Tacos

Tacos seemed to have changed over the last few years.  Now, we sometimes hear about "authentic" tacos, but I am not even sure what that means. 

 

When I was a kid, my mom made tacos.  Now, you need to understand that my mother was born and raised in Utah.  Only many years later, not too long before I was born did she move to California, where she may actually have encountered  tacos.  The late 1940s in Chicago does not seem a likely place to encounter tacos, though I could be wrong.  So, what she did was fry corn tortillas in a pan, and then fold them part way through cooking.  There was ground beef, grated cheese, cheddar, and shredded lettuce.  No taco sauce, picante sauce, salsa or hot sauce, just catsup.  I loved them, because she would prepare everything and then we would bring it downstairs and eat in front of the TV.  Just about the only time that ever happened.

 

From that introduction, I moved on to Taco Bell, which was very big in California when I was High School.  Back then, it was a cheap and fun place for my friends and I to eat.  Usually before heading off to a movie, or just an evening of cruising 4th Street in San Rafael.  By the way, that is where the cruising scenes in American Graffitti were filmed.  Now, on occasion, when we had a bit more money, my friends and I would hit a real Mexican restaurant, and I suppose I might have eaten tacos there, but I do not remember it, as I usually preferred the Enchilada plate.  There was also Jack in the Box, where the tacos were deep fried and the seasoned meat was already in the shell when they went in to the frier.  I ate my share of those, and also cooked my share of those, as Jack in the Box was my first job.

 

Now, I often fix my own tacos, as I did the other night.  Now, we start with both corn and flour tortillas, which are warmed, but not cooked...again.  Now, funny thing, but we have a very nice ceramic tortilla warmer, but we do not use it.  At least, we have never figured out a good way to warm the tortillas IN the tortilla warmer.  Even Google could not help me there.  All Google wanted to do was sell me a tortilla warmer.  Now, we just wrap the tortillas in foil and toss them in the toaster oven.

 

So, to fill the tortilla warmers, we have the usual, at least to me, ground beef, cheese and lettuce.  Now, the "authentic" tacos do not seem to have the same ingredients, but I do not really care.  These are my tacos, and I like them.  For years I would fix tacos without seasoning the meat, beyond salt, pepper and a little garlic.  My wife thought they were bland, so I started adding a bit more spice, usually cayenne, chili powder, or cajun seasoning, but it still started off as plain old ground beef.  My wife even tried making her own taco mix, but I never really liked it, or any of the package mixes.  I prefer the beef relatively unspiced, and I add the spice in the form of taco sauce or Pace Picante.  We buy Colby Longhorn at HEB and sometimes add Sour Cream and refried beans.  Another addition suggested by my wife.

 

Simple, and relatively cheap.