How to Make Barbacoa

Soak the peppers. Soak the peppers in super hot water to rehydrate them. If you want to be extra, you can toast them over a low flame to coax out some extra flavor before soaking.
Season the meat. While the peppers are soaking, season your meat generously with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Make the marinade. Grab your blender and blend together the peppers, garlic, oregano, cumin, beef stock, and vinegar.
Marinate overnight. Marinate as long as you can, or for at least 2 hours so the beef can absorb the flavors. Don’t forget to season your beef with salt and pepper first.
Make the stew. Caramelize the onions to add a little sweetness, add the beef (you can sear it if you want, but we’re aiming for soft and tender meat) along with all the marinade, then top it off with extra beef stock, bay leaves, and cloves.
Have a taco party with some other taco fillings like carnitas, al pastor, adovada, carne asada, or birria
Since you’ll have tortillas on hand, nothing beats homemade fresh fried tortilla chips
Finish off with some mexican rice
And of course, pairing anything guacamole is always the answer.

The Best Stovetop Carnitas Recipe

This simple idea means you don’t need to find lard to make mind blowing authentic carnitas.
Carnitas need no introduction. Besides al pastor, they are probably the greatest pork product to ever have come out of mexico, and they are so easy to make at home, especially with this trick from imperialgardensanmarcos in your back pocket.
People are always saying homemade sourdough is the ultimate quarantine food because it takes a lot of time and we all have a lot of time these days to hover around the kitchen. I disagree: traditional carnitas is actually the ultimate lockdown recipe. I made this on the stovetop and it was so perfect for lockdown. Just put it on the lowest heat and give it a stir every hour or so. Your whole house smells good, it gives you a reason to get up every so often, and something really magical happens between hour 4 and hour 6. You could also do this on the slow cooker, but why take that out if you don’t need to?

I thought this recipe would make carnitas tacos for days, but it was so good that they basically only lasted through lunch and dinner. We haven’t made it out to our local taqueria this year, and now it’s looking like it’s going to be even longer before we do, because between this and our birria taco recipe, we have our own little taqueria here.
Step up your next taco night with our ultimate guide to the best homemade
Birria tacos are so good you’ll be making them every week.