Instructions: Berria is one of the most versatile of Mexican foods, both in the preparation and the ways it can be served. It is a simple dish to fix yet it ends up with a complexity of flavors which you can personalize according to your tastes and preferences. It is our family favorite.

This is the basic list of ingredients for generic berria. One of the most important ingredients, and one that you can vary the most is the chile powder. I recommend using Santa Cruz or at least a chile powder that doesnt contain a lot of other spices, such as cumin, in it. Of course you can use any chile powder that suits your taste.

Now remove as much of the fat from the brisket as possible. Put it in a crock pot and cover it 3/4 the way with water. Dice the onion and garlic and throw everything into the pot. Cook it slowly until it can be shredded. Occasionally turn it. Pull the brisket apart into thin strands and put it all back into the pot. Cook slowly for another 45 mins. It is now ready to serve

Serving suggestions: Jeez, this stuff can be eaten a myriad of ways.

You can eat it on flour tortillas with shredded cabbage or lettuce, sour cream, onion, cheese, salsa (or enchilada sauce) rice or anything you normally eat on a burrito or taco. One thing that you dont normally eat on Mexican food that you will want to put on berria is fresh lime juice. Its fantastic. It can be served in taco shell or on tostados. It can be served on masa patties Forget the tortillas and just put it on a bed of cabbage Or, if youve made it right, eat the juice with some meat and cabbage in it. Now freeze some of whats leftover and stick some in the fridge because youll want some later. I said that berria is very versatile in its preparation. You can vary any of the peppers and spices you put in. I like to use dried chile passilla. These are generally very mild with a raisin like flavor. You can usually find Don Enriques at EconoFoods or HyVee. Or try dried Anchos or Anahiems. Just chop up fine, soak in water till soft and put in food processor. I use all imaginable type of peppers, the red chiles being the dominant. You will find a great variety of ways to change and personalize this dish if you like it.

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