Costa Chica Beef Barbacoa

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal for chiles, aromatics, and banana leaves
• •Heavy 7-quart clay cazuela or Dutch oven with tight lid
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Tongs for handling hot chiles and leaves

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the beef

   Season the chuck and beef shank with 1 tablespoon of the salt. Let the meat sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while you prepare the adobo. Do not trim away every bit of fat. The fat carries the chile and gives the broth body. A lean pot is a poor pot.

2. 2

   Soften the leaves

   Pass each banana leaf over a gas flame or hot comal for a few seconds per side until it turns glossy and flexible. If the leaves are frozen, thaw them first, rinse them, and dry them well. This keeps them from cracking when you fold the beef inside. The leaf gives the barbacoa its green, coastal perfume.

   Do not skip this because the leaf looks clean. Raw banana leaf tastes sharp. Heat tames it and makes it usable.
3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo, ancho, and chile costeño separately, 20 to 30 seconds per side, pressing them flat with tongs. They should puff, darken slightly, and smell deep, not burned. The costeño is small and quick. Watch it. Burned chile turns bitter and no amount of beef will fix it.

4. 4

   Soak the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover them with hot water, not boiling water. Let them soften for 20 minutes. Boiling water toughens the skins and pulls out bitterness. Hot water softens the flesh so the adobo blends clean.

5. 5

   Char the aromatics

   On the same comal, char the garlic, onion, and tomatoes until the skins blacken in spots and the onion edges soften. Peel the garlic. Toast the cumin, black peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon for 30 seconds, just until fragrant. This is where the adobo starts to smell like a market stall, not a jar.

6. 6

   Blend the adobo

   Drain the chiles and put them in a blender with the peeled garlic, onion, tomatoes, toasted spices, oregano, vinegar, the remaining 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 cup fresh water. Blend until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing hard on the solids. If you leave skins and seeds in the adobo, the stew will feel rough on the tongue.

7. 7

   Fry the adobo

   Melt 3 tablespoons lard in a heavy cazuela or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the strained adobo carefully because it will sputter. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until it thickens, darkens to brick red, and the fat begins to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This step cooks the chile paste so the broth tastes finished.

8. 8

   Wrap the barbacoa

   Transfer half the fried adobo to a bowl. Line the pot with the softened banana leaves, leaving enough overhang to fold over the top. Coat the beef with the reserved adobo, then set it inside the leaf-lined pot with the hoja santa and whole epazote sprigs. Pour 4 cups water around the meat, not directly over the top. Fold the leaves closed and cover the pot tightly.

9. 9

   Cook low

   Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Cook covered for 3 1/2 hours, checking once after 2 hours to make sure there is still liquid in the pot. Add hot water if the level drops below 1 inch. The beef is ready when the shank loosens from the bone and the chuck pulls apart with a spoon. No me vengas con atajos. Tough beef means it needs more time.

10. 10

    Make the chochoyotes

    While the beef cooks, mix the fresh masa, 2 tablespoons lard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and chopped epazote in a bowl. Knead until soft and smooth, adding warm water a tablespoon at a time if the masa cracks. Roll into small balls about the size of a walnut and press a dimple in the center of each one. That dimple catches broth. A round ball is just lazy masa.

11. 11

    Finish the stew

    Open the banana leaves and lift the beef to a tray. Remove the spent epazote stems and hoja santa. Strain the broth if you want it cleaner, then return it to the pot and leave the red fat on top unless there is too much. Add the yuca and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, until almost tender. Add the plátano macho and chochoyotes, then simmer 15 to 18 minutes more, until the dumplings are cooked through and the plantain is soft but not falling apart. Return the beef in large pieces and taste for salt.

    Yuca must be peeled deeply and the woody center removed. Cook it until fully tender. If it resists the fork, it stays in the pot.
12. 12

    Serve wet

    Serve in deep bowls with beef, red broth, yuca, plátano macho, and chochoyotes in every portion. Set warm corn tortillas, raw white onion, cilantro, and lime at the table. This is wet Costa Chica barbacoa, not taqueria barbacoa. The tortilla is there to help you eat the stew, not to hide it. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for chile costeño at a Guerrerense or Oaxacan market stall. If the vendor only offers chile de arbol, understand the compromise: arbol gives heat but not the same coastal fruit and smoke. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Fresh hoja santa matters here. It gives the broth an anise-green depth that dried herbs cannot copy. If you cannot find it, make the dish without it before you pretend another leaf is the same thing.
• •This barbacoa is wet. Serve it as stew in bowls with broth, yuca, plantain, and chochoyotes. If someone wants dry shredded beef for tacos, let them cook another recipe.
• •Do not confuse Guerrero's chilate. In some Costa Chica kitchens chilate can mean a chicken stew; in other Guerrero contexts, chilate is the cold cacao, rice, and cinnamon drink. The beverage does not belong in this pot.
• •Tichindas are black-shell mangrove mussels foraged around Laguna de Chacahua and Corralero, not generic mussels from a supermarket case. Chilpachole is thickened with masa, not flour. Mondongo jarocho from Veracruz Sotavento carries the Atlantic slave-trade lineage into the port cooking of Tlacotalpan and Los Tuxtlas. This is a 32-state cuisine, and the Afro-Mexican third root deserves to be named correctly.

Advance Preparation

• •The adobo can be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Fry it in lard before storing, then loosen it with a little water when you build the pot.
• •The beef can be salted the night before and held covered in the refrigerator. Bring it toward room temperature for 45 minutes before cooking.
• •If making the stew ahead, cook the beef and broth one day before, then add the yuca, plantain, and chochoyotes on serving day. Masa dumplings drink broth overnight and thicken the pot too much.
• •Banana leaves can be softened over the comal one day ahead, wrapped in a clean towel, and refrigerated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 540g)