked beef dish. Traditionally, this is cooked in a very hot pit covered in various leaves, which is then buried in the ground. We can attempt to replicate this style of cooking in the home kitchen using an oven safe pot with a lid and some parchment paper. Serve this as a taco / burrito filling, and it pairs especially nice with more salty and acidic cheeses like cotija.