Taco Tuesday: “North of the Border” Tacos

Remember those taco-in-a-box kits? You know, the ones with spice packets and U-shaped crunchy tortillas? These aren’t those. Consider these “North of the Border” Tacos a grown-up (and way better) version. Get the recipe: http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/north-of-the-border-tacos/

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welcome to another edition of Taco
Tuesday and what I’m going to show you
today may be called an up-to-date
version of the taco that you perhaps ate
when you were a kid that ground beef
taco so you could just get it in your
mind you cook the ground beef you open
the little packet of seasonings the taco
seasonings you put that in there and
then you put the crunchy fresh stuff
with it we’re kind of gonna do that but
the first thing that you’re gonna have
to do if you’re gonna make this and
you’re gonna make it well is to choose
what kind of ground beef you’re gonna
use for it so what I’ve got right here
is two choices
okay this was just ground beef 80% lean
and ninety percent lean the 80 will give
you a richer end product you can see
it’s lighter in color that means it’s
got a little bit more fat in it the the
90 will give you a leaner drier product
a little bit less flavorful but I don’t
know if you’re drawn to that then you’re
probably drawn to that for other reasons
but I’m gonna like point at some really
great flavor
principles here if you have any qualms
at all about buying ground beef for
health reasons
then just grind your own it’s actually
really easy if you have a food processor
this is Chuck this is a chuck boneless
chuck roast you just get a slab of that
that’s about a pound this will be about
80% in the lean to fat ratio cut it into
cubes like I have 1-inch cubes stick it
into the freezer for 15 or so minutes
just to firm it up and then I’m gonna
put it all into this food processor here
it will not be frozen solid by any means
it will just be firm that will allow it
to grind more evenly here put the top on
your food processor and then just start
the grinding process here okay now what
I have here is what I would call sort of
coarse ground beef of this beautiful
piece of Chuck and I just kept pulsing
until I got it exactly the way that I
wanted it in the skillet here
I have some onion cooking in a little
bit of oil until it’s browned and then
I’m gonna put all of this meat in there
tip that out like that and we’ll stir
everything around here I’m gonna use a
pair of tongs so that I can break it up
I’m working over a fairly high fire here
and here’s the trick about browning
ground beef you have to do it in a big
skillet so that you can separate it and
you can get as much of the brown of the
ground beef in contact with the hot
surface as possible okay so we’re gonna
let this so you can see it’s already
starting Brown we’re gonna let this
continue to brown nicely if you crowded
in a small pan it’ll just sweat and
it’ll start to release liquid which is
not what you want it all that’s like
stewed ground beef not brown to ground
beef now the packet that you would
normally buy for this is taco seasoning
on him you can make your own all you
have to do is find some pure uncho chili
powder and that’s the base of it for you
so I’ve got a couple of tablespoons of
the pure and uncho chili powder I’ve got
some Mexican oregano ground black pepper
and this is some chipotle powder powder
just Chipotle Chili’s nothing else and
I’m gonna pick all of this up you can
put that Chipotle in or not put it in
depending on your taste for spicy food
I’m gonna sprinkle all of this around on
the top of it now what you might not
know is that most of the taco seasonings
have some sugar in it so I’m gonna put a
little bit of sugar over the top of this
that’ll give you that familiar flavor
I’m gonna give it some salt this will
just be our preliminary seasoning here
and then the last of the seasoning is
gonna go in here is that classic cumin
seasoning some people say that what you
really need to do is toast the cumin but
to tell you the truth in those
makes it’s not ptosis you could choose
to do that take the whole cumin seeds
and toast to those in a dry skillet or
you can just do what I’m doing is taking
about a half a teaspoon and this is all
to suit your own taste as well if you
like a lot of cumin then you can put
more than a half a teaspoon in there but
I’m gonna crush this and the reason I’m
doing this from scratch where I had all
those other things ground already well
is because the flavor of fresh ground
cumin is so much more lively than ground
cumin that you would buy at the grocery
store I’m using a pastry brush to get it
out of the mortar I’m using the met
classic Mexican mortar here put that
over here and then let’s just go ahead
and mix all of these things in to our
beautifully browning pork and onion okay
so at this point you should be smelling
that telltale sign of taco night when
you were 8 or 9 years old perhaps and
we’ll let this cook just a little bit
more and then I’ll give it a little
taste but let’s go on to talk about the
other ingredients that you need for
something like this looks good my mouth
is watering okay
when it comes to the tortillas you know
I just couldn’t do the u-shaped
tortillas that come in a box and you
have no idea when they were fried
they taste very much like the box that
they come in so I thought that’s not who
I am in 2018 so we’re gonna go for a
soft fresh made corn tortilla or
if you just buy a package of tortillas
and heat them up if you’re a flour
tortilla person and that’s what you grew
up with and that’s what you’re gonna
choose for this we’ve got some beautiful
tomatoes here we’ve got some sour cream
we’ve got some I use romaine lettuce
maybe you use iceberg lettuce and we’ve
got some cheese here to put on top of it
so what I’m gonna do is to give it this
sure it tastes it’s in the skillet now
and see where we are
flavor-wise and if it’s gonna need a
little bit more salt
okay so flavor-wise it’s bolder then the
flavors you would get out of that taco
seasoning packet cuz I put two
tablespoons of the ancho powder and I
put that Chipotle powder but this is
gonna be satisfying to me it’s gonna
give me all of those great flavors sort
of revved up a little bit and because I
browned the meat it’s gonna be super
delicious now
well–that’s of people would put the
cheese on this just after they have
built their taco but I’m gonna take some
of the cheese and I’m gonna add it to
the skillet because that’s what I like
is a lot of melted cheese here and just
ER it long enough for it to melt and
hold everything together skip this step
if this doesn’t appeal to you at all I’m
going to turn the fire off here then
we’ll start building our little taco so
I’ve got the warm corn tortillas I’ll
take a couple of those and lay them down
spoon our ground beef filling down the
middle of it and you can smell the
sweetness of the onions in there the
next thing I’m gonna put on here is a
little bit of sour cream because I like
the richness of that because I can I’m
gonna put a little bit more cheese over
the top of it
and then of course we’ve got the fresh
garnishes of tomato and a little bit of
the thinly sliced romaine and because I
like spice I’m gonna reach over and grab
a little bit of Mexican hot sauce the
Valentina hot sauce and just put that
over the top of that yeah it might not
be exactly what you grew up on but I
think it might satisfy the cravings for
a little nostalgia
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