What Makes Dad's Tacos Special
What REALLY makes Dad’s tacos special
The Meat
The Tortillas
The whole Taco Bar Spread
What really makes my tacos special is the care I put into the meat and the tortillas. I’ve been making tacos since I was a teenager, and they were one of the first dinners I could cook for myself. The technique I use for cooking the meat, and the tortillas has been developed and tweaked and improved for around 40 years.
The meat should be fine crumbles. Ground turkey and Chicken tend to turn into really fine, almost sand like texture. 85 and 90% lean hamburger also tends to crumble really fine.
This technique can also make cheap (70% fat content) hamburger much healthier.
Raw corn tortillas are just gross, microwaved with a little water, they are a bit better. My technique for preparing tortillas looks involved but takes mere seconds per tortilla, and if you cook 2 or 3 tortillas at a time you can have a batch of a dozen cooked in under 10 min.
This technique also applies to wheat flour tortillas. For flour, us a LOT less water, half as much water per side as described below, and a bunch more butter. Wheat flour tortillas bubble up really nice and fun in a pan.
The Meat
Prep
Ground hamburger, Pork Turkey or Chicken
2 Packets of taco seasoning (1 packet per ½ lb of meat)
Paprika (ideally roasted turkish)
Onion powder
Garlic powder
1 teaspoon chopped garlic per lb meat
The biggest frying pan we got (often called a sauce pan)
Optional
roasted crushed pepper flakes
Finely chopped onion
Chopped baby onion stems
Finely chopped tomato
Refried beans (no more than ¼ cup per lb of meat)
Meat cooking Technique
In a big frying pan,
turned on high,
dump 1 to 2 lbs of the meat, smash it down with a fork until it covers the whole pan evenly.
Let that sizzle for a bit, like 4 min, until the meat on the button just starts to brown
With a spatula stir up the meant and turn as much of the meat over, to try to brown the other side
Repeat this 4 times, until a goo portion of the meat has started to brown
Now stir in ¾ pint or 2.5 cups of water for every lb of meat (this will seem like a LOT of water… don’t worry)
Keep stirring until you have a meat soup.
Once the meat soup has started to boil, add in the taco seasonings, and paprika (no more than a teaspoon of paprika per lb of meat
If you are in a hurry, you can drain off most of the water BEFORE adding the spices, do not drain off all the water or the spices won’t mix, and you’ll burn the meat.
Stir in the spices
Let boil down for 15 to 20 min, or until the meat is no longer floating in the water, and a lot of the fat has separated and starting to make a film on top.
DO NOT reduce the water all the way…
Turn off the burner
Prepare a plastic container, or a bowl, you are going to pour and spoon off the fat and the rest of the water. I usually press a bit ladle spoon down into the meat and gather up all the water and fat and ladle it into the the plastic container… This step is important we will use this stuff to make the tortillas delicious.
Once all the water and as much fat as you can has been drained out of the pan, put the pan back on the burner (that is off but still hot) stir the meat for a bit. Leave the meat in the pan on the burner to cool and slow cook as the burner continues to cool down.
The Basic idea is to first brown the meat a bit, add a bunch of water, bring to boil stir in spices and then boil down most of that water, in doing so separating most of the fat from the meat and turning the meat into a finely ground crumbles. This also infuses all the meat with the spice mix.
The Tortillas
Corn tortillas
2 plates
Softened butter, or Butter like substance
Bowl of water
The water and fat separated from the meat (it should be good and dark orange/brown)
Pre-Prepare the tortillas
Ladle one teaspoon of the taco meat water onto each side of every tortilla, spread a bit of butter onto each side of each tortilla let the tortilla rest for a bit so the water soaked in, fry them up until they bubble and turn a nice yummy color. Fresh tortillas from the store are crumbly, and have a white and raw texture, this techniques partially breaks down the corn flower and re-constitutes the tortilla through frying in the pan. This technique dramatically improves the taste of the tortilla and the taco. Also this technique improves the strength of the tortillas, they won’t crumble and break like warmed up raw tortillas, and are stronger and much more flavorful than steamed tortillas.
This technique is based on the technique my mom used to make tortillas. She was taught by her mexican friends to always fry corn tortillas in butter, LOTS of butter.
Dads Specific Procedure
Equipment Prep
Pan and spatula are selected and placed on a burner on the stove
A prep plate is placed on the counter beside the stove top right next to the burner you’ll be cooking the tortillas on
Butter and butter knife are placed next to the prep plate
Plastic container with the taco water is placed next to the prep plate
Teaspoon is placed on the prep plate
Tortillas are pulled out, package opened and placed next to the prep plate
A receiving plate is placed on the counter opposite side of the stove
Prepping the tortillas
Take a tortilla from the bag,
place it on a plate,
Ladle the taco meat water onto the tortilla
Spread a bit of butter onto the tortilla
Flip the tortilla over
Ladle another teaspoon of water
Spread another bit of butter
The next tortilla goes on top of the previous tortilla
Prepping the pan
Ideally you have a cast iron, or thick bottomed stainless steel frying pan
Ideally you have a thin bladed stainless steel spatula with a lot of springy flex and a good handle .
Turn a burner on high
Get that pan and burner hot,
If you drop butter in the pan and the butter starts to burn, the pan is too hot. Water dripped onto the pan should instantly turn to steam
Frying the Tortillas
Get a frying pan really hot, ¼ of full burner power, water should sizzle and pop as soon as it touches the pan.
