Taco, the food shaped like a smile...
What's your criteria for the best taco? Corn or flour torilla? Hard or soft shell? What makes up the best taco filling...describe the meat, beans, kind of peppers & seasonings, & toppings like: sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce & cheese. Salsa anyone? Do you do breakfast tacos? Any good tasting restaurant made tacos?
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20 Comments:
Born and raised in So Calif, and we were often poor, so cheap, authentic, tacos from little dive taco stands are one of my earliest food memories...
* Corn tortilla, always, always for tacos, no matter what
* Soft (usually, but sometimes a deep-fried one really hits the spot)
* Almost ALL the fillings are awesome -- but I REALLY love carne asada, grilled fish, carnitas
* With fish, add shredded cabbage and lime
* With carne asada and carnitas, chopped onions and cilantro
* If it's an old-fashioned deep-fried shredded beef taco, add shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, shredded cheese and minced onion. Same for grilled chicken soft tacos.
* No sour cream. At all. Ever.
* I like homemade salsa -- tomato, onion, cilantro, hot chile peppers, salt (or substitute tomatillos for tomatoes and make salsa verde, which is superb on fish and chicken)
I adore avocados, but I usually eat them as guacamole with my shredded beef taquitos!
Best commercial hot sauce is Pico Pica or Tapatio. Best commercial salsa is Herdez Salsa Casaro or Salsa Verde.
LoCo at 8:01PM on 01/03/08
Everything LoCo said except the part about So Calif-- it was No Calif for me. :-)
There is something about finely shredded ICEBERG lettuce on a taco, or even just next to one. I don't know why it suddenly tastes so remarkable, but it does.
Also love to spoon on pico de gallo instead of salsa.
Darn you, JEP, no I need a taco!
Ann Fisher at 9:18PM on 01/03/08
As someone from nowhere near decent mexican all I can say is that a) I'm jealous, b) you are right about iceberg. Ever try spring greens on a taco? They taste so metallic. Ick. And they get slimy, you need the cool crispness of iceberg for sure if you are adding lettuce.
lexophile at 10:07PM on 01/03/08
I don't understand hard tacos. They crunch right apart!
cakespy at 10:11PM on 01/03/08
@cakespy - Agreed. They frustrate me quite a bit. They fall apart and hurt my teeth!
lexophile at 10:12PM on 01/03/08
Oh. And re good restaurant-made tacos...
For grilled fish, Wahoo's is excellent. It's a small California counter-service chain that's gradually expanding out of state (hopefully they'll grow slowly enough to stay good).
For old-fashioned deep-fried shredded beef it's El Tepeyac in Boyle Heights (East Los Angeles). Actually, for just about ANY authentic Rancho style Mexican, it's El Tepeyac. A truly legendary local institution. If you ever travel to LA it is mandatory that you eat there. I grew up about 30 minutes away and ate there at least once a month until I moved out. Their taquitos are absolutely worth dying for... MMMmmmmm... (I think I know where I'm going this weekend, even though it's now more like an hour and a half away!)
I haven't had truly awesome carnitas street tacos in years. All the little stands I used to rely upon have been pushed out by chains and fast food. I'd just LOVE to find me some of those babies...
LoCo at 10:17PM on 01/03/08
I like refried beans in mine, anyone else?
JEP at 6:08AM on 01/04/08
Thank you cakespy! They also remind me too much of the Taco-Bell taco. Yech!! I used to live in Los Angeles and we'd schlepp from the Valley into West LA to go to Tito's. (Avoid the guac, i'ts awful.) Soft flour tortilla to begin with, I just don't like corn. You can fill it with just about anything your heart desires, within reason of course! I also prefer the dryer chopped fresh salsa as opposed to the stuff in a jar. Beef, pork, fish, total veg, whatever. Sorry, LoCo, I love sour cream!
RichardCrystal at 8:32AM on 01/04/08
Going to college in SoCal exposed me to some truly awesome Mexican food (the likes of which is nearly impossible to find on the East Coast), so here goes: Always, always soft corn tortillas. Carnitas tacos are amazing, but I crave a good fish taco more than any other kind. For condiments I love fresh shredded cabbage and the really thin, strong salsa with a lot of fresh cilantro in it. Chunky, tart guacamole is nice, too, but anything involving the nasty, metallic tasting canned black olives, or dried out pre-shredded cheese is immediately off my list.
Now I want tacos for lunch...
