{"id":12495,"date":"2012-10-26T14:43:01","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T19:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crankymouse.com\/?p=12495"},"modified":"2012-10-27T11:17:44","modified_gmt":"2012-10-27T16:17:44","slug":"barbacoa-tacos-and-bonus-chili","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/2012\/10\/26\/barbacoa-tacos-and-bonus-chili\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbacoa Tacos and Bonus Chili"},"content":{"rendered":"

A smoked and slow roasted barbacoa recipe, Americanized only by the use of a smoker and a readily available chuck roast cut. A bonus chili recipe from the roasting sauce is included.<\/em>
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I\u2019ve spoken before about how our family\u2019s cooking activities have \u201cruined\u201d certain convenience items for us. In many cases, the recipes or techniques that we\u2019ve developed at home, while they may take more time, result in a product far superior than what is commercially available. Things like burgers, barbecue, pasta sauce, and pesto along with a long list of other items are now foods we take the extra time to make from scratch because we value the end product.
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The problem that arises with this is that on those days when we just don\u2019t have time, our options for fast(er) convenience foods are quite limited. So when we are in need we have a short list of fast meals from home, and when away from home, the local branch of a certain foil-wrapped burrito chain is our go-to, and with good reason.
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Last week however, Shaina presented me with a challenge: Use up the last of the beef roasts in the freezer before it was time to pick up our beef from the farmer and don\u2019t make pot roast. So with those orders and our love of Mexican flavors I decided to try my hand at barbacoa, which is traditionally made from a cows head or whole sheep wrapped in leaves and slow-cooked in a pit with coals.
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The resulting meat can then stewed in various sauces before being shredded and served on tortillas with onions, cilantro and lime. Modern times have resulted in a high degree of regional variations, and so this endeavor will parallel what we are accustomed to getting from the aforementioned burrito chain.
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\nI tackled this project on a Saturday afternoon when we were getting the house and yard ready for winter (read: cleaning). I started with one chuck roast and one rump roast about three or four pounds each and rubbed them with a mix of salt, pepper, chili powder, oregano and garlic powder and let them sit while I fired up my smoker.
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\nOnce the smoker\u2019s temperature stabilized at about 240\u00b0 I put in the two roasts, replaced the cover and let them smoke for two hours as I raked leaves and added to my compost pile. I flipped them over and let them go for another two hours as I started a simmering liquid that the roasts will cook in once they’re pulled from their bed of coals.
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After smoking, the roasts were ready to move to the oven. Into a roasting pan and covered with the sauce, they went in the oven at 350\u00b0 for two hours and we headed out for our weekly shopping excursion. Once finished, they were then shredded and chopped for tacos.
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\nWe added the barbacoa meat, black beans, onions, cilantro, and the simmering sauce to warm tortillas. The meat was wonderfully smoked and infused with all the complex flavors from the chilies, vegetables and herbs, and was very tender from the slow cooking. The biggest problem I had was overconsumption because surely just one more taco wouldn\u2019t be too much, would it?
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The time commitment here is more than most meals, but the results are totally worth it, plus it makes several meals’ worth of food. We saved extra meat for two full dinners at a later date, making for exceptionally fast meals in the future.
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\nWhat of the extra sauce? We saved that, too. It received special treatment: an extra 2 cups of stewed tomatoes, 4 cups of cooked beans (pinto and black are what we ended up using), a bit of the extra meat, and some extra simmering. We topped it with cheese, sour cream, and bits of green onions for an exceptionally easy and delicious chili night. The sauce also made enough for two chili meals, and half was added to our freezer. All told: 5 meals in one cooking session. <\/p>\n

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Barbacoa<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n

Print me!<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
\n1 3-4 lb chuck roast
\nRub<\/em>
\n1 tablespoon black pepper
\n1 tablespoon oregano
\n1 tablespoon chili powder
\n2 teaspoons garlic powder
\n1 \u00bd teaspoon kosher salt
\nSimmer sauce<\/em>
\n2 dried guajillo chilies
\n2 dried ancho chilies
\n\u00bd 7-oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo
\n3 tablespoons olive oil
\n1 cup chopped celery
\n2 cups chopped onion
\n3 cloves minced garlic
\n1 14.5-oz. can of stewed tomatoes
\n1 cup chopped carrots
\n1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
\n2 teaspoons fresh chopped thyme
\nTo serve<\/em>
\nsmall corn or flour tortillas
\nwarm black beans
\nchopped cilantro
\nchopped onions
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Mix together the rub ingredients in a bowl. Using your hands, rub into the chuck roast on all sides. Prepare smoker according to manufacturer\u2019s directions and set temperature to about 240\u00b0 F. Place the roast on the smoker. After two hours, flip meat and prepare simmer sauce.
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Remove the seeds and stems from the guajillo and ancho chiles, place them in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes or until soft. Pour off all but 1 cup of water (reserving the rest of the water), add the chipotle peppers with adobo sauce and puree the contents into a thick sauce using a hand blender, adding some of the reserved water as needed.
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In a large pot over medium high heat, warm the oil and saut\u00e9 celery, the onion, and the garlic for five minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients as well as the chili puree and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
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After the meat has been smoking for another 2 hours (total of 4 hours), remove from the smoker and place in a roasting pan. Add the simmer sauce to the pan, cover and place in a 350\u00b0 F oven for one hour. Open the lid, turn the meat over, and roast for an additional hour.
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Remove from oven and allow the meat to rest covered for 30 minutes. Remove the cover, and shred and chop the meat. Serve on warm tortillas with the onions, cilantro, and the roasting sauce from the pan. Reserve the additional roasting sauce and 1 cup of meat for making chili, if desired.
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\nTo make chili:
\nReserved simmering sauce
\n24 ounces stewed tomatoes
\n1 can black beans
\n1 can white pinto beans
\n1 cup diced barbacoa meat
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Add the sauce, tomatoes, beans, and meat to a large pot. Simmer until heated through. Serve with chili toppings.
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\nMakes 20 4″ barbacoa tacos (and 6 servings chili).
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Copyright © Food for My Family<\/a>.<\/center><\/font> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A smoked and slow roasted barbacoa recipe, Americanized only by the use of a smoker and a readily available chuck roast cut. A bonus chili recipe from the roasting sauce is included. I\u2019ve spoken before about how our family\u2019s cooking activities have \u201cruined\u201d certain convenience items for us. In many cases, the recipes or techniques […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[133,23,12,30,10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-beef-main-course-recipes","7":"category-featured","8":"category-from-the-patio","9":"category-main-course","10":"category-recipes","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"mv":{"thumbnail_id":null,"thumbnail_uri":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12495"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12516,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12495\/revisions\/12516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}