Quite possible the worlds best tacos. Cheesy and saucy goodness right here.
Total Time:
Servings:
Ingredients:
- Hickory Smoking Blocks
- Chicken Thighs
- Salt + Pepper
- Rendered Chicken Fat
Consommé
- 1 tsp Dried Mexican Oregano
- 1 Onion
- ½ tsp Cumin
- 6 Bay Leaves
- 8 Cloves Garlic
- ½ C Tomato Sauce
- ¼ tsp Dried Thyme
- 48 oz Chicken Stock
- Dried Chilies (deseeded and stemmed) – 10 Smoked Hatch and 6 Super Chilies – other chilies will work like ancho/pasilla/gaujilo
Garnish
- Cilantro, chopped
- White Onion, diced
- Corn Tortillas
- Oaxaca Cheese – shredded
Chef's Tip
Birria is a Mexican dish from the state of Jalisco – generally a stew using goat, lamb, or beef. For this recipe, Chef Nate took the traditional flavor profile to create these mouthwatering tacos!
Directions:
- Season chicken thighs all over with salt and pepper.
- Set up grill for direct cooking, you want a temp of around 400˚ F.
- Add a chunk of Applewood and a chunk of Hickory to the coals.
- When the grill is up to temp, direct grill onion and chicken just to put some color on them. No need to fully cook here, around 5 minutes a side.
- Pull chicken and onions from grill and add to a dutch oven.
- Add stock, cumin, bay leaves, garlic, tomato sauce, thyme, onion, and dried chilies into the dutch oven with the chicken and onion.
- Put back on grill (300˚ F) and braise for approximately 2 hours or until fork tender.
- Remove chicken and shred, add a couple spoons of the braising liquid to the shredded chicken.
- Remove everything else from braising liquid, discarding bay leaves.
- Blend together garlic, chilies, and onion. Add back to braising liquid (this now becomes the consommé).
- Place corn tortillas in a pan over medium heat. Using rendered chicken fat to coat the tortilla.
- Place Oaxaca and shredded chicken on half the tortilla and fold in half to create a quesadilla.
- Serve with a dipping bowl of the consommé topped with cilantro and diced white onions.
*Keep a spray bottle of water handy in case of flare-ups.
Used in this recipe:
