Ground Beef Tacos

[BarbaraY]

Having grown up in a neighborhood with a large Mexican population it's surprising that I never had tacos as a kid although there were plenty of enchiladas, tamales, flour tortillas, and heavenly salsas.

I had kids of my own before I ever had tacos and they came from a shabby "Taco house". Ever after I patterned my tacos after Johnny's. Ground beef, McCormick's seasoning, yellow cheese, raw onion, lettuce, and salsa. A cold beer and the whole gang was happy.

[FoodMuse]

Chris Hennes, I blame you! For nostalgia's sake I picked up a box of Old El Paso hard taco kit. After all this talk I have to see how it holds up.

Let the grief giving commence.

Do I get points for using amazing Pat LaFrieda ground beef?

Grace

[Snadra]

I harbour a bit of nostalgia for the Old El Paso pack myself. In fact, we still have them once or twice a year, and enjoy them for what they are - they're meant to be fun, not serious, so enjoy away, Grace! Aside from gaucamole dip mix they were the closest thing to mexican food I ever had until we went to Chi Chi's Restaurant in Calgary in the 80s. When I first arrived here in the mid-90s grated carrot was one of the suggested toppings for kit tacos along with sour cream, cheese and lettuce.

Jaymes' Sloppy Joses sound brilliant, and I like all the suggestions for seasonings here. I may have to make kit-less 'kit tacos' this week!

edited for clarity

Edited May 31, 2011 by Snadra (log)

[LizD518]

I think the moment in college when I realized that my spice rack already had all the ingredients that were in the taco seasoning packet and that I didn't need to buy another mix, was one of the turning points in my cooking development. Then, the day I mixed the taco beef into my blue box macaroni & cheese and used sour cream instead of butter and milk to moisten the whole thing was another! Amazing - I don't have to follow the box, and things will still come out delicious?!

[FoodMuse]

OMG those hard shell tacos are exactly how I remembered them. Fantastic and fun. Odd, most childhood foods really don't hold up.

Boyfriend had never had them before and he said he wanted them once a week. I did use great meat, cheese and salsa. I also had a mango salsa I made and maybe 5 kinds of hot sauce along with refried beans, so it was nothing like what I grew up with. Tasteless cheese, tasteless tomato and iceberg lettuce.

I'm considering braising some chicken thighs for more tacos this week.

[Chris Hennes]

I know the hard shells are totally gringo, but I still love 'em. I'm partial to the super-thin La Tienda brand, myself.