Best Lamb Birria Broth Recipes

AUTHENTIC MEXICAN BIRRIA RECIPE

Steps:

• Season the meat with salt, pepper, and cumin
• Cut open the dried chiles with scissors and remove the seeds
• Fry the dried chiles with a small amount of oil in a frying pan for 2-3 minutes, moving constantly so they don't burn. Set aside
• Add the chiles from the previous step to a small pot with boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until softened.
• In the same frying pan where you fried the chiles, add 1 tablespoon of oil and cook the onions and tomatoes until they are browned. Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and all of the remaining spices except for the ground cumin and ginger. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, moving it around often.
• Add the chiles (including the water), the ingredients from the previous step, and the ginger, cumin, apple cider vinegar and water to a blender and blend until smooth. It will still be pretty thick, but that is fine. Strain and set aside the resulting sauce for the next step.
• Pour the sauce over the meat in a large bowl and cover. If using the oven or stovetop methods, you will want to marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight. If using the electric pressure cooker option, you can marinate it, but it isn't necessary.
• Follow the cooking instructions according to your preferred method below.
• Add the meat with the marinade to a large stockpot and cook over medium heat, covered, for about three hours, or until the meat falls off the bones and is easy to shred.
• Add the meat with the marinade to a large oven-safe dish and cover with aluminum foil and cook at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 2 hours or until the meat is easy to shred.
• Add the meat with the marinade (or just the meat and the marinade separately if you chose not to marinate it) to the pot of the electric pressure cooker.
• Follow instructions for your electric pressure cooker to bring it to high pressure and cook for 45 minutes. Release pressure naturally for 5 minutes and then use the quick pressure release option to release the rest of the pressure. Remove the lid per instructions and the meat will be tender and ready to shred.
• Remove the meat and shred it. You can then serve it over the soup made from the sauce that the meat cooked in or you can serve it with tortillas as tacos with cilantro, lime, onions, and salsa.

BIRRIA TACOS WITH CHILE BROTH

Steps:

• Place the meat in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Add the vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt, and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain, then rinse well with cold water.
• Place the rinsed meat in a Dutch oven or other ovenproof pot, cover with water (at least 3 quarts), add 4 teaspoons salt and stir. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and skim foam from the surface. Cover and cook for 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, heat a medium saucepan over medium-low. Once hot, toast the avocado leaves, flipping them as they cook, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from the saucepan.
• Place the chiles in the saucepan, cover with water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer until the chiles are completely rehydrated and plumped, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chiles to a blender, add 1 cup of the cooking liquid and purée until completely smooth.
• Uncover the meat, stir in the guajillo chile purée and drop in the toasted avocado leaves. Cover again and continue to simmer until the meat is so tender it falls apart when a fork is inserted, 1 1/2 to 2 more hours. Discard the avocado leaves and season the broth to taste with salt. (At this point, the birria can be cooled to room temperature, then covered and chilled for up to 3 days. If you'd like, you can remove and discard the solidified fat from the broth before reheating on the stovetop.)
• Transfer the meat from the broth to a platter, discard the bones, shred the meat and moisten with some broth. Season the meat to taste with salt and divide the remaining broth among serving bowls or cups. If you'd like, you can skim the fat from the surface of the broth.
• To serve, set out the tortillas, onion, cilantro and lime wedges to assemble tacos with the meat and to season the broth. Eat the tacos and drink the broth as a chaser.

LAMB BIRRIA BROTH

Steps:

• Preheat a smoker for cooking at 180 degrees F.
• Sprinkle lamb shoulders all over with Argentinean salt. Place in smoker for 6 hours.
• Combine the chicken and turkey stock, sesame oil, garlic, peppercorns, chiles and cloves in a large stockpot over low heat. Let simmer for 1 hour for flavors to combine. Add smoked lamb shoulders and continue cooking until meat is tender, 4 more hours.
• Pull shoulders from broth and turn off heat. Shred meat and reserve for tacos. Strain liquid through a fine mesh strainer, reserving liquid to serve and disposing of additional ingredients.

BRAISED GOAT BIRRIA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 275°F. Bring ancho chiles and 4 cups water to a boil over medium-high. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Meanwhile, toast peanuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 15-20 minutes. Let cool.
• Toast cumin seeds and peppercorns in a dry small skillet, tossing occasionally, until very fragrant, about 2 minutes. Let cool, then finely grind in spice mill or with mortar and pestle with garlic powder and cinnamon.
• Purée ancho chiles and soaking liquid, peanuts, spice mixture, and chocolate in a blender until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a Dutch oven or other large heavy pot, reserving any solids. Return solids in sieve to blender and add 3 cups water. Process until smooth and strain back into Dutch oven; discard any solids.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Season meat generously with salt. Cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over, 12-15 minutes total. Carefully add meat to Dutch oven and add bay leaves. Bring liquid to a simmer over medium-high. As soon as it just begins to bubble, lower heat, cover pan tightly with foil, then lid. Braise meat until meat shrinks off of bones and is fork-tender, 3-3 1/2 hours (check periodically to make sure liquid is at a gentle simmer).
• Meanwhile, purée chiles de árbol, tomatoes, broth, and oregano in a clean blender until smooth. Strain through clean sieve into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat; cook 10 minutes to let flavors meld. Season with salt; keep sauce warm.
• Increase oven to 400°F. Let meat cool, uncovered, in braising liquid 30 minutes. Transfer meat to a rimmed baking sheet and roast until edges begin to brown, 13-17 minutes. Pull or slice meat into servings. Divide among shallow bowls along with tomato-chile sauce.
• Serve meat with onion, cilantro, lime wedges, and tortillas alongside.