106 replies to this topic

[chefsteban]

Nice job amigo. You just can't beat good home cooking. your finished product had my mouth watering; and I just finished my carnitas tacos, which by the way, were superb.

Again a high five fir a job well done.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

I'm a no good, dirty cheater. The next city over from me has a large population of Mexican immigrants. One of the Mexican markets has fresh corn tortillas daily. Time to time, I also get marinated pork or beef for tacos.

I'm so in for this one.

[jsmeeker]

Chris,

what do you use to fry? Do you have a dedicated deep fryer? I like to deep fry, but the thought of frying up a tiny amount of fish for tacos for one really keeps me from doing it.

I'll make tacos this weekend. Trying to think what kind I will make. I'm really digging on the idea of some sort of seafood taco.

[Chris Hennes]

what do you use to fry?  Do you have a dedicated deep fryer?

I have one, but I never use it! I usually just put some peanut oil in a 5 quart stock pot. Especially with fish, where it cooks so quickly, you don't need that much oil, in my experience. I use about a quart of oil in my 4.5 qt Le Creuset: maybe an inch? I heat it to about 400 F, drop in the fish "nuggets," the temp drops to maybe 350, but by the time the thermometer has registered that drop, the fish is done. That much oil will run $3-$4 where I am if you buy it one quart at a time, and it made enough fish for about a dozen tacos and could have made more. The per-unit cost isn't too bad.

[hummingbirdkiss]

Nice job amigo. You just can't beat good home cooking. your finished product had my mouth watering; and I just finished my carnitas tacos, which by the way, were superb.

Again a high five fir a job well done.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm carnitas tacos ........no pictures to share??? Chef I am so bummed!

[6ppc]

Last night was chicken tacos with guacamole, queso fresco, crema, salsa verde and a side of chilled Tecate w/ a bit of mexican lime in it.

I tried using some fresh masa from the supermercado and honestly prefer the taste and texture I get using maseca. That was kind of a bummer since I was hoping for a nicer tortilla using the "better" product.

The chicken was very nice. I kind of start out the same way I would for Carnitas -
Cube up a couple pounds of skinless/boneless thighs, place in a dutch oven add stock to barely cover. A chopped onion, fresh roasted/ground cumin and coriander, a little chipoltle, 5-6 cloves roughly chopped garlic, a few bay leaves and a couple limes worth of juice.

Simmer for an hour or so partly covered then uncover and consider it ready when the chix is just shy of au sec. This way the meat is nice and moist but not drippy. I've tried taking this to the browning stage and the results were not as tasty, probably doable if fat were added though.

The guacamole was extremely simple just mashed avocado, a little sea salt, knife point's worth of smoked cayenne. No citrus juice added since it would not last long enough to oxidize and I don't especially care for a citrus note in guac anyway.

[chefsteban]

Nice job amigo. You just can't beat good home cooking. your finished product had my mouth watering; and I just finished my carnitas tacos, which by the way, were superb.

Again a high five fir a job well done.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm carnitas tacos ........no pictures to share??? Chef I am so bummed!

Nope..no pics. I consider cameras to be a pain in the patoot.

[JAZ]

Last night we had tacos with skirt steak, corn and tomato salsa, guacamole and salsa verde.

My original idea was to make flour tortillas from an old recipe in Fine Cooking magazine which I'd always wanted to try, but we got a late start on dinner, so we just used tortillas from the grocery store. I'll try making them next time.

The skirt steak was marinated in orange and lime juice, chipotle, garlic, salt and oil. Ordinarily I add cumin, but I forgot.


Skirt steak searing.




Heating the tortillas.

Building the taco.










The salsa verde was charred tomatillos, poblanos and jalapenos, pureed with onion, cilantro, salt, lime and cumin.

The corn salsa has tomatoes, red pepper, red onion, and avocado, seasoned with cumin and red pepper flakes.

[6ppc]

Jaz that looks just awesome. I was about to go out for pho but now I may have to find a taco stand instead.

--yeah I know I had tacos for dinner yesterday but there is no such thing as too often for tacos in my book.

Edited by 6ppc, 26 April 2008 - 09:34 AM.

[JimH]

I found my new favorite taqueria this morning, Taqueria Marquez. Ok, so I cheated, I'm lazy too lazy to make barbacoa or lengua but they probably make it better than I can. Tender meat on warm corn tortillas with tomato, onion & jalapeno w/ their orange salsa. There was so much meat that I made another taco out of what was leftover. I took pictures of last night's tacos and the cheaters that I bought, but I'm having trouble uploading to imageGullet. I'll try again later.

[TongoRad]

You guys are making me drool- looks like I picked the wrong month to quit mainlining pork fat. I made some diet tacos today- my way- hopefully these will qualify as such:


That extremely red color is from beets (it's still on my fingers, fwiw). In there are some sliced red onion, jalapenos, cilantro, toasted cumin seeds, perfect avacado slices, and the cheese is feta cuz that's what I had in the house.

The fattiness of the cheese and avacado were a perfect foil for those beets- these things totally rocked, if I do say so myself.

