Does anyone have a copycat recipe (or something close) for Beef Enchilidas and sauce at Jose's? I live in the southeast US and miss their food.

not sure if it is like what you are asking for, but you can't go wrong with this one:

Fido Cheese Enchiladas with Chile con Carne

Enchilada Sauce:
1/2lb 90/10 ground beef
1/4 cup Oil
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Tomato paste
1 crushed garlic clove
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried mexican oregano
2 T Pure (New Mexico) chile powder (I grind my own, of course)
1 T Ancho Chile Powder
2 cups chicken broth (or water)

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Brown meat (Don't drain) Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it begins to darken. Add the rest of the ingredients except the broth and cook about a minute more. Add chicken broth or water and cook until the sauce thickens. Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Add water/broth to adjust the thickness.

Cheese Enchiladas
Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
10-12 corn tortillas
1 cup each shredded cheddar/jack/Deluxe american cheese

Preheat the oven to 450.
Pour the oil in a small skillet, heat oil until about 150 and dip the tortillas one at a time for a few seconds until softened. Drain & stack them in foil keeping wrapped between tortillas

Pour 1/2 cup of sauce in a baking pan.
Take a tortilla, add about 1/4c cheese and roll it. Place rolled tortilla in baking dish, seam side down. Continue until you are out of room in the pan. Take remaining enchilada sauce, and pour it over the rolled tortillas. Sprinkle remaining cheese or grate new cheese if you are out. Bake for 10 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.

Thanks. I look forward to giving it a try.

My wife and I live in NYC and we make enchiladas often. We started out with Fido's, and it was good. Then we started making this one from the Homesick Texan and it was outstanding. It is our go-to enchilada recipe now. I think we usually double the sauce.

Beef Enchiladas with Chipotle-Pasilla Chili Gravy
by the Homesick Texas

Ingredients:

For the pasilla-chipotle chili gravy:
1 or 2 dried chipotle chilies (depending on how hot you want it); seeds and stems removed
4 dried pasilla chilies (aka chilies negros), seeds and stems removed
1/4 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Pinch of ground allspice
3 cups beef broth
2 Tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the enchiladas:
1 pound ground beef (Can substitute beef fajita meat for ground beef)
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced and divided
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon of lard or vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used about double)


Directions:
In a dry skillet heated on high, toast the chilies on each side for about 10 seconds or just until they start to puff. Fill the skillet with enough water to cover chilies. Leave the heat on until water begins to boil, cover, and turn off the heat and let the chilies soak until soft, about 30 minutes. Once hydrated, discard the soaking water and rinse the chilies. Place in a blender.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat up the vegetable oil and while occasionally stirring cook the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Place cooked onion and garlic into the blender, along with the cumin, oregano, allspice and the broth. Blend until smooth.

In a pot, heat the 2 Tablespoons of oil on low heat, whisking in the flour until well incorporated. Pour in the sauce and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste and adjust the other seasonings as needed.

Meanwhile, in a skillet on medium heat add the ground beef, half of the diced onion and garlic. While stirring occasionally, cook the meat until browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cumin and cook for 2 more minutes. Taste and add salt and black pepper to taste and adjust the seasonings. Stir into the meat 1/4 cup of the chili gravy.

To make the enchiladas, first preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a large baking dish. In a skillet, heat up the lard or oil on medium-low heat. One at a time, heat up the tortillas in the hot oil until soft and pliant. Lay each tortilla on a plate and add about 2 Tablespoons of beef and some of the cheese. Roll the tortilla and place in greased baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Pour sauce over enchiladas and top with remaining grated cheese and diced onions. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and bubbling.

[This message has been edited by gigm09 (edited 3/30/2012 7:48a).]

I'd had Fido's recipe and it was similar to what I was looking for. I have Jose's address and may write him to see if he would be willing to give me some indication of his family recipe.

here's my recipe... it appears similar to fido's.

Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Sauce

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
½ C. chopped onion
2 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper
8 C. beef broth
2 cans whole peeled tomatoes
3 tbsp. chili powder
1 ½ tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1/3 C. cornstarch
1/3 C. water

Enchiladas

Vegetable oil for frying
16 6-inch corn tortillas
6 C. shredded cheddar cheese
1 C. chopped onion
1 C. shredded American cheese

For sauce, in a large pan brown ground beef with onions, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Drain. Add broth, tomatoes, chili powder, paprika and cumin. Mix well, breaking up tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for one hour.

In a bowl, mix cornstarch and water until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Gradually add to chili sauce, stirring constantly. Continue cooking 5 minutes.

For enchiladas, heat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat about ½ inch oil in skillet, until hot but not smoking.
Quickly fry each tortilla in oil to soften, about 2 seconds per side. Drain on paper towels.

In large bowl, combine cheddar cheese and onion. Mix well. Spoon 1/3 C. cheese mixture in center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in 2 11x17 inch baking dishes. Top with chili sauce. Cover with foil.

Bake 10 minutes. Remove foil. Sprinkle with American cheese. Continue baking
2 minutes or until cheese melts.

Rho's that's a tomato sauce, not, a chili sauce. Sub half a can of tomato paste for the whole tomatoes and you'll be on to something.

I would say that homesick Texan recipe would be better called homesick Arizonan, however, I have no doubt the enchiladas they poduce are outstanding.

If you just want flat out chile gravy enchiladas you could try this

1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1tsp salt
1tsp garlic paste (2 cloves pressed)
2 Tbls chili powder (Gebhart is best for this style)
1 Tbls cumin
1 tsp dried oregano crushed
1.25 cups water
1 can beef broth

Make a light blonde roux. Add salt and garlic. Stir 30 seconds and add in the rest of the dry ingredients. When everything is combined, begin whisking in liquid. Adjust salt to taste.

Makes enough sauce for a dozen.

These are the true Tex-Mex style enchiladas you'll find for $3.99/plate. Great for Friday nights during lent. I'll post a picture later.

No. I love these enchiladas and so does anyone I've ever made them for.

I never said enchiladas with tomato-beef sauce would taste bad.

OP is looking for restaurant style enchiladas. Between my original fido98 enchiladas, the homesick Texan enchiladas, and your recipe none of them are true Tex-Mex style.

ok.

drive on,

I'm curious about the difference you see between your recipe and the homesick texan recipe. Both are based on a roux and beef stock plus chilis as separates (hers) or a powder mix (yours) plus cumin, oregano, and garlic, I assume its the varieties used in the chili powder vs. the ones she uses? Chipotle vs. ancho?

Edit: What is Arizona chili, anyway?


[This message has been edited by biobioprof (edited 3/31/2012 1:51p).]

My fido98 recipe is not intended to be a Tex-Mex recipe. My personal preference is towards the southwestern chile style and definitely has more in common with the homesick Texan recipe than it does with Tex-Mex restaurant style enchiladas. In fact, if I have some chile purée on hand, I'll use it in my chile con carne. Never used dried Chipolte in my recipe though.

That was my whole point to Rhos. If OP is looking for a true Tex-Mex style cheese enchilada with chile gravy recipe, then go with the recipe I posted above. If you want chile con carne, add a cup of homemade chili or seasoned ground beef such as picadillo.

Take Fido's recipe and add a tablespoon of pureed chipotle in adobo to it.

gigm09,

Where do you get your corn tortillas in NYC? Finding decent corn tortillas used to be my biggest problem with making them here. My wife found a taqueria in Queens that has been very successful in the 2+ years they've been open (she was one of their first customers). They've opened a second location downtown near City Hall Park. The corn tortillas are excellent. I can get the name of the place if you are interested (the wife knows it). They have decent tamales too.

Honestly, we just buy some from the ShopRite close to us. I am not that picky about corn tortillas (I probably should be though). I would love the name of the taqueria you are talking about. We are always looking for places that come close to making food like home.

Sure, it's called Tortilleria Nixtamal.

The people that own it are great. I was making enchiladas for Christmas year before last and my wife went by to pick up fresh tortillas on the 23rd. They were out that day, but the owner personally drove an order from Queens to our place in Downtown Manhattan the morning of Christmas Eve. They were still warm when I got them.

So would you consider jose's to be chili gravy?