[2 - 2] Hey, what's up? Since quesiberia tacos
[2 - 4] are like one of the most viral foods on
[4 - 6] the internet of all time, I've avoided
[6 - 8] making this video because me providing
[8 - 10] my take to the internet has always felt
[10 - 12] like it would just be a fart in the wind
[12 - 14] situation. But then I got under the hood
[14 - 16] of the recipe, started making it, and
[16 - 18] really fell in love with it. It's a
[18 - 19] crispy tortilla filled with melty
[19 - 22] cheese, succulent braised meat dipped
[22 - 25] into a flavorful meaty chili sauce.
[25 - 26] That's dope. The thing is though, most
[26 - 28] recipes for quesabiria on the internet
[28 - 31] are super mid. You can just look at
[31 - 33] them. They don't look that good. So, I
[33 - 34] really wanted to dive in and make
[34 - 36] something that was as special as I
[36 - 38] thought this dish could be. In this
[38 - 39] video, I'm going to show you how to nail
[39 - 41] the shreddy beef so that it's perfectly
[41 - 44] tender and juicy every single time.
[44 - 45] Then, I'll show you how to avoid the
[45 - 46] pitfalls that I see a lot of people
[46 - 48] making online when it comes to cooking
[48 - 50] with Mexican chilis. Then finally, I'll
[50 - 51] show you how to put everything together
[51 - 54] into a hyper version of quesiberia
[54 - 56] that's got every aesthetic detail turned
[56 - 58] all the way up. To get started, I'll
[58 - 60] need some meat. Specifically, I've got
[60 - 62] three lbs of beef chuck roast. When
[62 - 64] buying your roast, make sure that there
[64 - 66] is a lot of intramuscular marbling of
[66 - 68] fat like this. This is the biggest
[68 - 70] predictor of how unctuous and rich the
[70 - 72] final meat will taste. It's very hard to
[72 - 74] take a lean chuck and make it taste
[74 - 76] melty and delicious. It just gets chalky
[76 - 78] and dry if it doesn't have a lot of
[78 - 80] marbled fat. If you can't find a fatty
[80 - 82] chuck roast, go for short ribs or a
[82 - 84] brisket point. That's the fattier side
[84 - 86] of the brisket. Now, to prep this beef,
[86 - 87] I'll cut the roast into large planks
[87 - 89] that are about 2 in or so. Next, I'll
[89 - 91] take those planks and cut them down into
[91 - 93] chunky squares that are about 2 to 3 in
[93 - 95] on each side. Also, don't worry about
[95 - 97] trimming out the non-marbled fat in
[97 - 99] between the muscles. As the beef cooks,
[99 - 100] that fat is going to melt into the
[100 - 102] sauce, which will help make the consame
[102 - 104] that we dip the taco in later on much
[104 - 106] more luscious. The rendered fat picks up
[106 - 107] all the flavors from the braise and it
[108 - 109] kind of acts like a Mexican chili oil
[109 - 111] that coats everything. Next, I'm going
[111 - 114] to slide this beef into a medium bowl.
[114 - 116] Then add in 20 g of kosher salt and then
[116 - 119] a few long ziggies of oil or about 3
[119 - 120] tablespoons. From here, I'll toss the
[120 - 122] beef with the salt and the oil to get
[122 - 124] everything combined. And once the beef
[124 - 125] is all covered up, I'm going to let it
[126 - 127] sit in the salt for 20 minutes. This
[128 - 129] will allow the salt to denature the
[129 - 131] proteins in the meat, which will allow
[131 - 132] the beef to hold on to its moisture
[132 - 134] during cooking. Another way of saying
[134 - 136] that is that it's going to make it more
[136 - 137] juicy. From here, I'll set the beef
[137 - 139] aside, then reach up to grab the
[139 - 142] backbone of this entire dish, dried
[142 - 144] chilis. I've got two types here. 30 g of
[144 - 147] guajillo chilis and 30 g of ancho
[147 - 148] chilis. I love guilos because they're
[148 - 151] bright, tangy, extremely fruity, and
[151 - 153] have a mild spice. Anchos, on the other
[153 - 155] hand, have a bit more of a raisiny prune
[155 - 157] flavor, and they've also got a moderate
[157 - 159] heat along with hints of chocolate,
[159 - 161] coffee, and a deep earthiness. There's
[161 - 162] probably a ton of abuelas in the
[162 - 164] comments right now blowing me up for not
[164 - 167] using casabel chilis which many claim
[167 - 169] are essential for bira. I understand why
[169 - 171] they would say that because casabels are
[171 - 173] a really beautiful chili that have some
[173 - 175] of the raisiny qualities of a noncho
[175 - 177] paired with a very unique nutty tobacco
[178 - 179] aroma. But I tried this recipe with
[179 - 182] cascels and didn't notice a difference.