[jsmeeker]

Back from the grocery store. I actually had some tacos there for lunch before shopping (tacos al pastor). Very tasty.

Instead of buying stuff to make some sort of seafood taco, I decided to go with beef. I bought what I think is skirt steak, but it was labeled as "Fajita Meat". I'll take a pic of it later when I make the tacos on Sunday. I've got some onions at home. I bought a small avocado to make some guacamole. And some Chihuahua cheese. I'll simply cook up the meat in the cast iron skillet like Janet did. Cook some onion, then assemble with the beef, onions, some guac, and some of the cheese. I've got some sort of bottled Herdez brand salsa. Maybe I'll toss some of that on there, too. Not sure what you call other than "taco"

[jsmeeker]

I'd like to try define some of the words/terms commonly associated with tacos for people who don't speak Spanish, or for people that just aren't totally sure what they all mean. Is it about an ingredient? A process or preparation? Here are a few terms to start off with. I'll make an attempt to define or describe them myself with the assistance of various online sources, including eGullet forums.

Al Pastor. Al Carbon. Carnitas. Lengua.

al Pastor -- "shepherd style". Some type of marinated pork that is then cooked on a rotisserie and sliced thin. (similar to a gyro, it seems) Also, pineapple is involved somehow. Can you do it without the rotisserie? that's how the ones I had today were make. marinated chunks of pork that were then cooked on a griddle. there was pineapple in there.

al Carbon -- "grilled over charcoal". marinated beef. Then grilled over hot charcoal. Must it be beef to call it "al carbon"? What kind/cut of beef? Can it be "al carbon" if it's not over charcoal?

carne asada -- "grilled meat". how is this different than al Carbon??

carnitas -- "small meats". Usually, pork and most commonly pork shoulder. Seasoned and then braised or slow roasted. Then, chopped up and roasted at high heat for a few minutes to crisp up the outside some.

lengua -- "tongue" . This is about all I know. It's cow's tongue

[menuinprogress]

Jeff - great overview of a very diverse subject. I'm definitely no expert, but I thought I'd add a few comments based on my experiences:

al Pastor  --  "shepherd style".  Some type of marinated pork that is then cooked on a rotisserie and sliced thin. (similar to a gyro, it seems) Also, pineapple is involved somehow.

Al Pastor is a Mexico City specialty and is, as you say similar in preparation to a gyro. The pineapple sits on the top of the meat and is carved off in little hunks to garnish the tacos. You can see pictures and a video here from El Tizoncito in D.F.

al Carbon  --  "grilled over charcoal".  marinated beef.  Then grilled over hot charcoal.  Must it be beef to call it "al carbon"?  What kind/cut of beef?  Can it be "al carbon" if it's not over charcoal?

It doesn't need to be beef - I had some awesome conejo (rabbit) al carbon a few months ago in Xochimilco.

carne asada  -- "grilled meat".  how is this different than al Carbon??

In my experience with carne asada, which is admittedly more SoCal than Mexican, carne asada is grilled on a griddle, not over coals - hence the difference from "al carbon".

carnitas  --  "small meats".  Usually, pork and most commonly pork shoulder.  Seasoned and then braised or slow roasted. Then, chopped up and roasted at high heat for a few minutes to crisp up the outside some.

I think that "small meats", generally pork is the key. I'd always thought of as carnitas as a discrete thing - as in "I'll have the carnitas tacos, please", until in Oaxaca when I encountered carnitas taco stands where that would be distinctly ambiguous. The most popular were "de todo", which were a mixture of all of the spare bits - mostly head with a bit of offal. Very tasty.

Edited by menuinprogress, 26 April 2008 - 07:23 PM.

[petite tête de chou]

You guys are making me drool- looks like I picked the wrong month to quit mainlining pork fat. I made some diet tacos today- my way- hopefully these will qualify as such:


That extremely red color is from beets (it's still on my fingers, fwiw). In there are some sliced red onion, jalapenos, cilantro, toasted cumin seeds, perfect avacado slices, and the cheese is feta cuz that's what I had in the house.

The fattiness of the cheese and avacado were a perfect foil for those beets- these things totally rocked, if I do say so myself.

I love that you kept the cilantro leaves *on* the stems. Too many folks strip the stems and toss them out.

[hummingbirdkiss]

Ok everyone's tacos look and sound so fantastic!!! I am on a roll cooking but the posting stuff ...well as much fun as I have had making tacos ... a taco pictorial in this box is making my head explode ..so I made a blog and will add the tacos I make there I guess ...it looks so easy when everyone just whips these things out in picture form!

my first taco is a simple but wonderful Navajo taco

this is easy ..quick to assemble and can be eaten anywhere!

the trick is in the pefect fry bread and the beans (my camera takes very light pictures so I am sorry you can not see my beans are actually dark brown )

Edited by hummingbirdkiss, 27 April 2008 - 06:07 AM.

[hummingbirdkiss]

this sounds fantastic ..your guacamole is as guacamole should be .anything more to me is avocado "dip"!

