Beef birria

Birria is an amazing broth, originally from Jalisco, Mexico, that’s popular now across the country. It’s a slow-cooked meat dish with chillies, tomato, onion and spices that create a wonderful, unique flavour.

SERVES 6 PREP 25 mins plus cooling COOK 3 hrs 30 mins MORE EFFORT

1 tbsp sun lower oil

1.5kg braising steak, cut into

15cm cubes

4 guajillo chillies (available online), stem and seeds removed, or dried chillies

1 large ancho chilli (available online), stem and seeds removed

4 arbol chillies (available online; optional)

2 medium tomatoes, cut in half 1 medium onion, quartered

2 garlic cloves

½ tsp each dried oregano, ground cumin, ground cinnamon and ground ginger

2 cloves

3 black peppercorns

1 tsp white wine vinegar

2 bone marrow discs (ask your butcher)

15g sea salt lakes

2 bay leaves

To serve handful of coriander, chopped 1 white onion, inely chopped spicy salsa

2 limes, cut into small wedges 24 warmed corn tortillas (optional) grated mozzarella (optional)

Heat the oil in a large, heavybased, ovenproof saucepan over a medium-high heat and brown the braising steak all over, about 8-10 mins. Set aside.

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and toast the guajillo and ancho chillies for 2 mins, making sure not to burn them. If you want the birria to be spicy, add the arbol chillies. Transfer to a lidded saucepan with the tomatoes and onion. Peel the garlic and add this, too. Add 500ml water, cover, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 mins. Turn the heat o’ and set aside to cool.

Transfer the tomatoes, onion and chillies to a blender, reserving the cooking liquor. Add the spices, vinegar and 2 tbsp of the cooking liquor to the blender, then blend until smooth. Heat the oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1.

4 Put the meat back over a medium heat, then add the bone marrow, salt and bay leaves. Pass the blended chilli sauce through a sieve into the pan to ensure it’s silky smooth. Pour in 1 litre water and the remaining cooking liquor. Cover and transfer to the oven for 3 hrs until the meat is tender and falling apart. After 1 hr 30 mins, season to taste.

5 Remove the meat from the broth using a slotted spoon, transfer to a board and shred using two forks. The broth should have thickened.

6 To serve, put shredded beef in a bowl, pour over the broth, then garnish with the coriander, onion and spicy salsa. Serve with limes on the side for squeezing over. Or, heat a corn tortilla, add some shredded birria beef and garnish with the coriander, onion and a squeeze of lime, and serve the broth on the side in a small cup. To make a quesabirria, heat a corn tortilla, add some grated mozzarella cheese and some of the beef. Once the cheese has melted, pour 1 tbsp of the broth under and over the tortilla, and serve more broth on the side.

GOOD TO KNOW vit c • iron • gluten free PER SERVING 458 kcals • fat 27g • saturates 8g • carbs 3g • sugars 3g • ibre 1g • protein 50g • salt 2.7g