[182 - 184] There's just too many layers of flavor
[184 - 186] in the final quesabiria taco for a
[186 - 188] single chili to tip the balance that
[188 - 190] much. Casabel chilis can also be pretty
[190 - 192] tricky for home cooks to get their hands
[192 - 194] on. So that's another strike for me. The
[194 - 196] combination of guajillos and anchos
[196 - 198] covers most of the spectrum of dried
[198 - 199] chili flavor and they work
[199 - 201] synergistically to give you pretty much
[201 - 203] every flavor you need for birya. Now to
[203 - 205] prep these dried chilies, I'm going to
[205 - 207] crack off the stem, then pour out the
[207 - 209] seeds. These are tanic and bitter and
[209 - 210] they don't have any flavor. I'm also
[210 - 212] going to tear the chili skins into
[212 - 213] smaller chunks as I go so that they'll
[213 - 215] cook faster and puree easier. Next, I'll
[216 - 217] grab a heavy bottom pot and drop it on
[218 - 220] the stove over medium low heat. Then,
[220 - 222] preheat my broiler to high. I'll check
[222 - 224] back in 5 minutes. Up top, my heated
[224 - 226] Dutch oven is ready, so I'll drop in my
[226 - 228] dried chilies and cook for 2 to 3
[228 - 230] minutes or until they're fragrant and
[230 - 232] softened, not toasted. Dried chilies can
[232 - 234] burn really quickly over direct heat.
[234 - 235] So, I'm going to be stirring these
[235 - 236] pretty much constantly. I know they're
[236 - 238] ready when my kitchen is smelling
[238 - 242] fruity, smoky, and
[242 - 244] spicy. Be careful, people. From here,
[244 - 247] I'm going to drop in 675 gram of water,
[247 - 249] 175 gram of rough chopped onion, and 25
[249 - 251] gram or about six to seven garlic
[251 - 252] cloves. Once in, I'll bring the pot up
[252 - 255] to a low simmer. Then pop on a lid and
[255 - 257] turn down the heat to low to keep these
[257 - 259] chilies from being over boiled. Now,
[259 - 261] while that simmers, I'm going to flip my
[261 - 263] salted beef out onto a sheet tray. Then
[263 - 265] give it a quick pat dry with a paper
[265 - 267] towel to remove any excessive moisture
[267 - 269] on the outside because that'll steam
[269 - 271] things up for the next phase. Speaking
[271 - 273] of that, phase two of Operation
[273 - 275] Succulent Beef is to load this sheet
[275 - 278] tray under my broiler and rip it hard
[278 - 280] for roughly 15 minutes. If you don't
[280 - 281] have a broiler that you trust, you can
[282 - 284] sear the beef on the stove top. But I'm
[284 - 286] avoiding that because searing meat is
[286 - 287] splattery, requires a lot more
[287 - 289] attention, and since I can't fit all
[289 - 291] this beef in the pot at one time, I need
[291 - 293] to sear it in two batches, which adds
[293 - 295] about 10 to 15 minutes of active prep
[295 - 297] time. Back at the chili pot, after 10
[297 - 298] minutes of simmering, the onions and
[298 - 300] garlic are softened enough to puree and
[300 - 302] the chilies have rehydrated. So, I'll
[302 - 304] kill the heat, then move the pot over to
[304 - 306] the sink where I'll drain off the
[306 - 308] cooking liquid. I hate this step because
[308 - 310] washing my strainer sucks. But, I did
[310 - 312] notice a significant reduction in
[312 - 314] bitterness when I added it in. Even with
[314 - 316] gentle simmering, the chili still put
[316 - 318] off a decent level of bitterness. So, I
[318 - 319] think it's best to lose the cooking
[319 - 321] liquid and replace it with a fresh, more
[321 - 323] flavorful liquid in the final sauce.
