MEXICAN BARBACOA RECIPES RECIPES

Steps:

• Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Place the dried guajillo chiles into the skillet and cook, turning occasionally, until the color changes and the chiles have puffed, about 5 minutes. Set the chiles aside to cool for a moment. Meanwhile, toast the cumin and cloves in the hot skillet until the cumin seeds begin to pop; remove from the pan and set aside. Remove and discard the stems, seeds, and veins of the chiles, and place into a small bowl. Pour the boiling water over top, and cover. Let the chiles soak for 1 hour.
• Grind the toasted cumin and cloves into a powder, and place into a blender. Add the ancho chile powder, onion, garlic, oregano, thyme, vinegar, and lime juice. Remove the chiles from the soaking water, and place into the blender along with 1/3 cup of the soaking liquid. Cover, and blend until a smooth paste forms.
• Place the beef roast into a mixing bowl, and pour the guajillo chile past over top. Coat the roast on all sides with the paste, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
• Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Transfer the roast and marinade to a roasting pan, and arrange the bay leaves over top. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake in the preheated oven until the meat is very tender and is easily pulled apart with a fork, about 6 hours. Let stand, covered, at room temperature for 1 hour before discarding the bay leaves and shredding with two forks.

Steps:

• Rinse the cheeks and place them in a good size crock pot, discarding any chunks that are just fat.
• Add garlic cloves, onion, bay leaves, oregano, black pepper, salt, and squeeze the orange juice from the two oranges over the meat.
• Set the crock pot on high and cook for two hours, then stir the contents with a big spoon.
• Stir every hour after that. In six hours it should be starting to fall apart.
• Cook for an extra hour if needed and then remove from the crock pot to a large bowl with a slotted spoon, draining the meat from juices and removing the bay leaves and all the fat. (It retains too much fat.)
• Shred the meat with two forks and serve on tacos with the tortillas and the extras.
• The best is to place some meat on a warm tortilla, top with cilantro, squirt on some lime juice and hot salsa, sauce or chopped jalapeño, roll up and enjoy with some Charro Beans as a side. Mmmmmm -- it is so good.