birria as technique

Birria tacos. Snore, right? Yeah, it’s been done before. But I’m not here to talk about birria tacos—although I did do a very deep dive into the subject for EATNOM.

In fact, I thought so much about birria tacos, and made so many birria tacos, that I realized that birria tacos are more than a trendy dish. It’s a technique that home cooks can use to make delicious and easy tacos, with or without the traditional Mexican recipe for long-stewed meat.

The technique is the process of “wetting” the tortilla in some kind of broth, stuffing it with a meat-like filling plus cheese, then grilling or frying it on the stovetop. I found that you can even make these tacos ahead of time and keep them on a low heat in the oven to stay warm.

I’ve now practiced this with a variety of tortillas (corn, flour, even low carb), and a variety of fillings (chicken, beef, pork, tofu). It’s the technique of pan-frying the moistened taco that achieves the crispy exterior and melted cheese phenomenon and that makes birria tacos so, well, delicious—and photogenic.

My go-to recipe is usually a small flour tortilla that I dip in hot chicken broth, stuff with shredded chicken and shredded cheese, then pan-fry on a greased skillet. This is the most basic version and it works with so many different ingredients.

Check it out here:

Give it a try! And let me know how it goes.

easy chicken tacos "recipe"

Today I needed to flee and drove to Stew Leonard’s for a break from home. Shopped for groceries and then had an ice cream in the freezing cold, and felt somewhat refreshed. That’s what it’s come to.

As we head into our second quarantine, I’m returning to the blog, getting back to writing about all that I’m cooking, and feeling. These days have been rough—stuck at home without much to do, seeing fewer people and now furloughed from work.

Being home has been a lot about cooking, eating, drinking. I’ve covered the world in my food—from Ethiopian Berbere chicken to lasagna to vegetable curry, writing notes in my handy kitchen notebook. Many of the dishes I’ve made have been just for Michael and myself but I’ve also been mastering some family favorites, like chicken tacos—the boys’ new favorites. I’ve got a good go-to recipe for making the chicken filling now, in the Instant Pot. I cook 1-2 pounds of thighs, a packet of taco seasoning, a little salsa and about a cup of chicken broth for 12 minutes (15 if frozen). Then shred the chicken while boiling down the sauce. I return the shredded chicken to the sauce to moisten it but you could also just dump the sauce and keep the chicken as is or add a little bit of the sauce to the shredded chicken.

I keep the chicken in a Tupperware in the fridge for easy lunches: Microwave two tortillas topped with shredded cheese for 30 seconds. Add some chicken and microwave for 30 seconds more. Add whatever toppings you like: guac, sour cream, hot sauce, etc. Then roll it up. It’s a great fast hot lunch for the boys during school days that doesn’t require a lot of cleanup.

Here’s a good video about hot sauces (by Nate)!