[323 - 324] Okay, once drained, I'm going to move
[324 - 326] the soft stuff over to my blender. Then
[326 - 329] I'll add in 675 gram of store-bought
[329 - 331] beeftock, 20 gram of tomato paste, one
[331 - 333] large chipotle chili and adopo. This
[333 - 336] brings some very direct smoke flavor and
[336 - 337] a little bit of heat that the guillos
[337 - 339] and anchos are
[339 - 342] lacking. Next, I'll add in 35 g of
[342 - 345] achiote anado paste. This is not Abua
[345 - 348] approved, but it brings an indescribable
[348 - 350] earthy/savory flavor to this sauce. You
[350 - 352] can find it at Mexican grocerers,
[352 - 354] international markets, or over at Jeffy
[354 - 357] Boy's discount e-commerce superstore.
[357 - 359] Next in goes 2 grams of cumin, 2 grams
[359 - 361] of coriander, 2 g of cinnamon, 3 g of
[361 - 363] black pepper, an 1/ teaspoon or a tiny
[363 - 365] pinch of ground cloves, 1 g of dried
[365 - 367] oregano, 20 g of apple cider vinegar, 10
[367 - 369] g of salt, and finally a good long
[370 - 372] squeeze of agave syrup, or about 20 g
[372 - 373] worth. From here, I'll throw the blender
[373 - 375] on to high speed and spin it up for
[375 - 376] about 2 minutes. If you don't have a
[376 - 378] good stand-up blender like this one, an
[378 - 379] immersion blender would totally work. Or
[380 - 381] you could throw this in batches into a
[381 - 383] food processor. It doesn't need to be as
[383 - 386] smooth as baby food, but it does need to
[386 - 389] be saucy and free of chunks like
[391 - 395] this. Ooh, dude. That is deeply fruity. This
[395 - 397] Ooh, dude. That is deeply fruity. This is just a worldass adobo sauce. It's
[397 - 399] going to work for this bira well. You
[400 - 402] can make barbcoa tacos with it, or it'd
[402 - 403] be a great marinade for shrimp or
[403 - 405] grilled chicken, too. You get a little
[405 - 407] bit of smokiness from the chipotle. You
[407 - 409] get that indescribable savory pecant
[409 - 411] flavor from the achiote paste and then
[411 - 412] just a little bit of sweetness and a
[412 - 414] little bit of vinegar here balances the
[414 - 415] whole thing out. After the adobo, I'll
[415 - 417] check back on the beef under the
[417 - 420] sizzler. It is well browned all over and
[420 - 422] there's tons of nice fondy bits stuck to
[422 - 424] the pan. Now to get those tasty roasty
[424 - 426] bits off the sheet tray and into my
[426 - 428] sauce, I'll pour an additional 200 g of
[428 - 430] beeftock onto the sheet tray. Then grab
[430 - 432] a wooden spoon and scrape things up.
[432 - 434] High- quality meat drippings is another
[434 - 436] huge benefit to oven searing over stove
[436 - 438] top searing. On the stove top, it can be
[438 - 440] pretty difficult to sear the meat long
[440 - 442] enough without over browning the fond,
[442 - 444] making it burnt, which makes it unusable
[444 - 446] in the sauce. Okay, once the beef drips
[446 - 448] are loose and poured into the pot, I'm
[448 - 450] going to move the beef chunks in there
[450 - 453] as well. There we go. Then I'll pour in
[453 - 456] all of my adobo puree, then submerge the
[456 - 457] meat. From here, I'm going to drop this
[457 - 459] pot over at the stove and bring the
[459 - 461] sauce up to a simmer. Starting with hot
[461 - 463] liquid will save us about 20 to 30
[463 - 464] minutes of total cook time. So don't
[464 - 466] skip this step. Once up to a boil, I'll
[466 - 468] pop on a lid, then throw the whole setup
[468 - 471] into a 300F oven and braze it for 2
[471 - 473] hours while I thank Trade Coffee for
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[476 - 478] much. I used to drink an entire pot of
[478 - 481] coffee by myself every day until the
[481 - 484] anxiety set in. So, I switched to decaf
[484 - 486] to maintain my sanity, but my favorite
[486 - 488] morning ritual is still a hot cup of
[488 - 490] coffee, just without the hundreds of
