Volcano Shank - Shredded Beef Barbacoa Tacos
This idea was shared by a customer who celebrated Cinco de Mayo 2020 with some Volcano Shank goodness. i then tweaked and retested to ensure a delicious experience. this is super easy— about 15-20 total active minutes. the oven does the rest. :)
Ingredients
Salt and pepper
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
2 cups Mexican style “sauce” (I mixed one packet of Frontera’s Barbacoa sauce with 1 cup Adobo simmer sauce)
1-2 Tsp Mexican Chili Powder (if you want extra kick— I skipped this and spiced up at the end with a bit of Cholula)
1 1/2 cups water
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
Use an oven-safe lidded casserole dish (Le Creuset or similar) in which the shank fits relatively tightly— leaving too much room around it means you have to add more liquid, meaning more reduction time at the end.
Pat shank dry. Crack a generous amount of salt and pepper over it and rub it in on the sides and meaty end.
On the stovetop, heat olive oil to shimmering on medium heat, place volcano shank in vertically, meat side down. Brown for 1-2 minutes. Tip onto side and brown all the way around, about 2 minutes per rotation. About 6-8 minutes total.
Remove shank, add more oil if needed.
Add onions. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions begin to turn translucent.
Add all remaining ingredients and stir well to combine.
Place Volcano Shank in pot, nestling it into the liquid. Put the lid on and move to the oven.
Cook at 325F for two hours.
Lower temperature to 275F. Rotate shank so the other side is now submerged in the sauce, and continue cooking for three hours more—until meat falls off the bone. (about 5 hour total cooking time).
Remove pot from oven and place on the stovetop. Remove Volcano Shank from pot. Reduce sauce over medium-low heat until desired thickeness.
While sauce reduces, shred the meat (removing anything that seems too fatty/ gelatinous).
Mix the meat back into the sauce.
Serve with soft corn tortillas and appropriate fixings (shredded radish, cilantro, cotija cheese, lime wedges, avocado or guacamole, and some good hot sauce) to make insanely yummy barbacoa tacos!