Garlic Confit

1. Clean the garlic and peel the skin off of each clove.
2. Place 12 cloves of garlic into an oven safe container – I use a 4-inch ramekin.  Cover the garlic with high quality Olive Oil.  Place in a preheated 225°F oven.  Allow to cook for 2 hours or until the garlic is light brown.  Be careful not to boil the garlic.
3. When done cooking, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Keep the garlic infused oil to use while searing the meat.

Prepping the Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Remove the stems from the tomatoes and quarter the onion after removing the skin.
3. Place the tomatoes and onion into the preheated oven.  Roast for 20 minutes, or until the skins are cracked. When done roasting, remove from the oven and set aside to cool.  Once cool, remove the skins from the tomatoes and discard.  Set the tomatoes aside.
4.  De-stem the chilies and remove the seeds.  Then, rehydrate the chilies by placing the cleaned chilies in a medium saucepan and cover with water.  Bring just to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer.  The chilies will float so stir occasionally to make sure all of the chilies are submerged.  After 15 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.
5. Cut the chuck roast into 1-2 inch chunks.  Liberally salt the chuck roast and short-ribs.
6. Heat a large stockpot over medium-high heat.  Add 2 tablespoons of the garlic infused olive oil from the garlic confit.  Add chuck roast chunks in a single layer and brown each side.  When browned, remove from the pan and set aside.  Repeat for the short-ribs.
7. Add 2 cups of the beef stock to the stock pot.  Scrape the browned bits of beef off of the bottom of the pot and stir into the beef stock.  Lower the heat to low and allow to simmer.

Making the Adobo Paste

1. Place the rehydrated chili peppers into a food processor or blender.  Add the roasted tomatoes, roasted onion, and the remaining ingredients from the Adobo Paste ingredient list.  Add enough beef stock to process, approximately 1/2 – 1 cup.  Process until pureed. 2-4 minutes depending upon whether you are using a food processor or blender.  (see note #1).  Pour the puree into a fine sieve to strain the solid material.  You will need to press it through with a large spoon.

The Birria

1. Add the adobo paste into the stock pot.  Add the the remainder of the beef stock.  Stir to combine.
2. Add the chuck roast, short ribs, onion, crushed garlic, and Kosher salt to the stock pot.  Give it a quick stir to evenly distribute in the stockpot.  Cover and simmer for 4 hours.
3. Check the pot every hour or so and spoon the grease off of the top of the broth.

Making the Tacos

1. Transfer most of the broth into a medium sauce pan.  Using a pair of kitchen tongs, remove the short rib bones from the stock pot (the meat will be very tender and an easy shake will separate the short rib bones from the meat.  Then use a potato masher to shred the short rib and chuck roast chunks.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Dip a corn tortilla into the broth and place in the hot skillet.  Top half of the tortilla with a generous amount of the shredded birria and some cheese. Gently fold the other half of the tortilla over to form a taco. Let it cook for about a minute on each side, until the cheese melts and the tortilla is crispy.
3. Top with diced onion and chopped cilantro.  Serve with a serving of the broth for dipping.
4. If you are making more than a couple of tacos, keep them warm in a 175°F oven as you make the additional tacos.