[490 - 492] milligs of stimulants. Thanks to Trade,
[492 - 494] now I can drink a hot cup of decaf every
[494 - 496] morning that actually tastes really
[496 - 498] good. Trade is the number one specialty
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[512 - 514] the country. The roast I'm currently
[514 - 516] sipping on is from Red Rooster Coffee in
[516 - 518] Floyd, Virginia. They just roasted it
[518 - 520] last week and ground it specifically for
[520 - 522] my good old automatic drip machine. I
[522 - 524] love it because it's an easy drink and
[524 - 526] super approachable medium roast that
[526 - 528] also has just enough complexity in there
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[542 - 545] order. And after 2 hours of slow brazen,
[545 - 547] I'm going to pull my Dutch oven out of
[547 - 549] the oven and check for dness. It's
[549 - 550] really hard to give an exact cook time
[550 - 552] because of the number of variables here,
[552 - 554] but for me, perfectly brazed meat should
[554 - 557] not be falling apart. What we want is
[557 - 559] meat that gives under a gentle pull but
[559 - 561] still holds itself together just a
[561 - 563] little. The meat should slowly fall
[563 - 565] apart and release all of its unuous
[565 - 567] juices in your mouth as you chew it. If
[567 - 569] the meat is totally falling apart with
[569 - 571] no effort, it'll probably feel mushy in
[571 - 573] your mouth and most likely it will also
[573 - 575] feel dry because all of the collagen
[575 - 577] will have melted out and the meat will
[577 - 579] have squeezed all of its juices into the
[579 - 581] sauce. Now, I need to rest this meat for
[581 - 582] about 30 minutes before shredding it.
[582 - 584] So, the lid goes on and I'll check back
[584 - 586] soon. 30 minutes later, the beef juices
[586 - 588] have settled into the meat. And the meat
[588 - 589] has reabsorbed some of the cooking
[589 - 590] liquid. From here, I'm going to move
[590 - 593] this beef over to a bowl so I can shred
[593 - 595] it. And I like to do that by hand. I
[595 - 596] don't want the meat to be torn down into
[596 - 598] tiny little threads here. I want to pull
[598 - 600] it apart into small chunks. This will
[600 - 603] make the meat eat like a piece of meat.
[603 - 604] If you shred it too much, it'll feel
[604 - 606] mealy or pasty when you eat it, and it
[606 - 608] won't have any distinctive meat texture.
[608 - 609] At this point, you can see how perfectly
[610 - 612] brazed this beef is. It glistens like
[612 - 615] Texas beef barbecue. It's so rich. It's
[615 - 617] so beefy. And it's bathed in a deeply
[617 - 619] flavorful sauce. Also, at this point,
[619 - 621] this meat is ready to go for S tier
[621 - 623] tacos. If you're not interested in the
[623 - 625] whole quesabiria setup, just serve on
[625 - 627] some hot and floppy tortillas with some
[627 - 629] chopped cilantro, chopped onion, and
[629 - 631] some fresh tomatio salsa. Once the beets
[631 - 633] broken down, it's time to make the
[633 - 636] mysterious inky cons to dip the taco in.
[636 - 638] For that, I'll take 200 g of my brazing
[638 - 640] adobo right out of the Dutch oven and
[640 - 642] ladle it into a saucepan. Then I'll top
[642 - 645] that with 300 gram or so of store-bought
[645 - 647] beef stock. Then finally, I'll drop in a
[647 - 650] 3 to five gram nip of Better Than Bon
[650 - 652] beef base to shore up the beef flavor
[652 - 654] and to bring a little needed salt. Next,
[654 - 656] the pot goes on the flame and I'll bring
[656 - 658] it up to a simmer just long enough to
[658 - 660] dissolve the beef stuff into the adobo.
[660 - 662] And it's that simple. This adobo is
[662 - 665] smoky, earthy, meaty, a touch spicy, and
[665 - 667] a little bit spiced from the cinnamon
[667 - 669] and the cloves. It has like 10 distinct
[670 - 671] layers of flavor going on. It's insane.
