Barbacoa

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. Bottom round beef roast
• 4 dried red chillies (Guajillo, New Mexico, etc.)
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1/2 a yellow onion diced
• 4 cloves garlic diced
• 2 limes juiced
• 6 whole cloves
• 1/4 cup light olive oil
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 TBspn. Ground Cumin
• Salt & Pepper

Method

1. In a small sauce pan bring the beef broth to a boil. While the broth heats up, remove the seeds and stems from the dried chillies and place in a small shallow bowl. Once the broth comes to a boil pour it over the dired chillies and let them soak for 20–30 minutes.
2. Put the cloves and cumin in a mortar and pestle and smash the cloves until they are ground to a powder the same consistency of the cumin. The cumin is already ground, but smashing in up a little with the cloves will really bring out the flavor.
3. Pour the soaked chillies the beef broth into a blender along with the the chipotle peppers, onion, garlic, lime juice, ground clove/cummin mixture, and olive oil. Blend everything together unit its a smooth liquid. At this point you could strain the mixture through a mesh strainer just to make sure you get any small pieces of the chillies or seeds that you missed, but I usually skip that part.
4. Cut the beef roast into smaller chunks—about 3’ cubes—and spinkle generously with salt and pepper. Layer the beef in the slow cooker and place the two bay leaves on top.
5. Pour the mixture from the blender over top of the beef, cover, and cook on the lowest setting (not the warm setting) for eight hours.
6. After eight hours, remove the beef from the slow cooker to a large plate leaving behind the cooking liquid. Shred the beef chunks with two forks, then discard about half of the cooking liquid left in the slow cooker. Return the shreded beef to the slow cooker and mix it thoroughly with the remaining liquid. Cook the shreded beef for about another 45 minutes, turn the slow cooker off, let the beef cool for about 30 minutes and then serve.

Notes

This barbacoa is great for tacos. Just get some good corn tortillas, diced fresh onion, and cilantro and you’ve got a great meal. My pickled red onions also make a great condiment to go with this recipe. It would also work really well for tortas, burritos, and salads.

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