Homemade Beef Birria

Ingredients:

3 ½ lbs beef chuck short ribs
3 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
9 cups water
2 bay leaves
5 guajillo chiles
3 pasilla chiles
5 Roma tomatoes
¼ cup vinegar
½ white onion
8 garlic cloves (unpeeled)
1 ½ tsp Mexican oregano
¾ tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground cumin
3 whole cloves
1-inch piece of Mexican cinnamon
1 tsp black peppercorns
3 tsp chicken bouillon
2 cups additional water

Instructions:

Place the dried chiles in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Cover and let soak for 30 minutes.
Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Roast until they develop blackened spots, turning occasionally. The garlic should be ready after about 5 minutes, while the tomatoes and onion will take a little longer.
Transfer the roasted onion and tomatoes to a blender. Peel the garlic and add it along with the softened chiles (discard the soaking water). Add the vinegar, oregano, thyme, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns, chicken bouillon, and 2 cups of fresh water. Blend until smooth and set aside.
Season the beef with salt. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Working in batches, brown the meat on all sides until a nice golden crust forms.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Strain the blended chile sauce into the pot, scraping up all those delicious browned bits from the bottom. Cook for about 1 minute.
Return the beef to the pot. Add the 9 cups of water and bay leaves. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 3 hours or until the beef is fall-apart tender.
Remove the beef and transfer it to a large bowl. Shred with a fork, discarding any excess fat.
Return half of the shredded beef to the pot with the broth. Save the other half to make some delicious quesatacos!

Serve your birria nice and hot with chopped onion, cilantro, lime, and warm tortillas!