1. Clean the outside skin of the dry chiles with a semi-wet towel, and dry them immediately with another dry towel, making sure they remain completely dry

2. Place chilies on a tray and put them in the oven, preheated to 300 °F, for 3 minutes. Take them out immediately and put to soak in 3 cups water, the water must have reached the boiling point but must not remain over the stove. Soak until the chiles have softened completely (or about 10 minutes)

3. Open and discard the seeds and veins from the chilies so they do not make the recipe too hot. Strain the water where the chiles were soaked to remove debris or seed, saving this colored water for later.

4. Blend the chiles along with one cup of this water and blend for about 1 minute or until everything is completely liquefied, reserving the rest of the water the chiles were soaked in. Blend the chilies until there are no more visible chile flakes floating around.

5. In another bowl, strain the blended chiles with a very fine strainer, so that you remove all the residue and pulp; then add the tomato paste. Add to this the remaining water where the chiles were cooked in (about 2 cups), and mix using the blender again

6. Cut the meat in cubes, about 1 inch per side; mix the meat with the chiles mixture and remaining ingredients in a covered pot with just enough liquid to cover and place in the oven, at 200˚F heat setting and cook for about 4-5 hours. Check the pan occasionally and make sure all the water did not evaporate, in which case add a little water to make up for what has evaporated. Towards the end of long cooking time the meat will be nice and tender, to the point where it will fall apart easily; so now you must simply shred the meat cubes with a fork.

8. Serve the bírria as-is, with tortillas so your guests will make their own tacos. Birria is commonly served with onions and finely chopped fresh cilantro and lime juice in addition to a salsa.

We hope you will enjoy this birria recipe, with beef!