Have I mentioned we like to eat tacos? Well, we do...a lot. Veggie, chicken, fish, beef, we do not discriminate in this house. So when I came across Korean Beef Tacos in two sources in one day, it was fate, I had to try it.
Now let me step back for a minute and tell you about my slow cooker. I thought it would be a grand, time saving piece of kitchen equipment. Wrong. At least in my case. Everything I made did not come out right and then one day it just stopped working and let me tell you that was very frustrating seeing as the slow cooker's purpose is to alleviate the dinner time rush. So anyways you can either do this recipe in a slow cooker but I chose to use my oven and Le Creuset enamel cast iron braiser.
Ok, onto the delicious, sweet and savory recipe for Korean Beef Tacos.
Gather:
For the beef:
2-3 lbs of beef chuck roast, trimmed
2 Tbl canola oil
8 gloves of garlic
1/2-3/4 cup soy sauce, low sodium
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 onion, diced
1 inch section of ginger, peeled and grated
2 Tbl rice wine vinegar
1 tsp red pepper flake
1 Tbl sesame oil
For the spicy shredded slaw:
1 small head of green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 jalapeno, finely diced
cilantro
zest and juice of one lime
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 Tbl canola oil
3 Tbl brown sugar
Do:
Pre-heat oven to 350. Heat your cast iron enamel pot on the stove to med-high heat and add the 2 Tbl of canola oil. When the oil is hot sear all the sides of your beef to create a crust. Turn off the heat to the pan. Meanwhile, grate the garlic and ginger and incorporate the soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, chopped onion, and rice wine vinegar into a bowl. Stir to mix and gently pour over the meat. I added about 1/2 cup of water to bring the liquid ratio up, use your judgement. Bring everything to a boil on the cook top, then flip the meat add the lid and place into the oven. Let it bake for an hour.
Now you can make the spicy slaw!
Mix the wet ingredients; juice and zest of lime, canola oil, brown sugar, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Toss well with all of the shredded veggies, cover and let it hang out in the refrigerator until dinner time!
Back to the beef. After an hour check your progress, the meat will be cooked but not fall apart tender. Reduce the oven to 250 degrees and after flipping the meat put it back into the oven for another 1-2.5 hours, it just depends on the beef, but be patient when it falls apart it is done and it is yummy!
To serve. Pull apart all of the meat and mix it with all of the tasty juices. Serve with warm flour tortillas, spicy slaw and sour cream. Bonus points for avocado lightly dressed with lime and cilantro.
adapted from these recipes; Family Fun and Gluten for Punishment
