Two of the titans of the food world – tacos and slow-sooked beef ribs – come together with light and zingy pickles, creamy avocado and an amazing cooking liquor to give a taste sensation that is out of this world. Great for parties, guests, sports games or just about any other occasion that you can think of.
These were given a dry-rub overnight then braised slowly in beer and stock. I have seen many other variations that use a marinade, or even without flavouring the beef but braising in a spicy sauce and, of course, these are all very good ways to cook this dish. I opted for the dry rub because it gets so much flavour into the meat and flavours the sauce as it cooks. Controversially, I didn’t sear the beef first because this would have burnt the spices that were coating it. I don’t think it lost any flavour for this; they were sweet, smoky, spicy and downright delicious. I think for a meal like this, as long as you get all the flavours in thesomehow and cook it nice and low for a long time, the flavours will all mingle and it will work perfectly.
As far as dry-rubs go, I mix and match all the time, use your own combinations of spices to alter the flavours or use one of the many pre-mixed available blends available to buy. My recipe below will get you started but chop and change depending on what you have or what you like. For toppings, always go with some zingy, zesty salad bits on there – eg cucumber, red onion, spring onion, radish – and some fresh herbs, coriander in this case but mint or parsley would work just as well. For the braising liquid, I used a lovely Butty Bach beer from my hometown but any IPA or ale should work just fine.
Enjoy!
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- For the ribs:
- Approx 1.6kg of short ribs on the bone
- 1 teaspoon each of mustard powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chipotle flakes, cayenne pepper, ajillo pepper, salt
- For the sauce:
- 1 large onion
- 400ml chicken stock
- 350ml beer
- For the taco shells:
- 200g plain four
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- good pinch of salt
- For the toppings:
- 1 avocado
- 1 red onion
- 1 handful radishes
- 4 tbsp White wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- Bunch fresh coriander
- Fresh limes
Instructions
First, prepare the beef. Find a casserole dish that the ribs will fit into, we'll be wrapping it in foil later so they shouldn't come up higher than the sides of the dish. Give the ribs a very good coating with the dry rub, getting an even coating all over. Cover the whole thing with clingfilm and leave for at least a few hours or even overnight in the fridge. These should smell great already!
Next, chop the onion and fry over a low heat until softened. Add the chicken stock and beer and cook for 5-10 minutes, until well combined. Pour the sauce over the ribs in the casserole dish; they should be mostly submerged, don't worry if a bit is above the liquid.
Wrap the casserole dish well in a few layers of cooking foil, or cover with a well-fitting lid. Put them into the oven at 130ºC and leave to cook for 6 hours. They are cooked when they are competely tender and will pull away from the bone with a fork. Leave to rest.
Remove the meat from the liquid and set aside to cool. Pull the meat away from the bone and trim away any excess fat. Cut/pull the meat into largish chunks.
Add the cooking liquid to a frying pan and reduce until thick. Add the meat to the pan of cooking liquid and mix well to coat. This can be set aside and reheated when you are ready to eat.
To make the tortillas, just mix the oil, flour and salt in a bowl and pour in 120ml warm water. Bring it together until you have a ball of dough which you can then knead on a floured surface for a few minutes. Wrap in clingfilm and set aside for 15-20 minutes.
Divide your dough into 6 and roll into a ball. This can then be rolled out as thinly as you can manage - use an upturned bowl to get a perfect round shape.
Heat a frying pan until medium-hot and dry-fry each of the rolled tortilllas, turning after a few minutes on each side. You can drape them over a rolling pin and hold in place with tongs for a moment immediately after removing from the pan if you want them to hold that nice taco shape.
Peel the avocado and mash with a little salt, olive oil and lime juice.
In a bowl, mix the vinegar and sugar together. Add the finely sliced radish and red onion before leaving to 'quick-pickle' for 15 minutes; strain/squeeze off the excess vinegar when ready to use.
Finally... build up your tacos how you want them. I start with some avocado in the bottom, then a good serving of the beef, topped with the pickles, coriander and a good squeeze of lime juice.
Notes
Try to use different types of chilli powder, eg gualiio, ancho, de arbol for a nice blend of flavours. If you don't have these, just use what ever chilli powder/paprika/cayenne that you have. You can also easily buy tacos shells, tortillas or wraps but making your own is easy and much more fun, especially shaping them on a rolling pin!
Brina
April 18, 2021 at 9:59 pmThis looks delicious! 😋