I have three sisters. Yes, you read that right, there were four girls in my family growing up. My father used to moan that he was outnumbered – even the cat was female. What he never mentioned, of course, was that he was (and still is) probably the most spoiled man on the face of the earth. Growing up, we not only had to do the dishes, set the table and clean the house, we also had to shovel the driveway, cut the grass, rake the leaves and weed the lawn. But I digress.
My sister Deinah and I are closest in age. As you may know from past postings, she is a bit of a spice wimp (her words, not mine). It was recently her birthday and I wanted to have her over for dinner. I asked her what she wanted to eat and her choice was Mexican. As we know, I’ve got a thing for slow-cooked foods, so I decided to make slow-cooked beef Barbacoa-style soft tacos for her birthday. This recipe is pretty quick to prepare and it cooks while you are at work. It is also 100% better than making tacos with ground beef from a yellow box.
Barbacoa is traditionally made from the whole cow’s head cooked over an open fire. Given the fact that I live in a condo, the whole cow’s head thing and cooking over an open fire was obviously out of the question. I substituted the cow’s head for a chuck roast pot roast. Pot roasts are great to make. The beef is cooked low and slow and falls apart when done. Unlike steaks, you are using cuts of meat that are generally tougher (but also less expensive). When these tougher cuts are slow cooked, they are beautifully tender. When buying roasts for a pot roast to slow cook, ask your butcher or look for chuck roast, shoulder steak, boneless chuck roast, rump, rump round, bottom round or brisket.
Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, braised beef Barbacoa-style tacos!
Prep time: 10 minutes; Cook time: 8 hours; Serves: 8 people
What you need:
- 1 pot roast beef, around 2 – 3 lb (shown 2.5 lbs)
- 1 onion medium sized, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 4 – 5 cups beef stock
- 1 127 ml can of chopped green chili peppers
- 1 tbsp chipotle paprika (or paprika)
- 1/2 tbsp Adobo spice mix (this is available at most grocery stores – if you don’t have this, add a 1/2 tsp more oregano & 1 tsp garlic powder)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano (Mexican if you have it)
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 bay leaves
- salt, pepper
Serve with:
- tortillas – corn or wheat, shredded cheese, sour cream. green onion, pickled jalapeños, mango salsa, tomato salsa
What you do:
- Combine all spices in bowl (not bay leaves)
- Pat pot roast dry
- Rub spices on roast, reserve extra
- Place the pot roast in the slow cooker
- Sprinkle with onions and garlic
- Cover with chopped green chilis (and any liquid in can)
- Add any extra spice mix to the roast and bottom of the pot
- Cover with beef stock
- Add bay leaves
- Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 8 hours.
- (ELIN’S TIP: before you take the beef out to shred it, wrap your tortillas in aluminum foil at this point and warm)
- Take the beef out of the slow cooker and shred it in a bowl
- Strain liquid from slow cooker, reserve
- Add the liquid from the slow cooker to the beef mix and incorporate until slightly wet, but not soggy.
- Save leftover cooking liquid, freeze if you are not using it right away
- Serve beef on warmed tortillas with cheese, sour cream, green onions, pickled jalapeños, mango salsa and tomato salsa to taste
ELIN’S MAKE AHEAD TIP: The night before, make the spice mix and rub the roast with the spices; wrap in Saran. Chop your onions and garlic put them in a container. In the morning, you are ready to put everything into the slow cooker, and set it to cook. This will give you an extra snooze when the alarm goes off!)
made this for dinner and delicious! keep the slow cooker recipes coming 🙂
Thank you Doris! Glad to hear! Now you have me craving tacos!
Hi Elin, ended up using the left over cooking liquid to make the black bean soup 🙂
Thanks Doris! Great tip!