We eat an obscene amount of tacos in this house– especially in summer. It’s just such a perfect time for them with all of the fresh ingredients so readily available for toppings. Plus, they’re super easy, which is wonderful considering there are so many things I usually want to be doing other than standing over my stove or grill. I’ve been searching for a perfect barbacoa recipe for awhile now. And by golly, I’ve found it! I’ve tried several that were fine, but not particularly memorable. That is, until I stumbled upon this one.

I wanted something that was somewhat saucy, but more importantly had a nice tang to it. When I read this recipe, I immediately knew it had great potential– it contained both cider vinegar and lime juice. Bingo! It also had the freshness I was looking for with cilantro, garlic, and onions blended in to make a perfect sauce. A little intrigue from the addition of cloves and a bit of heat from the smokey chipotle peppers in adobe sauce confirmed that this was what I had been looking for.

I knew I didn’t want to fire-up the oven long enough to cook five pounds of beef. My house would be a sauna at the end of it. Cooking overnight in the slow cooker was a perfect solution. It yielded a perfectly tender piece of beef that was perfectly, “tang-ily”, seasoned. Reducing the cooking liquid at the end really concentrated those flavors, too. This barbacoa is perfect to feed a crowd of people, like we did, or make a big batch and freeze the leftovers for quick, delicious weeknight meals. I finally caved-in a bought a tortilla press and have happily been perfecting my corn-tortilla skills– more on that later. But, for now– feel free to make these tortillas and drink this margarita for your taco party. Oh, and for variety– here’s a wonderful carnitas recipe! You’ll be inviting me over, right? Adiós, muchachos!