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Recipe: Slow Cooker Barbacoa!!

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Back in November, we stuffed our freezer with grass-fed beef and pork from Carman Ranch, and we're just coming to the end of it.  (Well, the pork ran out long ago but was recently replenished courtesy Carman Ranch, and we're just coming to the end of it.  (Well, the pork ran out long ago but was recently replenished courtesy Kookoolan Farms.)  Generally, my weekend food experimenting revolves around roasts or ribs or other tough cuts of meat from the freezer.  Braised Short Ribs, gooooood (I used Michael Ruhlman's recipe).  Corned Beef brisket (and Chuck Roast), gooood (Ruhlman again, from Ratio).

Of course, I've also gone with just traditional Pot Roast kinds of things for shoulder and chuck roasts.  But I was looking for a nice, reliable meal I could make once a month or so that my son the Swimmer Dude could get behind.  Well, I've never gotten any complaints about having tacos once a week, so I figured I should try to make a taco filling with those remaining roasts.  And it just so happens there's a yummy shredded beef option I often indulge in:

Barbacoa.  When I eat at Chipotle, I tend to alternate between Carnitas and Barbacoa.  It's gooood.  So why not take a run at it?  It's basically pulled pork but made with beef.

I looked up a few recipes and based mine ultimately on this one, with a few alterations, resulting in one of the most delicious things I've ever made.  Behold, my slow-cooker Barbacoa recipe:

Meat:

  • 4-5 lb beef roast (chuck, shoulder, rump, whatever)

Seasoning (rub):

  • 2 tsp whole cumin
  • 1 tsp whole coriander
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Sauce:

  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 3/4 cup chicken stock (any stock will do, probably, but my chicken stock is awesome)
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 2-5 whole chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (3 was nicely spicy without kicking me in the teeth.  Tastes vary.)
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 3 bay leaves

Prep (the night before if possible):

  1. Toast the cumin and coriander until you can smell the cumin.  Grind in a mortar and pestle along with the oregano.  Add salt, pepper and cloves to the mixture.  That's your rub.
  2. (BTW, if you're not using whole spices, skip the toasting/grinding and reduce the amounts by about half.  Also, use whole spices.)
  3. Trim any excess fat off the roast, then cut into several large chunks.  (Fine, I'll be specific!  Six!  Six chunks!  Happy?)
  4. Pat the meat dry and apply the rub liberally to all surfaces. 
  5. Put the meat on a plate, cover with plastic if you want, and pop it in the fridge overnight.  (Nah, leave off the plastic. The meat will dry a bit and give you a better sear tomorrow.)

Your ten minutes of actual cooking:

  1. Heat your fat of choice in a skillet (yes, I used bacon fat) and brown the meat, in batches, on all sides.  Don't crowd the pan or you won't get a good sear.  (Fine!  Two batches!)
  2. Move the meat into the slow cooker as it comes out of the skillet.
  3. Deglaze the pan with the chicken stock, scraping the bottom with a wooden spatula.  Add the resulting deliciousness to the slow cooker.
  4. Make the sauce: puree the chipotles, tomato paste, vinegar, lime juice, and garlic (I used an immersion blender).
  5. Pour the sauce over the meat, add the bay leaves, and put it on low.  All day.

Finishing it up:

  1. BTW, it's probably done in about six hours.
  2. Using a baster, siphon off the liquid in the slow cooker and reduce it in a saucepan until you're ready to eat.
  3. While the liquid is reducing, shred the beef using two forks.  Add reduced sauce until your finished product is at your preferred level of sauciness.
  4. Serve as taco meat with tortillas and guacamole, or with rice and veggies.  Or just eat it with a fork.

I'm thinking that next time I make it (Tuesday or Wednesday this week), I'll toss a sliced onion into the pan after browning the meat and let it cook down a bit, then strain it out after deglazing.  Just for a bit of extra flavor, though my chicken stock already has onion in it.  So maybe not.

Any tips or tricks from the peanut gallery here? 

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