DO NOT put tortillas into a cool pan, they will stick, and not turn out well
With a tortilla in one hand and a teaspoon of water in the other
drop a teaspoon of water, and or a bit of butter into the pan
Immediately plop a tortilla on that sizzling hopping water/butter
With a spatula press the tortilla down, it should sizzle energetically
With the spatulat pressing down swish the tortilla around the pan in circles 3 or 5 times
Lift up the spatula.. Let the tortilla sizzle on the pan on it’s own for a few seconds
As soon as the tortilla starts to bubble flip it over.
WARNING. If this technique is working the very rim of the tortilla will start to stick to the pan. THIS IS A GOOD THING, it means the tortilla was fully soaked, and is cooking properly. BUT if you just try to shove the spatula under the tortilla like a pancake, the tortilla will rip.
work your spatula around the whole edge of the tortilla to scrape the whole rim off the pan.
This whole process takes 3 to 5 seconds per side, Each tortilla maybe takes 20 seconds.
The tortilla is done when it has a golden brown crust on each side and starts to stiffen up
Slide that tortilla off the pan onto a separate dry “receiving” plate
I will try to do 2 tortillas at a time, sometimes 3 in a big pan, I have done 6 or 8 at a time on a big griddle we use for pancakes or french toast,
As you progress onto your 3rd or 4th tortilla, the pan may cool down, OR start to over heat, if you are doing a big batch of tortillas you will likely have to adjust the temperature several times (this is for a classic electric stove, gas burners are no problem, higher end electric stoves don’t have as much a problem
Why this works and tastes so good The perfect tortilla is a golden brown on each side with bubbles that have made dark brown spots. The tortilla has a paper thin layer of dense brown cooked corn on each side of the tortilla, and the tortilla has a soft, completely cooked center.
This is achieved because my technique is both steaming the tortilla and frying it. Basically the whole tortilla gets steamed, and the thinnest outer part gets fried.
The water dissolves the corn flower, while infusing spices and fat from the meat into the corn meal. The hot pan turns the water to steam. and re-constitutes the corn meal into real yummy corn bread that holds together and has a much better texture than raw, or plane steamed/microwaved tortillas. The butter fry’s the outside of the tortilla giving it a slightly crispy exterior and a bunch of flavor that is separate and different than the flavor of the inside of the thin tortilla.
The tortilla will LOOK COOKED, with no hints of the powdery colored look of a raw tortilla.
Storage and reheating Leftover tortillas need to be stored in the fridge. These tortillas, because they have been cooked, will keep for a really long time and retain their flavor (weeks if kept in a ziploc baggie, or covered with plastic wrap.
RE-Heating. These tortillas taste just fine if nuked for 20 seconds in a sealed container with a slightly damp paper towel. Ideally a plate with a bit of plastic wrap over the top of it.
The Whole Taco Bar Spread
The third thing about Dads tacos is everybody gets to make their own the way they like them, with as little or as much of a plethora of ingredients.
Mains:
Dad’s Special Taco Meat
Dad’s Specially prepared corn tortillas
Flour Tortillas (12”)
Crunchy hard taco shells from a store
grated Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese
Finely Chopped onions
Finely Chopped fresh tomatoes
Finely chopped lettuce
Chili (ideally freshly made, but usually we do canned)
Re-Fried Beans
The Ideal taco bar also includes
Chopped Olives
Sour Cream
Uncle Ben’s Long Grain wild rice
Black beans (cooked)
Pinto beans (cooked)
Chopped baby onions
Salsa (ideally roasted chipotle or adobo)
Corn chips
grated Medium Cheddar cheese
grated jack cheese
grated colby cheese
Velveeta based cheese sauce (made with some taco seasoning)
Chili flakes/roasted thai chilis
Non vinegar based hot sauce (like the kind they make in mexican restaurants)
The ideal taco assembly in order
This ordering is not random or by fiat, but developed scientifically through over 40 years of experimentation trial and error. The order of ingredients DOES change the flavor and mouth feel of a taco. Also this order provides some structure and hope that the whole assemblage holds together as you fold, hold it and move it to your mouth.
Big Plate, ya need a big plate
1 to 6 tortillas laid out on the plate (if you do 6 you get the nickname el-gordo)
Spoon in refried beans down the center of each tortilla, spread it thin like peanut butter
Spoon in the meat on top of that
Chili
black beans
pinto beans
Salsa
All the cheese
Onions
Tomato
Baby onions
Olives
Cheese sauce
Sour cream
Sour Cream Technique
Sour cream should be closest to the lips, and the next thing after the tortillia that hits the taste buds. Sour cream is thick and sticky.Usually it can’t be labeled or spread on the loose fillings of a taco without messing it all up. Dad has discovered technique for getting sour cream on a loaded taco is to not try to blob it on top of all the loose stuff, but use a butter knife and spread it on the exposed lips of the tortilla, Sour cream is sticky, and spreads real well, you also don’t need a lot of it, spreading it on the lips of the tortilla will help hold the taco together as you take your first byte and spread out insurees every byte gets a bit of sour cream)
Dad’s Tacos DO NOT INCLUDE
Cilantro
Bell peppers of ANY kind
















