Beef Brisket Tacos with Smoked Chilli BBQ Sauce

Beef Brisket Tacos. Take this Tex-Mex classic to another level. Crispy taco shells are filled with a slow cooked brisket with crispy burnt ends, homemade Smoked Chilli BBQ sauce, avocado, melted cheese and spring onions.

Coated in my Mexican inspired spice mix, the beef brisket is then cooked low n slow for as long as 8 hours until the meat is falling apart, juicy and moist inside with dark and crispy burnt ends. Since beginning this food blog, I have rarely eaten the same thing twice, and never more than once in a row. When I made these Beef Brisket Tacos, this changed and I ate them three nights in a row. They are definitely my new favourite recipe for Documenting My Dinner.

I have been very grateful to work with Bannerman Butcher who have kindly supplied me with the Beef Brisket. The Aberdeenshire based butcher have recently been awarded Butcher Of The Year for Aberdeen at the Scottish Business Awards and I was not surprised in the slightest.

All their meat is reared in Scotland, and their Aberdeen Angus beef is sourced from Little Barras Farm – only 3 miles from the Inverbervie based butchery and shop. Each cow is grass fed and hand picked by Chris the butcher for the shop, resulting in meat that is of the highest quality- the farm is actually used by M&S too!

Bannerman also pride themselves for their home cured charcuterie – I have tried the Coppa and it was outstanding!

Get yourself down to Bannerman Butchers and pick up some of their award winning beef to make my Beef Brisket Tacos.

RECIPE

SERVES 4

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: ROOKIE

Ingredients:

For the Beef Brisket Tacos:

1kg beef brisket (unrolled)
Tablespoon each of smoked paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, smoked salt, chilli flakes, brown sugar, oregano and honey
Olive oil
Beef Stock

For the Smoked Chilli BBQ Sauce:

1 dried chipotle chilli – get from Cool Chile Co
200ml passata
100ml tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons tomato puree
50g brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon each of smoked salt, smoked paprika and chilli flakes
100ml cider vinegar

To Serve:

Crispy Tacos
Avocado, diced
A bunch of spring onions, finely sliced
200g mild cheddar, grated

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150C. Score the beef brisket lightly all over. Mix together the spices, herbs, sugar and honey in a bowl and mix through a tablespoon or two of oil to make a thick paste. Cover the brisket with the paste.

2. Place the beef brisket on a wire rack on top of a deep roasting dish. Fill the roasting dish with beef stock but don’t allow the stock to touch the beef brisket. Cover the beef and the tray tightly with foil. The easiest way to do this is to scrunch two large sheets together. Cook the beef for 6-8 hours, checking every couple of hours that the stock has not evaporated (it shouldn’t if your foil is very tightly wrapped round)

3. Whilst the beef brisket is cooking, make the sauce. In a frying pan, or over an open flame, toast the chilli slightly all over for a minute on a high heat. Place all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan, including the chilli. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and then turn the heat up to boil. Allow to boil and reduce for around 10 minutes until thick, glossy and syrupy. Blitz the sauce with a hand blender until smooth.

4. When the beef has been cooking for 6-8 hours, remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes.

5. After resting the beef, it should just shred apart. Use to stuff crispy tacos and top with diced avocado, sliced spring onions and cheese. Melt the cheese under the grill or with a blowtorch. Enjoy your Beef Brisket Tacos!