Last night was chicken tacos with guacamole, queso fresco, crema, salsa verde and a side of chilled Tecate w/ a bit of mexican lime in it.

I tried using some fresh masa from the supermercado and honestly prefer the taste and texture I get using maseca. That was kind of a bummer since I was hoping for a nicer tortilla using the "better" product.

The chicken was very nice. I kind of start out the same way I would for Carnitas -
Cube up a couple pounds of skinless/boneless thighs, place in a dutch oven add stock to barely cover. A chopped onion, fresh roasted/ground cumin and coriander, a little chipoltle, 5-6 cloves roughly chopped garlic, a few bay leaves and a couple limes worth of juice.

Simmer for an hour or so partly covered then uncover and consider it ready when the chix is just shy of au sec. This way the meat is nice and moist but not drippy. I've tried taking this to the browning stage and the results were not as tasty, probably doable if fat were added though.

The guacamole was extremely simple just mashed avocado, a little sea salt, knife point's worth of smoked cayenne. No citrus juice added since it would not last long enough to oxidize and I don't especially care for a citrus note in guac anyway.

[6ppc]

the trick is in the pefect fry bread and the beans (my camera takes very light pictures so I am sorry you can not see my beans are actually dark brown  )

Heidi those look great!

[ChefCrash]

We made Two kinds.

On the left are Lamb strips marinating in Shawarma spices, on the right, Lamb strips marinating in Mexican Chorizo spices.





Shawarma tacos were toped with tomatoes, pickled Turnips, Tahini sauce (Tarator), and a parsley/onion/sumac salad.


Chorizo tacos topped with tomatoes and parsley/onion/sumac salad.

[Emily_R]

Chef Crash -- those look amazing! I'm particularly intrigued by your "chorizo spice" rub, as I'm a chorizo junkie! Could you post the recipe for it?

[ChefCrash]

Chef Crash -- those look amazing! I'm particularly intrigued by your "chorizo spice" rub, as I'm a chorizo junkie! Could you post the recipe for it?

Thanks Emily

It's Acleggs Chorizo seasoning, scroll down to item # 111.

[jsmeeker]

Ok.. Here is my first real contribution to this cook off. (where I actually make some tacos!!)







The "fajita meat" before marinating it in lime juice, some veg oil, a puree off chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and some Tapatio hot sauce. Then, cooked in the cast iron skillet, then topped up with sauteed red onions, some freshly made guacamole, some cheese, and some bottled salsa.

[JimH]

I made some diet tacos today- my way- hopefully these will qualify as such:

Michael, your tacos look great, veggie tacos are a great break from the run of the mill meat tacos.

[hummingbirdkiss]

not to bump my own tacos ..but I made another one

just a little something I tossed together ..over three days

Lamb

[6ppc]

not to bump my own tacos ..but I made another one

just a little something I tossed together ..over three days 

Lamb

Those look mighty tasty.

[JimH]

lengua  -- "tongue" .  This is about all I know. It's cow's tongue

The tongue is simmered in water with onions (and other things too I guess) until tender, then skinned and chopped. It's very good, lean, nice texture and beefy flavor. If it wasn't advertised as lengua you would never know that you were not eating a regular cut of meat.

Barbacoa is a beef head cooked, around here at least, in a pressure cooker. I don't know if they put anything else in with the head. The meat is soft and fatty and tastes like beef stew for lack of a better description. Barbacoa can also be goat, like I've had in San Antonio. I initially tried it in SA because I thought it was BBQ, I'm glad I tried it and liked it before I was told what it really was.

[6ppc]

lengua  -- "tongue" .  This is about all I know. It's cow's tongue

The tongue is simmered in water with onions (and other things too I guess) until tender, then skinned and chopped. It's very good, lean, nice texture and beefy flavor. If it wasn't advertised as lengua you would never know that you were not eating a regular cut of meat.

Barbacoa is a beef head cooked, around here at least, in a pressure cooker. I don't know if they put anything else in with the head. The meat is soft and fatty and tastes like beef stew for lack of a better description. Barbacoa can also be goat, like I've had in San Antonio. I initially tried it in SA because I thought it was BBQ, I'm glad I tried it and liked it before I was told what it really was.

OK I saw "beef lips" nicely packaged @ the mercado today... Pray tell do these go in tacos or what?

--No I did not buy any but inquiring minds want to know...

[JimH]

Last night we had tacos with skirt steak, corn and tomato salsa, guacamole and salsa verde.


The salsa verde was charred tomatillos, poblanos and jalapenos, pureed with onion, cilantro, salt, lime and cumin.

The corn salsa has tomatoes, red pepper, red onion, and avocado, seasoned with cumin and red pepper flakes.

Jaz , you're killing me! That corn salsa looks great, I can almost taste it throught the screen.

[hummingbirdkiss]

Thanks for the kind words Jon ...I know my food tastes good I have no idea how to present it to look as good ....folks here I am so impressed with how everyone photographs food

sigh

[JimH]

not to bump my own tacos ..but I made another one

just a little something I tossed together ..over three days 

Lamb

OK, OK, UNCLE! UNCLE!