Junie at 10:07AM on 01/04/08
We love to do breakfast tacos with flour tortillas, eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, onions/peppers and salsa. Any combination of the above - yum! For fish tacos, we love corn tortillas, shredded cabbage and a salsa-mayo or salsa-ranch mixture as a sauce. Chicken and beef tacos also in corn shells with fresh cilantro and mexican seasonings for the chicken and shredded iceberg lettuce (like Ann said above), cheese and salsa for the beef tacos. I may have to get tacos for lunch today!
jmoilanen at 11:35AM on 01/04/08
Hard tacos won't crunch apart if they're properly warmed before being served but that's a very small window of opportunity.
I prefer a flour tortilla, soft, with shredded beef or chicken, salsa, fresh chopped jalapenos, shredded jack cheese (next to the meat so it melts), a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro. Chase that with a portion of black beans and a small serving of rice (that will no doubt be better than the joint compound I usually wind up with at home) and call it dinner.
I'd rather be served these components separate, fajita-style, so the meat stays hot and I can assemble it as I prefer.
chiff0nade at 2:56PM on 01/04/08
doesn't a soft tortilla on a taco make it a burrito???
For me crispy corn tortillas is the way to go... I like to make them filled with saucy veggies, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. I also put some pico de gallo or guacamole on it or eat it on the side. And with Ensalada Norteña.... mmmm, I'm getting hungry.
I did recently a rice, zuchinni and cheese filling with a tomatillo salsa... it was awesome.
Do Mexican restaurants close during Xmas where you live? In Puerto Rico, all the good authentic ones do. They need their vacation time too... I guess.
Madelyn
KarmaFree Cooking
MadelynRodriguez at 3:33PM on 01/04/08
I want 'em just like I had 'em in mexico: tiny little corn tortillas (soft, of course) with a little bit of meat. Then I add on the diced onions, cilantro and salsa. Simple. Beautiful **tear**
dagoose at 4:04PM on 01/04/08
My favorite taco is made like this:
crispy corn tortilla
filled with chicken
doused with lots and lots of salsa verde
dolloped with sour cream
piled high with cheese and lettuce
:)
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 5:17PM on 01/04/08
Our local taquiera (DF Tacos- I love you!) started as one of those taco trucks. ..the best part is- not much changed!
my current favorite is a fresh corn tortilla, smoky slightly spicy pork, griddled & chopped before my drooling self, served with a salsa bar containing tiny lime slices, a selection of onion, cilantro, homemade salsas mmmmm.
Taco hints/ things to look for in a good authentic taco joint:
Things on the menu like lengua, cabeza, barbacoa.( you might not want to know what parts they are- but you eat them anyway cause they are good!)
I've also noticed the best taco is rarely found in the trendy neighborhoods. Handwritten additions to the menus are a good sign. Mexican coke, Jarritos, and/or Horchata being served as refreshments-also a good sign.
bisbee at 5:29PM on 01/04/08
Thanks for all the taco tips!
A melty chedder or Jack cheese are my favorites----What kind of cheese makes the best taco for your tastes?
JEP at 5:39PM on 01/04/08
An ex's mom (she was from Monterrey Mexico) used to make us breakfast tacos- fresh corn tortillas(lightly* fried-not crisp) , chorizo (mexican chorizo- not spanish) & egg with a crumbly-dryish tangy white mexican cheese (she just called it goat cheese if I recall) (I can't remember it's name but I have used (gasp!) feta in it's place as a decent subsitute. If anyone can help with the name of that cheese so I can seek it out- I remenber going to a mexican grocery store with her once for it. Thanks!
bisbee at 6:19PM on 01/04/08
The cheese you're talking about, bisbee, is called queso cotija. It's a fairly dry, crumbly cheese that really does not melt. It's fairly stinky, but surprisingly mild in flavor -- very salty, so use sparingly. As far as I know, it's almost always made from cow's milk, but otherwise, a mild feta will definitely work as a sub in a pinch.
Incidentally, this is the only cheese that works on grilled fish tacos, in my experience... must be the salty/tangy thing (yes, in this particular case, cheese DOES work with fish!). It's often used on very authentic huevos rancheros, so it makes sense that it would be good with Mexican chorizo.
Cotija is SUPER tasty with anything made with chile verde! And it's an excellent cheese to use on top of soups.
LoCo at 7:06PM on 01/04/08
thanks!!! yum!
bisbee at 3:27PM on 01/07/08
I love soft tacos with refried beans, yellow cheese, tomato, minced onion, iceberg and hot sauce!
smile at 1:30AM on 05/29/08