Shredded Beef Enchiladas With Corn Tortillas

Many recipes for beef enchiladas with corn tortillas go wrong at the same step: the tortillas crack when you roll them. The fix is a few seconds in hot oil, which makes each tortilla soft and pliable and keeps it from turning to mush in the sauce. Fill them with chuck roast braised in a red chile sauce until it shreds, roll them up, pour on more sauce and cheese, and bake until bubbling.

The sauce is made from dried guajillo and ancho chiles, toasted, soaked and blended with garlic, cumin and oregano. Guajillos bring a bright, tangy red; anchos add depth and a little sweetness. Neither is very hot. Part of the sauce goes into the pot with the beef, so the meat and the sauce taste of each other.

At a glance: serves 6, about 14 to 16 enchiladas. Prep 45 minutes, braise about 3 hours, assemble 20 minutes, bake 20 to 25 minutes.

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SB Dry-Aged Chuck Roast, Boneless

This recipe uses 1 chuck roast, braised in large pieces and shredded, which fills a full pan of enchiladas.

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Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, was talking about the smoker and feeding a crowd when he said this:

“pulling out the smoker and putting on a brisket or some chuck roast or some short ribs, you know, that's a good way to kind of do a lot of food and low and slow”

Gray Shipley

This recipe uses a covered pot in the oven instead of a smoker, but the reasoning carries over. A chuck roast given three slow hours turns into a big batch of tender beef, and a pan of enchiladas is one of the easiest ways to put it in front of a lot of people.

Ingredients

• 1 boneless chuck roast, about 3 pounds
• 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
• 6 dried guajillo chiles
• 3 dried ancho chiles
• 4 cups beef stock or water, divided
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled, divided
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, Mexican if you can find it
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil, plus 1/3 cup for the tortillas
• 1 large white onion, half sliced and half finely chopped
• 16 corn tortillas, 6-inch
• 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack, or a mix of Jack and cheddar (about 12 ounces), divided
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup Mexican crema or sour cream, to serve

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut the chuck roast into 4 large chunks and season them with 2 teaspoons of the salt and 1 teaspoon of the cumin.
2. Pull the stems off the chiles and shake out the seeds. Toast them in a dry skillet over medium heat for 15 to 30 seconds per side, just until fragrant and a little puffed; burnt chiles taste bitter. Put them in a bowl, cover with boiling water and soak for 20 minutes, until soft. Drain and throw away the soaking water.
3. Blend the chiles with 3 cups of the stock, 4 cloves of the garlic, the oregano, and the remaining cumin and salt until completely smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Press the sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl and throw away the bits of skin left behind.
4. Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the beef on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the sliced onion and the remaining 2 cloves of garlic, smashed, and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in 1 cup of the chile sauce and the remaining 1 cup of stock, bring to a simmer, cover and move the pot to the oven.
5. Braise for about 3 hours, until the beef falls apart when pressed with a fork. While it cooks, simmer the rest of the chile sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, partly covered because it spatters, and taste it for salt.
6. Lift out the beef and shred it with two forks, discarding any fat and gristle. Skim the fat from the braising liquid. Stir about 1/2 cup of the liquid into the beef to keep it moist, and stir the rest into the chile sauce.
7. Raise the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the 1/3 cup of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Using tongs, slip each tortilla into the oil for 5 to 10 seconds per side, just until soft and pliable but not crisp, and drain on paper towels.
8. Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Dip each softened tortilla in the warm sauce, fill it with about 1/3 cup of beef and a pinch of cheese, roll it up and lay it seam side down in the dish, packing them snugly in two rows.
9. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and scatter on the rest of the cheese, about 2 cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbling and the center reaches 165 degrees F. Top with the chopped onion and cilantro and serve with crema.

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Softening corn tortillas so they do not crack

Corn tortillas straight from the bag are stiff, and they split as soon as you roll them. A quick dip in hot oil fixes that. The heat softens the tortilla, and the thin coat of oil keeps the sauce from soaking straight through and turning it to mush in the oven. Keep it brief: 5 to 10 seconds a side is enough. Any longer and you are making tostadas.

If you would rather not fry, brush the tortillas lightly with oil on both sides, stack them, wrap the stack in a damp kitchen towel and microwave it for about 1 minute. They will roll, though they are not quite as sturdy in the sauce as oil-dipped ones.

How this compares with traditional red enchiladas

This recipe follows the method behind classic red enchiladas, enchiladas rojas: corn tortillas passed through hot oil, dipped in a sauce of dried red chiles, then rolled around a filling. In many Mexican home kitchens that is close to the whole dish, often finished with crumbled fresh cheese, raw onion and crema rather than baked.

The version here leans American, with a heavier blanket of melted Jack and a turn in the oven, so it can be made ahead and served from one pan. For a version closer to the stovetop style, skip the baking and the melted cheese, roll the enchiladas straight onto warm plates, and top them with crumbled queso fresco and chopped onion.

Making it ahead

Everything except the frying can be done a day ahead: braise and shred the beef, finish the sauce, and refrigerate them separately within two hours. You can also assemble the whole pan, cover it and refrigerate it overnight. Bake it straight from the fridge at 375 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, covered with foil for the first 20, until the center reaches 165 degrees F.

Why chuck roast

Chuck roast has the fat and connective tissue to braise into soft, juicy shreds, and it stands up to a bold chile sauce. Leaner cuts come out drier and stringier inside a tortilla. The guides to the best beef cuts for tacos and for slow cooking below compare the options.

Food safety

USDA FSIS lists 145 degrees F, followed by a rest of at least 3 minutes, as the safe minimum for whole cuts of beef; a 3-hour braise passes that long before the beef is tender, but check with a thermometer all the same. FSIS lists 165 degrees F for casseroles and reheated leftovers, so bake the assembled enchiladas until the center reaches it. Refrigerate leftovers promptly. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.