This was pretty much a spur of the moment MSU-as-you-go-along kind of effort that began with a craving for enchiladas. We had some beef cheek meat in the deep freeze that would be the perfect filing for these tasty cylinders of goodness.
Since I despise canned enchilada sauce, the sauce would have to be made from scratch, using dried chiles, not powder. More on that later.
The beef cheeks were dusted with salt and pepper, then smoked open air in a clay pot on my UDS. I used the pot as I didn’t want any of the precious beef cheek juices to drip away. Here’s the beef cheeks after I removed them from the smoker, after 2 hours smoking at 275 degrees:
At this point, I brought the meat in to finish in the oven. I added a liquid mixture of about ½ cup water and 1 tsp ancho chile powder plus ½ tsp salt to the meat, and slow cooked it covered for another 1.5 hours:
The meat had to be sampled on a fresh fried tortillas chip, and it did not disappoint:
It was moist, rich, and meaty tasting, the unique taste you’ll only get from beef cheek meat. The subtle hint of chile was good - not overpowering.
Now to the enchilada sauce. I used a Texas style chile gravy recipe I found years ago made from ancho chiles and spices, with a flour roux to give it a nice gravy-like texture. I used this as the base:
After letting it sit for the better part of a day, I added some other ingredients, mainly a bit of chicken stock base, and a few ounces of tomato sauce to brighten it up. For good measure, a ½ tsp of homemade chili powder was also added. There’s a heat to this sauce that sneaks up on you slowly – it’s not exactly hot, but it definitely has heat and you can feel it as much as you can taste it. Here’s how it looked:
I heated up the corn tortillas over the flame to both soften them up and reduce moisture, making them pliable. The fragrance of the corn starting to toast over the fire is a beautiful thing:
Finally, the enchilada plate, with homemade refried beans and enchiladas smothered in chile gravy, topped generously with Colby Jack:
This is how I like to make enchiladas – cooked to order one plate at a time with cheese and sauce bubbling right out of a good, hot oven. The tortillas remained firm from the fire toasting and short trip from oven to plate. The sauce did darken quite a bit after everything got melty in the oven, almost like a mole.
There are leftover refried beans, tortilla chips, beef cheek meat, and enchilada sauce. Plus a bunch more cheese. There is a strong possibility of a special plate of nachos in my future.
Since I despise canned enchilada sauce, the sauce would have to be made from scratch, using dried chiles, not powder. More on that later.
The beef cheeks were dusted with salt and pepper, then smoked open air in a clay pot on my UDS. I used the pot as I didn’t want any of the precious beef cheek juices to drip away. Here’s the beef cheeks after I removed them from the smoker, after 2 hours smoking at 275 degrees:
At this point, I brought the meat in to finish in the oven. I added a liquid mixture of about ½ cup water and 1 tsp ancho chile powder plus ½ tsp salt to the meat, and slow cooked it covered for another 1.5 hours:
The meat had to be sampled on a fresh fried tortillas chip, and it did not disappoint:
It was moist, rich, and meaty tasting, the unique taste you’ll only get from beef cheek meat. The subtle hint of chile was good - not overpowering.
Now to the enchilada sauce. I used a Texas style chile gravy recipe I found years ago made from ancho chiles and spices, with a flour roux to give it a nice gravy-like texture. I used this as the base:
After letting it sit for the better part of a day, I added some other ingredients, mainly a bit of chicken stock base, and a few ounces of tomato sauce to brighten it up. For good measure, a ½ tsp of homemade chili powder was also added. There’s a heat to this sauce that sneaks up on you slowly – it’s not exactly hot, but it definitely has heat and you can feel it as much as you can taste it. Here’s how it looked:
I heated up the corn tortillas over the flame to both soften them up and reduce moisture, making them pliable. The fragrance of the corn starting to toast over the fire is a beautiful thing:
Finally, the enchilada plate, with homemade refried beans and enchiladas smothered in chile gravy, topped generously with Colby Jack:
This is how I like to make enchiladas – cooked to order one plate at a time with cheese and sauce bubbling right out of a good, hot oven. The tortillas remained firm from the fire toasting and short trip from oven to plate. The sauce did darken quite a bit after everything got melty in the oven, almost like a mole.
There are leftover refried beans, tortilla chips, beef cheek meat, and enchilada sauce. Plus a bunch more cheese. There is a strong possibility of a special plate of nachos in my future.
