Chuck roast cooks slowly in a fragrant sauce of dried chiles, tomato and spices until the meat falls apart. Serve the birria as a stew with broth, or spoon the meat into corn tortillas and serve the consommé alongside for dipping.
Birria de res is a Mexican beef birria, a version most closely associated with Jalisco. The exact preparation varies by cook and region; here, the starting point is a combination of slow-cooked meat and a spiced sauce. Chuck roast is practical for this dish: the connective tissue softens during long cooking, making the meat easy to pull apart and giving the broth more body. Cut the meat into large pieces, not small cubes, so it stays juicy as it braises.
Guajillo lends a mild, fruity chile flavor; ancho, made from dried poblano peppers, adds a deeper, slightly raisin-like note. The tomato rounds out the sauce, and the vinegar balances the richness of the beef. Toast the chiles briefly and carefully: once they darken or burn, they taste bitter. Soaking them afterward makes them pliable enough to blend until smooth. If ancho chiles aren’t available, use extra guajillo. The flavor will change, but the sauce will still work well.
A heavy Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid helps keep the temperature even. Let the birria simmer gently; boiling it hard won’t tenderize the meat any faster and may reduce the sauce before the beef is cooked through. The cooking time is therefore a guideline: the chuck roast is ready when a fork pulls it apart with little resistance. Add a little water if needed if the liquid reduces too much during cooking. Don’t strain the sauce: the blended chiles and tomato are part of the rich consommé.
For tacos, pull the meat apart with two forks and spoon a little sauce over it. Warm the corn tortillas in a dry skillet and fill them with meat; finely chopped onion, cilantro and lime add freshness and texture. Serve the consommé on the side to drink or dip the tacos into. Prefer a stew? Serve the meat and broth together in deep bowls with the same toppings and tortillas on the side. Once cooled, cover and refrigerate leftovers, then reheat them thoroughly in a pan; add a splash of water if the sauce has thickened.
Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Toast the guajillo and ancho chiles for about 20 seconds per side, until fragrant but not darkened. Put them in a bowl, pour hot water over them and soak for 15 minutes. Drain.
In the same skillet, roast the tomatoes and onion halves cut-side down until darkened in spots, about 6–8 minutes. Turn the tomatoes halfway through.
Put the soaked chiles, tomatoes, onion halves, garlic, vinegar, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, salt and 250 ml broth in a blender. Blend into a sauce as smooth as possible.
Pat the chuck roast dry. Heat a splash of oil in a heavy Dutch oven over medium heat and brown the meat on all sides in batches. Return all the pieces to the pot.
Pour the blended sauce and remaining broth over the meat. Add the bay leaf and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a gentle boil, cover the pot and turn the heat to low.
Simmer gently for 3½–4 hours, until the meat pulls apart easily with a fork. Check occasionally to make sure the pot isn’t boiling dry, and add a splash of water if needed. Remove the bay leaf and season the sauce with more salt.
For tacos, pull the meat apart with two forks and spoon a few tablespoons of sauce over it. Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet. Serve filled with beef, with the consommé on the side and onion, cilantro and lime alongside. For a stew, serve the meat and broth in bowls, with tortillas and toppings on the side.
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