What is your ideal taco?

[Meowskivich]

Taco have got to be the best food on the whole planet. But how do you like yours? Tell the Meowskivich what your ideal taco is.

[Chronoboy]

A Brazilian taco!

[The Wobbler]

Beef.

[Mogri]

Taco salad (beef + cheese + veggies)

[Gizmog]

This is the exact order you have to do it in.

Beef.

Cheese on top of the beef so it melts.

Lettuce on top of the cheese. The cheese will keep it from getting too hot and soft from th beef.

Taco sauce on top of the lettuce. The lettuce will help keep it cold.

This gives you the perfect combo of crunchy shell, cold tangy sauce, crisp fresh lettuce, melty cheese and hot beef in each bite. If you want to put some tomato on instead of the sauce or in addition to the sauce, I wouldn't stop you. If you wanted to to caulk the bottom of the shell with refried beans, I wouldn't stop you there either. Just too much work cooking the beans and cutting the tomato for too little gains.

I also love Taco Bell's tacos, though for some reason they put their cheese on top of the lettuce. It works for them, but I don't know why. Their fire sauce is the best.

Now, that's assuming you mean a hard-shell taco, which is what I think when you say taco. If you're talking soft-shell, which I consider a burrito, then you've opened up some possibilities. Meats, for instance. I'd generally stick to ground beef for a taco, but in a burrito anything goes. Chicken or pork would be good, some kind of steak, even fish!

You also open yourself up to rice. I've never had good luck putting it in with ground beef, somehow that ends up a little gritty, but with chicken or pork it can take the place of the refried beans and sop up some of the grease and juice, which contain arguably the best flavors. You don't want to put too much in, the meat is always the star of the show, but the rice can prove to be a great sidekick.

Since you can seal a soft shell, you're also able to entertain messier options. Meltier or liquid cheeses, stuff like bell pepper or onion that'd flop off of a hard shell, lots of cool stuff that can happen inside a burrito. It's easy to overcomplicate though, and get too many conflicting flavors. I'd keep it simple.

[Bob the Hamster]

Here is how I make tacos at home.

I take 1lbs ground turkey and 1.25lbs ground beef (just because my local market likes selling beef in unusual increments) I usually use 90/10 ground sirloin.

I use two packets of taco seasoning, one regular and one low sodium.

I cook them all together in a frying pan over medium-high heat until fully cooked. Because the beef is 90/10, and ground turkey is low fat by default, there usually isn't very much melted fat to pour off. Sometimes I don't even bother.

Then I pour enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a big flat pan up to about half a centimeter.

I put the heat on medium-high (but maybe just a hint higher than I do for the meat) and wait for it to get hot. I check the heat by pinching off tiny little bits of tortilla, and dropping them in to see if they bubble and dance.

I use large flour tortillas, but not the super-giant burrito sized ones.

(I think using flour tortillas might technically mean that these aren't really tacos, but I don't care)

I drop in one tortilla, and let it fry for about 30 seconds. It should fill with steam and bloat. Then I flip it over with a fork and spatula, (carefully!) and let it wait another 30 seconds. Then I lift it by its edge with the fork and spatula, and let oil drip back into the pan for a few seconds, set it aside, and repeat.

Frying the tortillas this way totally negates the low-fat beef and the low-fat turkey, and makes this a modestly unhealthy meal, but it is do damn crispy I can't make myself feel bad about it.

I do as many tortillas as I have in one go. It doesn't hurt to let them cool for a few minutes, and after I get the oil temperature perfect with the first two, the rest cook that much more easily.

I place the tortilla on the plate, load it up with meat, and then sprinkle cheese all over it. Chances are the meat will still be hot enough to melt it immediately (especially if I had the good sense to cover it)

Salsa is a must. How much is a mater of taste, but there has to be some.

Other toppings such as spinach, olives, and cherry tomatoes are added. Maybe guacamole or sour cream too, but I rarely keep those stocked because they spoil so dang fast and the smallest container I can ever buy is enough for like 10 "Taco night"'s

I serve it open-faced, and the eater is responsible for folding it as they see fit.

Hey, I think I like talking about food! :)

[JSH357]

My wife is vegetarian so I've learned to adapt in my taco-making habits.

- Prepare "bean dip," essentially Vegetarian refried beans + taco sauce (as hot as you want it). Mix in cheese here if you prefer to have less cheese falling out as you eat.

- Bake Hard shells
- Add the bean dip base to the bottom. The remaining bean dip can be eaten with tortillas afterward.
- A layer of shredded lettuce/spinach and shredded cheese. I've tried various cheeses and most work well. You can put them in any order you like.
- Sour cream if you roll that way.

These tacos even please me, a diehard meat fan, and they're easy to make + economical. That said, the beauty of the taco is it's such a simple dish you can add whatever you want to them. When I eat them in restaurants, I usually go for the fish. The best I've had are mahi-mahi.

[FnrrfYgmSchnish]

I don't like beef at all (especially not ground), so my favorite tacos have always been fish tacos, at least ever since I first tried one (before that I usually used chicken, sometimes rice+chicken, or just veggies.) Needs to be cooked in a way so that the fish has some good flavor to it (grilled, fried, or cooked some other way with some spices mixed in... anything but just "bland cooked fish with nothing else done to it") and needs to be in decent-sized chunks, too; if it's shredded up too finely you lose the texture of it, it seems to have less of a taste too, and it's just not as good.

Shrimp is really good too. But then, I just really like seafood in general.

I like the soft tortillas better than the crunchy taco shells, also.

Rice is definitely good in a taco. I don't think I've actually had a fish taco with rice in it so far, though.

[Taco Bot]

I prefer my tacos to have claws, rocket boosters, flame throwers, and a chaotic personality.

[Bob the Hamster]

Thanks for necroing this thread, it has reminded me that it has been waaay too long since I made home-made tacos :)

[Taco Bot]

Thanks for necroing this thread, it has reminded me that it has been waaay too long since I made home-made tacos

You're welcome.

[Spoonweaver]

I made some simple soft tacos last week.

I used tortillas, shredded cheese, and pre-cooked chicken that comes in a bag. Pop the thing into the toaster oven. Add salsa after. Presto. As easy as a hot pocket.

[Meowskivich]

I made some simple soft tacos last week.

I used tortillas, shredded cheese, and pre-cooked chicken that comes in a bag. Pop the thing into the toaster oven. Add salsa after. Presto. As easy as a hot pocket.

only with less lava innards

[msw188]

Yes to:
FISH!!!
Flour tortillas
Rice

No to:
hard shells
cheese

[JimLuc T Kirkard]

The kind wrapped in a soft tortilla shell with refried beans, a little beef, sour cream, cheddar, more cheddar, maybe some steak...