Birria “Red” Tacos

1. Preheat the flat-top to high heat.
2. Note if the braise doesn’t yield a large fat cap to dip the tortillas for their traditional red color, make the paprika oil recipe (Recipe Manager code: sauce311) to do the same trick.
3. Set up the hot line with the braised beef, broth and red fat (either from the braise or the paprika oil recipe) in separate steam table pans. If using the paprika oil, it’s ideal to put it in a food safe spray bottle or just keep it in a circular pie pan for dipping near the flat-top.

TO PREPARE À LA CARTE:

1. Dip the tortilla in the hot fat (or the paprika oil) to evenly coat the tortilla, then place it on a well-seasoned flat-top.
2. Crisp the tortilla on the flat-top ( 1-2 minutes). Flip the tortilla. On one half of the tortilla, place a scoop of meat and top with cheese, cilantro, and onion. Fold the other side of the tortilla over the top like a quesadilla. Flip the whole taco to crisp the other side.
3. Remove from the flat-top and plate. Garnish with cilantro leaves, avocado, and matchstick radishes if desired.
4. Serve with a 4 oz. cup of the birria broth for dunking.

TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS:

• Other cuts, such as chuck short ribs (649611) or whole chuck rolls (649640) have much more intramuscular fat, which results in a nice fat cap on top of the braising liquid that’s great for making birria red tacos. The osso buco provides less fat cap but the most depth of flavor for the broth. Braising osso bucco and chuck cuts together would reap both benefits, but that would require purchasing two proteins.
• Serve birria “red” tacos  with salsa verde (543324) or three pepper salsa (722911).