About this episode
The "phone eats first" trend is about cooking or ordering your food with an eye toward a visual presentation worth sharing on social media. Author Allyson Reedy has written a new cookbook, The Phone Eats First Cookbook: 50 of Social Media's Best Recipes to Feed Your Feed...and Then Yourself , all about the most viral recipes. Reedy discusses how Instagram and TikTok have changed our food culture and listeners share their favorite recipes that they first saw online. BIRRIA TACOS Dahianna | @_cookingwitd Serves 6 It was the Instagram post heard ’round the world in 2018, when an L.A. influencer posted a picture of his dinner from a neighborhood quesabirria taco truck. Almost instantly, influencers were scouring their own ’hoods for birria tacos, clamoring for that perfect shot of glistening, griddled tacos being dunked into Styrofoam cups full of dark pools of chile-infused goodness. Talk about gussying up #tacotuesday. Demand skyrocketed, with influencers piquing our interest for a dish that, prior to 2018, was barely known to most outside of Mexico. Birria tacos started popping up on Mexican restaurant menus across the country, and food bloggers began posting recipes for DIY tacos and Frankenfoods like birria ramen. This recipe slow simmers dried guajillo, ancho, and arbol chiles with garlic, onion, oregano, and cumin to out-birria the rest. HASHTAG PAIRING: #birriatacos #tacotime #whenidipyoudip #tacoboutawesome #birriaiswhyimbroke PHOTO TIP: With brownish foods like tacos, add pops of color with onion, cilantro, and lime 2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast 6 cloves garlic 5 dried guajillo chiles, stems and seeds removed 5 dried chiles de arbol, stems and seeds removed 4 dried ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed 4 bay leaves ½ medium white onion ½ carrot 1 tablespoon beef or chicken broth 1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1½ teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoon kosher salt 12 yellow corn tortillas 3 cups grated Chihuahua, Oaxaca, or Monterey Jack cheese Chopped white onion, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges for serving In a large pot or Dutch oven, combine the beef, garlic, chiles, bay leaves, onion, carrot, and 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then simmer for 30 minutes. With a slotted spoon or skimmer, remove the garlic, chiles, bay leaves, onion, and carrot and place in a blender. Add about ½ cup of cooking liquid and puree. Add the broth, oregano, cumin, sugar, and salt and blend until thoroughly combined. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve back into the pot with the beef and the remaining cooking liquid. Stir to combine, cover, and cook over low heat until the beef shreds with a fork, about 3 hours. Transfer the beef to a cutting board, allow to cool slightly, and shred it with two forks. To make the tacos, heat a cast-iron griddle or skillet over medium-low heat. Dip a corn tortilla halfway into the broth in the pot. Place on the griddle and top with ¼ cup cheese and about ½ cup shredded meat. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of broth to the griddle, fold the taco, and cook until the cheese melts and the meat sizzles. You can make several tacos at a time. When ready to serve, ladle broth into small individual bowls for dipping and top the broth and the tacos with chopped onion and cilantro. Serve with lime halves on the side.