A Success Story: Shredded Beef Tacos

Well last week I told you about my dinner failure - and thank you Andrea for pointing out that if Aidan was happy that it really wasn't a dinner fail (I still think that if you can't eat your food, it is a fail). Today I want to share a success - those are always way more fun!

A few weeks ago, I shared my experience with a recipe from America's Test Kitchen for Carnitas. The pork was moist and fork tender and the flavors were amazing. I thought to myself, you could use this recipe for other meats - beef or chicken so I headed to the grocery store and picked up a Chuck Roast (it was on sale and would be enough to easily feed the family). I also asked my sister to whip up some of her yummy guacamole.


I followed the recipe for Carnitas fairly closely. My roast was about 3-3.5 pounds and when I cut and trimmed it, I cut out a little more of the fat. I also added some fresh squeezed lime juice, the lime rind and some whole chili peppers to the cooking liquid. I did end up needing to cook the meat a bit longer to really make sure it was tender and could be pulled apart with forks.

The results were amazing! I actually like the beef cooked this was more than the pork. Lydia went back for seconds, maybe even thirds and even my son liked the meal! It was really easy to do, it just required extra cooking time. So if you were going to make this, make sure you give yourself a 3-4 hours to fully cook the roast. Most importantly, don't forget the fresh lime to squeeze on the beef when you eat it - it really brings out the flavors and adds freshness to the meal!