Old school Mexican cooking just like my parents used to do! We should never let the old cooking methods and techniques die!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 5 hourshours
Total Time 5 hourshours30 minutesminutes
Servings 8Servings
Equipment
Steamer Pot
Ingredients
3lbsbeef tonguetrim any excess fat
3lbs beef cheektrim any excess fat
4 chile guajillostems and seeds removed
6-8chile de arbolstems removed
4chile pasillastems and seeds removed
1tspthyme
1tspcumin seeds
1tsppeppercorns
1tsporegano
1tspmarjoram
4-5whole cloves
4-5bay leaves
1 1/2inchsection Mexican cinnamon stick
8-10cloves of Garlic
1medium Onionroughly chopped
3Roma Tomatoesroughly chopped
Salt to taste
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
Garnish
Oniondiced
CilantroChopped
Spicy red salsasee link above
Lime wedges
Warm corn tortillas
Instructions
To the bottom of the steamer pot, add the dried chiles, tomatoes, onion, garlic, all dried spices and herbs.
Fill with enough water to level shown in steamer pot. Insert steamer. Place the trimmed beef tongue and cheek on top. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with foil paper, then the lid. Turn heat to high.
Cover with foil paper, then the lid. Turn heat to high. Once it comes up to a rapid boil and begins to steam rapidly, reduce heat to right below medium.
Place a large pot of water on back burner and heat on low. The barbacoa will steam for about 4 hours or until meat is very tender. Add 1 cup of hot water to steamer pot about every hour.
Once the meat is tender, remove it from the pot onto cutting board. Let cool slightly. Remove skin from the beef tongue and discard skin. Roughly chop meat and transfer to a large baking dish. Set aside.
Remove the steamer insert and transfer all of the solids left in the pot to the blender. Strain broth into another pot. Transfer all the spices in the strainer to the blender. Also to the blender, add some of the reserved broth, enough to just cover ingredients. Season with salt to taste. Blend on high until smooth.
Pour the blended sauce into the pot that has the reserved broth. Add another cup of water to the blender jar and swish around before pouring in to the pot with sauce. Heat the sauce to medium. Stir well to combine. When it comes up to a simmer, taste for salt. Ladle some of the sauce over beef.
When it comes up to a simmer, taste for salt. Ladle some of the sauce over beef. Cover with foil paper and keep warm in a low temperature oven.
Continue cooking the thickened sauce with consomme for 20 minutes.
To serve, add some barbacoa to shallow bowls. Ladle in some hot consomme/sauce over barbacoa. Garnish with onion, cilantro, spicy salsa and lime. Enjoy with warm corn tortillas.
Notes
My version of consomme(consome) yields a slightly thicker concoction. You can eliminate the tomatoes if you prefer a lighter consomme.