- If you're a big taco fan, I'm gonna show you how to
take them to the next level with my chicken tinga tacos. They are incredibly delicious, a super classic recipe loaded with flavor, so easy to make. I know you're gonna love
'em but to start off we need to knock out a little bit of prep. Sound good? Let's cook. I've got quite a few tomatoes
that I need to prep up and I've got some vine-ripe
so I need to remove the stems but no matter what kind
of tomatoes you're using you need to remove that core piece. So using a pairing knife or a boning knife or even a French knife if you
have really good knife skills or are comfortable using it. Simply remove it out and then next we want to slice these into wedges. They do not have to be perfect at all. You can do four slices, three
slices, whatever is easiest. And let me stop and say this. I'm using vine-ripe tomatoes
because they are in season. If you've got a garden full of tomatoes and cherry tomatoes,
heirlooms, whatever they are be sure to use those and if you wanna make this
recipe in the wintertime try using Roma tomatoes. While they're not perfectly in season they do taste better in
those fall and winter months. Now, we're gonna add some
tomatillos to this blend. It's gonna add some
really awesome flavors. You do need to remove that outside shell, that outside wrapper. Now they are a little bit sticky so I'm not gonna slice them. I am gonna leave them whole but they are definitely worth
adding into this recipe. Next, I've got a sweet onion, which I'm going to remove both ends up. Man, this thing does not wanna cooperate. Next, slice it in half,
remove the outside peel and just like those tomatoes, I'm going to slice it in wedges. You could use a regular
yellow onion, a white onion, or even a red onion and, for a jalapeno I'm
just gonna remove the end. I'm gonna slice it right
down the center very gently. I'm gonna kinda flatten it out and it will usually just
break right in half like this and then I'm gonna remove the seeds. I am so weak when it comes to spicy food you guys would literally make fun of me. So I'm just fileting out those seeds. If you like spice leave
all those seeds in there 'cause it will add so
much flavor to these. Now, add some garlic cloves. I'm on a sheet tray with
some parchment paper with all this goodness. I'm going to drizzle on some olive oil, gonna help sort of crisp and char up these delicious vegetables and then of course I'm
going to season it very well with sea salt and then
fresh cracked black pepper. Be sure to season this very well. Let me stop and say this real quick before we put these in the oven. A lot of these ingredients
are interchangeable and not that you can swap
out for different ingredients but you can change the amounts. Perhaps you love that tomatillo flavor, well take out some of the
tomatoes, add more tomatillos. You want more onion and garlic flavor, add more onion and garlic,
take out some of the tomatoes and the tomatillos. You love spice, add more jalapenos. And here's where you can swap out. Maybe you like are obsessed
with super hot food, maybe add in a few habaneros here. This part is a little bit up to you but get creative and have fun and when all these flavors
come together it is so good. Now over to the oven. On 425 degrees this is
gonna cook for in between 30 and 35 minutes. We wanna get a nice little char on them to add to the flavor of this. Now, I've got a whole broken-down chicken. If you wanna see how to do that be sure to check out my
chicken cacciatore video. Now there are a few different reasons on why I like to use whole
chicken in all of my recipes. The first one being, there's just so much
meat on a whole chicken. Once you sort of cook it
down and pull it all off you won't believe how
much meat is on there. Plus, you get the best of both worlds. You get light meat, you get dark meat. When those flavors come
together, gosh is it so good. The second one being you've
got a chicken body left over which means you can make stock. When you get enough, you make stock. What I do is I put it right in the freezer until I have enough. And the last one being, and it's all about those
techniques my friends, is getting the opportunity
to hone those skills and fabricate up a chicken just to keep those practices going. I know that seems crazy
but that's why I do it. Here's what we're gonna do now. Season the chicken on
all sides with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper. You know I'm all about fundamentals and I believe every step
should be seasons properly so in the end every bite
is absolutely delicious. We're heading over to a coop top with a nice big rondeau pot. Gonna add in some olive oil, immediately turn the heat on to high and because we're essentially
pan searing these, as soon as the oil smokes we're gonna add in our
chicken skin-side down. Now what's really important
as soon as you put it in there to then turn the heat down to medium. We're gonna cook this for in
between eight and 10 minutes. This is great timing while all those vegetables
are roasting up. Let's go ahead and give
it a flip after that time. Yep, you can see that
beautiful golden brown every single time. Now because we have just a
few more minutes in the oven we're gonna turn the heat down to low. We wanna make sure nothing burns. Let's take those veggies
