My favorite food of all time....Tacos!

I LOVE tacos.  They're the food of the gods as far as I'm concerned.  So, when I stumbled upon this recipe for tacos on The Secret Life of a Baseball Players Wife  ,  I thought...darn, those sound good!  So I made them for dinner last night.  Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients:
1 Lb Ground Beef
16 Corn Tortillas
Cheddar Cheese (or American...it was actually really good!)
1/4C Cooking Oil
El Pato Salsa (found mine at a Mexican Grocery store...Jacobo's)
Black Pepper
Lawrys (just a preference of mine)
Garlic Powder

First, cut your beef into 16 equal pieces.  Season the top with

 pepper, Lawrys and garlic powder.  May as well get it outta the way.

Put about 3T cooking oil in your pan.  Put heat on med low.

I originally added a 1/4C, but it was a little too much.  My pan is kinda small.

Take a portion of the beef and smash it onto one side of the tortilla

with a fork.  Stay about 1/2 - 3/4" away from the rounded edge.  

Found that out the hard way.

Because my tortillas came from the Mexican grocery store, they 

were super fresh.  (Still warm!)  I was able to fold the tortillas

over without them cracking.  See notes below if yours aren't as fresh.
Press down to make them nice and flat.

Place them in the oil a couple at a time.  I later did four and they were fine.

Flip over and do the other side.  I didn't really time them.  I

just watched to see if each side was golden and crispy.  Because

you have such a minimal amount of beef in there, it cooks quickly.

Remove from oil.  I highly suggest draining like this first to get out

any oil that is trapped inside the taco.

Then lay them down to drain on a paper towel. Flip over to get

the other side, or blot with more paper towels.  This is a messy affair.

Give them a minute to cool and you can put your cheese in.
Looks kinda like half a McDonalds hamburger patty in there!

And then douse it in El Pato.  I LOVE this sauce!  I don't know 

how I ever lived without it.  My life had no meaning...

Of course, I figured Tommy would like his better with
American Cheese, which made me cringe...

Until I tried it.  It was really good!  I was shocked because I don't

care for American cheese on much of anything.  It reminded me of 

the tacos at Jack In The Box.  And that's a compliment, really.

I LOVE Jack In The Box tacos!  I would have added shredded

lettuce, but I was too lazy to cut it up and clean it while doing all of this.

Now, here's what NOT to do.  I learned the hard way. You don't have to.

Do NOT put too much beef on your taco. 

I originally started with 1/8 of a pound.  Too much beef.  I had no

clue.  I thought it would shrink up and everything would be fine. 

Mistake number two was pushing the beef all the way to the

edge of the tortilla where it stuck out.  Big mistake!  That beef

has moisture in it.  Oil does not like moisture!

Here's what they looked like when they hit the hot oil.  I thought they

looked a little over-active!  I'm surprised I could get a picture in because
my hands and arms kept getting spit at!  Singey, singey!  Ouch!

And here's what happened when the oil realized there was some

nice, moist beef to interact with.  That baby started popping 

everywhere!  I had to throw a lid on it before it attacked me!

See those angry beef splatters of death!?!

And lastly, I learned that you shouldn't make too many up ahead

of time because the beef tends to bleed into the tortilla, turning it

red and soggy and split at the bottom.  Not very visually appealing. It also starts to curl
your tortilla at the edges.  They still cooked up okay though. You've
got plenty of time to assemble more as the ones in the pan are cooking.

Notes:

These tacos were really good!  My son ate FOUR of them!  I (shamefully) at FIVE!  Yes, I know I'm fat.  This could be why.  Now, to clarify, these are really small, flat tacos.  It takes two of these to make one (Americanized) regular taco.  Four of them only gives you 1/4 pound of meat (prior to cooking).  Gosh that sounds horrible now that I've typed it, LOL!  I never said it was a calorie friendly meal!

If your tortillas aren't fresh from the press like mine were, you'll need to place the taco, open faced in the oil.  Let the tortilla soften a bit and get pliable, then fold over.

What I loved the best was the El Pato sauce.  That sauce has forever changed my life.  It reminds me of the salsa they put on the table at Maria's Mexican Restaurant.  I just LOVE that salsa and have always wondered what was in it.  Now, I'm wondering if it's El Pato!  It's a little bitey, but not too terribly hot.  Note:  I love hot things, so if you're squeamish, just start with a teaspoon.  I'll continue to douse the whole taco, then dip it in the sauce that drips out, then lick the plate, thank you.

These were very easy to make, but horribly messy as far as grease goes.  That could be because of my mishap of putting too much beef in.  Next time, I'll try to have my lettuce done ahead of time so maybe I won't eat so many.  My son took one to lunch the next day and  I had another one that night, and three the next day for lunch.  I'm so ashamed.  I couldn't stop myself.  They're so good!  Here's what 3 of them look like on a small salad plate.  Does that redeem me?

I took the rest and put them in the freezer in a baggie.  When I went to make some for lunch today, I just put them frozen, in a clean (non stick) pan, cheese side down.  I had this moment of logical thinking that led me to believe it would be best if I did that because that side would get crunchy, I'd flip it over to the beef side down, then the melted cheese wouldn't go all over.  It didn't.  Worked great, didn't need any oil (because they're so fatty) and they actually got crispy!  Tasted just like fresh!

If I was to say anything was lacking from this, I'd say that I wished I had seasoned the beef a little more liberally, or perhaps even added some chili powder or a pinch of cumin.  Man, it was so good the way it was though!  

One pound of beef will make 16 tacos.  Who knows.  Maybe you could put more beef in, but just keep it away from the edge???  One small can of El Pato will give you about 1T to put on each taco.

These came in fairly cheap at 25 cents apiece, including the oil it was fried in.  That's 4 bucks for a family of four!  Since I'm the only one who eats the salsa, I did not add that in to the price.  Add 5c per T if you're doing the salsa, too.

Ahhhh, I'm still dreaming of them....
(Insert Homer Simpson voice) Mmmmmmm, taaaaaaaaaaaacccccccooooss!

Update:  We made these again tonight and this time, I bought the BIG can of El Pato.  Not really much cheaper ounce for ounce, but now I can have more on hand!

Because I didn't want it to go bad, I decided I'd freeze it

in (14) one quarter cup portions.  Now I can have it whenever I want!
Ha ha ha ha!

 

{Printer Friendly Version}

Pin It