[671 - 673] Now, I'm going to keep this hot while I
[673 - 675] build the quesabiras. The first step
[675 - 677] there is to dip a spoon or a pastry
[677 - 679] brush into the brazing adobo and then
[679 - 681] brush some onto a corn tortilla. I'm
[681 - 682] going to flip this over now, then brush
[682 - 685] the sauce on the backside and repeat for
[685 - 686] a second tortilla. Don't brush these too
[686 - 687] far in advance, though, because the
[688 - 689] tortillas will get soggy and then
[689 - 690] they'll fall apart when you go to flip
[690 - 692] them over in the sauté pan. To cook
[692 - 693] these things, I'm going to grab a
[693 - 695] non-stick pan and drop it on the stove
[695 - 697] over medium low heat. Once hot, I'll
[697 - 699] drop my saucy tortillas into a liberal
[699 - 701] amount of hot oil. Spread those around
[701 - 703] to get them lubed up. Then I'll drop in
[703 - 705] a four-finger pinch of grated Mexican
[705 - 707] melting cheese. I'm using Wajaka cheese
[707 - 709] here, but Chihuahua would also work. Or
[709 - 711] if you don't have access to the Mexican
[711 - 713] cheeses, plain old Monterey Jack could
[713 - 714] work. It's just a little bit less
[714 - 716] flavorful. Next, I'll drop down roughly
[716 - 719] 3 oz or about 100 g of shredded brazed
[719 - 721] beef onto the cheese, making sure it's
[721 - 723] only covering half of the taco so
[723 - 725] they're easier to fold. Once loaded, I'm
[725 - 727] going to carefully flip these tortillas
[727 - 729] over into a quesadilla shape. During
[729 - 730] this time, I'm going to come back with
[730 - 732] my spatula to press things down and make
[732 - 734] sure the tortillas are staying super
[734 - 736] flat and in contact with the pan. This
[736 - 738] will ensure even crisping. Heatwise,
[738 - 740] medium low is the best temperature, or
[740 - 742] about four out of 10 heat. Another tip
[742 - 744] for perfect crisping is to rotate the
[744 - 746] pan a few times to make sure that the
[746 - 748] heat is being evenly distributed. This
[748 - 750] actually matters a lot. I also like to
[750 - 752] use my spatula to keep the oozing beef
[752 - 753] and cheese contained a little bit so
[753 - 755] they don't run out into the pan and leak
[755 - 757] under the tortilla. And after five
[757 - 759] minutes of gentle sizzling, I'll peek
[760 - 762] underneath to see how we're doing. Yeah,
[762 - 764] dude, that looks psychotic. We've got
[764 - 767] crispy cheese around the edges and a
[767 - 769] deeply browned tortilla. From here, I'm
[769 - 770] going to flip these over and sizzle them
[770 - 772] up on the backside for another 4 minutes
[772 - 774] or until I've got a similar level of
[774 - 776] crisping on the back. Once these things
[776 - 777] are crispy, I'm going to move them over
[777 - 780] to a wire rack so that any excessive fat
[780 - 781] that's hanging out on the outside can
[781 - 783] drip off. And this allows the crispness
[783 - 788] of the tacos to set in. Oh my lord, look
[788 - 794] at this. Oh my
[797 - 797] god. To serve, I'll pile up the beras
[797 - 799] onto a plate, then stream some of my hot
[799 - 802] consmé into a little dish for dipping.
[802 - 805] Oh man, I want to fill up a hot tub with
[805 - 808] this juice. This taco makes you feel
[808 - 810] like you're doing something bad and
[810 - 812] getting away with it. It's dangerously
[812 - 815] flavorful and certainly dangerous for
[815 - 817] your cardiovascular health. Now, let's
[833 - 833] baria. It's like every single tortilla
[833 - 835] based Mexican dish all smashed up into
[835 - 837] the same thing. Taquito, enchilada,
[837 - 841] taco, quesadilla, nachos. You got crispy
[841 - 842] fried cheese around the edge. You got
[842 - 844] beef flavor permeating the entire thing.
[844 - 847] It's in the sauce. It's inside. It's in
[847 - 848] the tortilla.
[848 - 851] It's sick. Just a quick heads up, I
[851 - 853] designed a chef's knife last year that
[853 - 855] was really wellreceived by you guys. So,
[855 - 857] I reuped the supply and now the
[857 - 859] Laggerstrom 8-in chef's knife is back in
[859 - 861] stock. It's got the form factor of a
[861 - 863] high-end Japanese Guuto, but it's made
[863 - 865] from simple, durable materials, so you
[865 - 867] can really beat it up. The link is
[867 - 868] below. I hope you try it, and I really
[868 - 871] hope you like it.