My brother-in-law’s birria recipe, in his words:
“About 5 or 6 dried Guajillo chilis
Same number for dried Ancho chilis
Seeds removed
A couple roma tomatoes
An onion chopped into fourths
Cover all that with water and add two cinnamon sticks and 3 bay leaves.
Bring to a boil and then add cumin seeds, dried oregano, salt, and pepper then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Simmer for about 45 minutes until a sort of broth has formed. Strain out all the solids. Take out the cinnamon sticks and bay leaves then add all the solids to a blender and add a few cups of the broth you just simmered. Optionally add beef broth as well. Blend it all together into a sauce.
Put the sauce in a pot and add the beef. I think traditionally birria is lamb or goat but I prefer beef, specifically chuck roast. If you’re using the oven you’ll have to cook the meat for a couple hours. I use the pressure cooker. It cooks super tender in like 45 to 55 minutes in a pressure cooker. But perhaps the flavor is deeper when it’s cooked low and slow for hours. I’m not sure as I’ve never tried it that way.
After the meat is done skim all flavorful oil off the top and save that to fry the tortillas in when you make the tacos. I sometimes like to add some extra olive oil or vegetable oil or whatever kind to the sauce so that there’s extra in there to become super flavorful and colorful for the frying.”