Braised Beef Barbacoa Bowl Recipe

Barbacoa is a cooking style that may have originated with the Taino people in the Caribbean but was adapted by the Spanish and subsequently spread to Mexico and the southwestern United States. While traditional barbacoa is a type of pit-cooked barbecue, not everyone has room to dig a big hole in the backyard and the permission to light a giant fire in it. As a workaround, modern recipes, such as this one from developer Julianne De Witt, make use of alternate cooking methods.

De Witt says of her barcacoa, "I love the bold flavor and smoky heat." Here, she's using it to top a rice bowl with avocados, black beans, and corn, a.k.a. the ABCs of Tex-Mex cooking. While she admits that the recipe does call for a number of different ingredients (19 in all), she assures is it's easy to put together. While you can easily scale it up for entertaining purposes, you could also scale it down for solo dining, or save the leftover barbacoa to be repurposed in other dishes.

The barbacoa is made from chuck roast, beef stock, lime juice, onion, canned chipotles in adobo, garlic, oregano, cumin, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. The rice bowls also include corn, black beans, avocados, basmati rice, and olive oil, while they're topped with a sauce made with sour cream, lime juice and zest, and a sprinkling of cilantro.

One note on the oregano: De Witt uses the Mexican kind, explaining, "It's citrusy with a hint of anise and works well with meat and chiles." The Greek kind is different, but you can go ahead and use it if it's what you have on hand. De Witt also notes that you could use either guajillo or ancho chiles in place of the canned chipotles.

Make the barbacoa: Preheat the oven to 300 F.

Cut the chuck roast into 6 even pieces.

Add the chuck roast to the Dutch oven.

Add the beef stock, lime juice, onion, chipotle peppers, garlic, oregano, cumin, bay leaves, salt, and pepper to the Dutch oven.

Mix well.

Cover with a lid and place in the oven. Cook for 3 hours, turning the meat once halfway through the cooking time.

While the barbacoa is cooking, prepare the lime crema by adding the sour cream, lime juice, and lime zest to a small bowl.

Mix well, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Remove the barbacoa from the oven. Using two forks, shred the meat. Keep warm.

Make the bowls: Add the olive oil to a saute pan over medium heat.

Add the corn, beans, cumin, salt, and pepper.

Stir and cook until heated through, approximately 2 minutes.

Assemble the barbacoa bowls by dividing the rice between 4 bowls and adding the bean and corn mixture, avocado slices, and barbacoa to each bowl. Garnish each bowl with lime crema, cilantro, and lime wedges to serve.

Barbacoa can be made with a number of different meats. In the southern part of Mexico, pork and lamb are popular, while you're more likely to find barbacoa made either from goat meat or the head of a cow in the northern regions. Beef cheeks, which are the pieces next to a cow's jaw, are actually known in some quarters as barbacoa meat since they're perfect for making this dish. De Witt, however, is using the more familiar chuck roast.

Barbacoa-style cooking De Witt tells us, is meant for tougher cuts of meat since the low and slow heating helps to tenderize them. She says that brisket is another type of beef that can make for flavorful barbacoa, as are beef shanks, short ribs, or a combination of these meats. Still, you should be sure to pick a piece with some marbling. "The meat should not be too lean a cut," says De Witt. "Some fat is necessary to keep the meat moist during the cooking process."

If you're using this recipe to make planned leftovers, you might want to cut back on or omit the preparations for the rice bowls and toppings and focus instead on the barbacoa beef since it's such a versatile ingredient. De Witt says it will last for up to 4 days in the refrigerator and, as she notes, "Leftovers taste even better the next day." If you're feeling ambitious and have a large enough pot, you might even want to make a double batch and freeze some of it in individual portions to be reheated for use as a filling for tacos or burritos or as a topping for nachos.

Of course, you need not limit yourself to using barbacoa in Mexican-style dishes. De Witt suggests that you could use it on a salad or fold it into an omelet, while you could also fry it up with some shredded potatoes and top it with a fried egg to make a tasty breakfast bowl. Yet another idea is to pair leftover barbacoa with some coleslaw and a soft bun to make a pulled pork-style sandwich with shredded beef in place of the pork.