It’s hard to find good Quesabirria in Calgary, especially ones that are individually fried with the broth/oil. Traditionally it’s made with goat meat but this one’s made with boneless short ribs and oxtail. The combination of these two types of meat gives the right amount of fattiness. I’ve combined two recipes I found to create the ultimate Quesabirria recipe. I got my meats from Costco and specialty items from Unimarket (locations in the SW and Edmonton Trail) - such as the dried chilies, oaxaca cheese (available at Co-op as well), and mini corn tortillas.
INGREDIENTS (makes 52 mini tacos)
1.5 kg of boneless short ribs
1.5 kg of oxtail
1 large white/yellow onion
1 roma tomato
10 cloves of garlic
1 knobs of peeled ginger
2.7 L of no-salt beef broth (3 cartons of Campbell’s)
1 tbsp of sugar
0.5 cup of chopped cilantro
1 cup of small diced white onion
Dried Spices
6 dried bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp smoked paprika
1.5 tbsp peppercorn
1 tbsp coriander (or ground coriander)
PREPARATION
Salt & pepper your meats and leave them out uncovered for about 30 minutes, no more than an hour (to bring it up to room temperature for even cooking).
Slice your onions ¼-inch thick, half your tomato, and peel the 8 cloves of garlic. Throw that onto a sheet pan with some oil and put it in your oven to broil on high. Make sure you keep a close eye on them and flip when it’s got a little char on them. Repeat on the other side and turn off your oven when it’s done.
Take all of the dried chilies and de-stem/remove the seeds (it’s okay to leave some in there).
Grab a skillet that’s large enough for all the dry spices to lay flat on one layer and toast it dry over medium heat - with no oil. Once you smell the aromatics of the herbs or the smoked paprika changes colour, turn off the heat. Put this into a small saucepan with a cup of beef broth. Heat it up until it boils, turn off the heat and cover.
Grab a dutch oven or a large stockpot big enough for all of your meats.
Sear and brown all sides of the boneless short ribs and oxtails on medium-high (don’t overcrowd your pot, you need to get the Maillard reaction). Sear your meat in batches.
Turn off the heat and let the pot cool down for 2 minutes (so the oil doesn’t splatter up when you pour the beef broth in).
Put all of your seared meats back into the pot and pour the remaining beef broth in (making sure it’s covering all of the meat). Put all of the dried chilies into the pot as well. Bring this to a light simmer and cover.
After 1 hour, take out the now softened chilies into a blender, along with the onions/garlic/tomato on the sheet pan, knob of ginger, and the dried spice broth in the small saucepan. Blend until smooth (you might need to add more broth from the pot). Pour everything into the big pot of meat and stir evenly. Add salt to taste and 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Cover and light simmer for 3 hours or until you can shred the meat with two forks.
After 3 hours, take out the meats from the pot (remove the bones) and shred with two forks. Set it aside.
Take the broth from the pot and run it through a sieve. Pour enough strained broth into the shredded meat so that it’s covered.
Congrats, now it’s time to assemble!!
ASSEMBLY
Tear or shred the oaxaca cheese.
Mix your diced onion and chopped cilantro in a small bowl (this is the garnish for your tacos and dipping broth).
Heat up a plancha or a non-stick pan.
Dip your mini tortilla in the broth and sear it in the pan (be careful when you flip).
Once both sides of the tortilla have a bit of colour and it’s not flimsy anymore, add a layer of meat to half of the tortilla and some oaxaca cheese.
Fold the empty side of the tortilla to enclose the taco and press down. Pan-fry both sides of the taco until crispy.
Get a shallow bowl that you can dip your taco in and pour some broth. Garnish with the diced onion and chopped cilantro.