out of the oven and boom, nice little char. This is gonna add so much flavor you guys. Do not skip this step. Now simply add all of that
goodness right into a blender and then please don't forget
all those juices in the pan, that's some goodness
right there my friends. So pour all of that into
the blender as well. Next, I'm gonna hit it with
one chipotle in adobo sauce. If you love spice, add two, add three. Like I said before, I'm
weak and can't handle it. Now for a little bit more flavor I'm gonna hit it with some ground cumin and next some dry oregano. Now if you wanted to use fresh oregano you would finish this with fresh herbs. Always finish with fresh herbs at the end of making this recipe. Before we blend this, this
is a safety warning tip okay because a lot of pressure
is gonna build up in your blender and it's gonna
want to explode everywhere when you turn it on so here's what you do to make sure that does not happen. Don't do it, it's happened to
me before, it was not good. Here ya go. So add the top and then
that little center piece, immediately pull that out. Now put a towel right on top of that. I usually keep a little airway open and then slowly turn it on
so it does not go everywhere. Obviously those steps are perfect to making sure this does not blow up. Now, it's really
important when making this I like to try it. So halfway through get a spoon in there and give it a little taste. This is your braising liquid that's going to enhance
the flavor of your chicken and it needs to be extremely flavorful so maybe it needs more salt
or pepper or maybe it's good. If it's good, let's head
over to that chicken. We're gonna pour this
in everywhere all over. I mean, you guys the smells right now are absolutely incredible. Now to add a little bit
more to this braising liquid I've got some really good chicken stock. Of course I have a recipe
for you if you want it and really at this point I take a spoon, I mix some of those
wonderful flavors together, please make sure to do this,
and then I put on a lid and it's only gonna take about two hours for this to completely break
down and finish cooking. And if I've said it before,
I've said it 10 million times, Comies, it's all about these
fundamental cooking techniques. You made an amazing
flavorful braising liquid. We braise, which is honestly my favorite cooking technique out there. Infusing all of those flavors,
making that meat so tender that it falls off the
bone, it's incredible. Now apply these to all
of your everyday cooking and it's gonna be so much
better than the restaurants, the store, you name it because
homemade food from scratch always tastes better. Now what we're gonna do is
wait a little bit longer until this is done cooking and then we're gonna come
back, take that lid off. Oh my gosh this is so good. I cannot say enough. It smells so dang good in here. Now let's head over to our
countertop and take a look at it because we do need to remove
the chicken skin and bones. The way that I do this is I usually take out all the chicken, set it to the side on a sheet tray. If you've got a big
plate that will work too, don't stress out about it. Looks amazing, it's already
starting to fall apart. Now I'm gonna double up on my gloves here or if you have barbecue gloves that are used to like pull pork or brisket that would work perfect here. If you don't, even two
tongs would work great. You're essentially just removing the skin or removing any bones
from each piece of chicken and because it's braised
for quite a long time it should honestly fall right apart. Definitely try some
chicken during this process because it is super good and I think you should taste
everything at every single step so you can be very comfortable with how things are supposed to taste. This looks fantastic. Now to add even more flavor to this we're gonna dump all of that
shredded, braised chicken right back in that liquid. That liquid is pure gold my friend. Yes, there's quite a bit
here but let me tell you this freezes awesome for another day. Now there are a couple
things you can do here. You can put it back on the burner and let it continue to cook
and infuse more flavors. It's pretty dang tasty right
now, you don't need to do that but if you love flavor,
put it back on there, let it sit for maybe another hour or two or you can serve it up right now on rice with some beans and
cheese or you can make tacos, which is what I'm going to do. Now let's plate up in slo-mo. Now because these tacos are extra juicy, I can't stress this enough,
double up on the corn tortillas so that your tortilla
shell doesn't rip in half when you go to pick it up and eat it. I'm going to garnish with
some finely diced red onion. You could use yellow
onion or sweet onion here. Next, I've got some avocado. This is completely optional
just like the onion before and then I'm gonna hit it
with some queso fresco. You could use cotija or even
some shredded Oaxaca cheese and I'm gonna finish up with some finely minced
fresh cilantro and man, look at this beauty. (lively Mexican music) These are the best tacos, I
don't know what else to say. They're so flavorful, you
will love them guaranteed. Like this video, subscribe to my channel, dang sure check out this video 'cause it is super good and
we will see you on there. (lively Mexican music)
