Tacos--Cook-Off 39

[C. sapidus]

Hashed crab with capers (salpicon de jaiba con alcaparras), from Zarela’s Veracruz. This is like crab tacos a la Veracruzana, with tomatoes, onion, bay leaves, pickled jalapenos, and capers in the sauce. Served with a squeeze of lime, crumbled feta cheese, and salsa roja de chile guajillo asado, from Mexican Everyday.

[Chris Amirault]

Bruce, why feta? No queso around?

[C. sapidus]

Bruce, why feta? No queso around?

←

Short answer: too busy/lazy for an extra trip to the Latino market.

Longer answer: before I had ready access to crumbly queso, I used feta as a substitute. Over time, I grew to like the combination of feta and Mexican flavors.

Best answer: I conducted further research at breakfast, and the crab tasted better without cheese, anyway.

[RAHiggins1]

Unfortunately I did not take pics but I did a standard ground beef meat filling with fried white corn tortillas. Because the shells were very crisp and crunchy I took green leaf lettuce and lined the shell with it before adding the meat. The taco held together and stayed crunchy all of the way through. The 2nd, 3rd & 4th tacos did not get soggy while waiting for me to eat them. It also made it look nice with a lettuce fringe bordering the edges of the taco. I also added your garden variety mexican cheese mix, chopped onions and tomatoes.

Edited July 13, 2008 by RAHiggins1 (log)

[JAZ]

Great idea with the lettuce. I make miniature tostadas for one of my classes, and always put a little shredded lettuce on the bottom to keep them crisp, but never thought of it for crisp tacos.

[nakedsushi]

Vegan "fish" tacos with home made pico de gallo and guacamole.

The fish is strips of frozen tofu battered in chickpea flour, water, and panko and then pan-fried.

[ChrisTaylor]

Reminded of it by the picadillo thread, I figured I'd dig up my go-to recipe for tacos--cobbled together based on a bunch of stuff I found online and wherever else.

I take a rump steak (skirt also works--I guess you could use an expensive cut like sirloin, too) and season it with salt, pepper, ground cumin and oregano. I then fry or barbecue it to rare or medium rare and rest it. Meanwhile, I may the 'salad' (the recipe for this was actually cobbled together from reading a blog post about a culinary tour of Mexico, if I recall correctly--can't remember the Spanish name of the preparation that inspired this) using diced tomato, diced red onion, diced cucumber, minced garlic, coriander leaves and jalapeno. The 'salad' is dressed with lime juice and extra virgin olive oil.

Stuff tortillas with some of the steak (sliced) and the 'salad'.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I posted in the tortilla thread but I realize not all of us read that far down into the forums.  I made tacos for the first time a couple nights ago but I think my masa was too dry.  I could not get the tortillas to puff or blister.  What temperatures should be used for the tortilla cooking surfaces?  I used 375 F and 450 F.

 

This is what my tacos looked like:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/156030-dinner-2018-part-1/?do=findComment&comment=2151559

 

I'm about to try again with moister masa.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@JoNorvelleWalkerI think you will have solved your own problem with a moister dough. Since there's no leavening, the puff comes from the steam, and if you don't have enough water in the dough it makes it too stiff for the steam that's trying to escape to puff it. I do it by feel and eye now with Maseca. The more hydrated the dough is, though, the more it tends to stick and the harder it is to lay it on your griddle/comal without creasing or tearing. The trick is to lay it on, not flip it on. I did not get this part until I watched some YouTube videos.

 

Also yours looked a bit thick. Maybe you like them that way, but I like them a little thinner, and this will be easier to achieve with a more hydrated dough.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

31 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

@JoNorvelleWalkerI think you will have solved your own problem with a moister dough. Since there's no leavening, the puff comes from the steam, and if you don't have enough water in the dough it makes it too stiff for the steam that's trying to escape to puff it. I do it by feel and eye now with Maseca. The more hydrated the dough is, though, the more it tends to stick and the harder it is to lay it on your griddle/comal without creasing or tearing. The trick is to lay it on, not flip it on. I did not get this part until I watched some YouTube videos.

 

Also yours looked a bit thick. Maybe you like them that way, but I like them a little thinner, and this will be easier to achieve with a more hydrated dough.

 

My moister masa stuck to the press and made a mess.  I formed the dough by hand and grilled it.  It tasted OK but didn't look much like a tortilla.

 

[heidih]

Most Mexican cooks I've seen line the press with plastic wrap, unpeel and then to comal.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

Most Mexican cooks I've seen line the press with plastic wrap, unpeel and then to comal.

 

But I was using plastic.  Polyscience vacuum bags to be precise.  Half the masa stuck to the bottom bag and half to the top.

 

The problem could be that I was reusing masa left over from the other night.  The ball was cold and hard from the refrigerator, so I crumbled it with my fingers.  Then I mixed in a bit of hot water -- a bit too much hot water -- to form a dough.

 

 

@Thanks for the Crepes with the original masa I could have pressed the tortillas thinner.  It's not a question of what thickness I like.  It was my first time and I'm not sure of what I'm doing.  I had read warnings (I'm not sure from which author, I read several, but probably Kennedy*) not to make the tortillas too thin.

 

*OK, I went back and checked, it was Kennedy.

 

[Okanagancook]

I use 300 grams masa to 400 grams water and form 45 gram portions to press.  Works pretty much every time...just the right combo.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Okanagancook (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I use 300 grams masa to 400 grams water and form 45 gram portions to press.  Works pretty much every time...just the right combo.

 

 

Wow, yours is way wetter.  I used 200 grams Bob's Red Mill masa harina and 215 grams water, which is Kennedy's ratio.  And yes, I weighed them.

 

[Okanagancook]

Mine come off the plastic very easily after pressing.  Just made a batch this week.

Also here is how I cook them....medium high heat.  30 sec one side, flip and cook 60  sec, flip cook another 30 sec pressing on top so they puff up.

this recipe is from a previous thread on tortillas.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

10 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Mine come off the plastic very easily after pressing.  Just made a batch this week.

Also here is how I cook them....medium high heat.  30 sec one side, flip and cook 60  sec, flip cook another 30 sec pressing on top so they puff up.

this recipe is from a previous thread on tortillas.

 

Which thread is that?

 

Do you know the pan temperature when you made them?

 

[Okanagancook]

No but I believe people use 550f

I brought the making tortilla thread forward because I am a dummy when it comes to inserting a link to a previous thread

 

[robirdstx]

 

Corn Tortillas, Pork Carnitas on Cabbage Slaw, topped with Chopped Onion, Cilantro and Salsa Verde ~ with Black Bean and Corn Salad

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, robirdstx said:

 

Corn Tortillas, Pork Carnitas on Cabbage Slaw, topped with Chopped Onion, Cilantro and Salsa Verde ~ with Black Bean and Corn Salad

 

 

How do you get your tortillas to hold that shape?

 

Never mind, I think I see.  Cheater.  Where can I buy those?

 

[robirdstx]

7 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

How do you get your tortillas to hold that shape?

 

Never mind, I think I see.  Cheater.  Where can I buy those?

 

 

Ha! Tupperware! Bought many, many years ago - don’t know if they still offer them.

Edited May 22, 2018 by robirdstx (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Now that I posses a Paragon* -- an induction hotplate that can maintain a precise oil temperature, I have returned to tacos:

 

 

 

 

*OK, actually two Paragons.