Having grown up in a hometown that had a very strong presence of Mexican food, I can say one of the things that I truly and utterly miss is the taco-truck tacos that my friends and I would grab afternoons during lunchtime and chow down on while rushing to get back to school. There was always some secret to the meat that just made those things amazing to eat. Now, I’ve had my fair share of the packaged-seasoning neon-orange taco meat mixes, and I will admit some of them are not too bad. However, it is not only more tasty, but much much less expensive to mix up your own taco meat (not to mention a heck of a lot more healthy).
So, to start, let’s examine what, exactly, is in your basic name-brand taco seasoning mix. Listed in order, the ingredients are:
Chili Pepper
Cumin
Oregano
Red Pepper
Onion
Milk Whey Solids
Salt
Sugar
Paprika
Garlic
Potato Starch
and Citric Acid
They get a few things right - first, they actually include garlic, onion, chili pepper, and cumin. All good, solid mexican spices that lead to a tasty taco.
They get several things wrong, too, though. For example: Milk Whey Solids. Milk? In a taco? They do this so when you mix water in with the seasoning, everything will thicken and your tacos won’t be too watery. Ditto for the potato starch. The salt and sugar are not really needed, and in there because, well, they make *everything* in a package more attractive to human taste buds (430 mg of sodium for every 2 tacos - with 500 mg recommended daily.) Also, what the heck on garlic being one of the last ingredients? That’s just not cool - Mexican food should be full of flavor, as spicy (or not) as you want it, and have a definitely garlicy taste.
So, let’s one-up this package of Taco Death and mix up our own seasoning. You’ll need:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 medium white or yellow onion (as I’ve talked about before, white onion has a sweeter flavor, while yellow onion is your classic “oniony” taste)
3-8 cloves garlic, peeled and diced (Yes, that is a lot of garlic. The pre-peeled and packed in olive oil also taste pretty good, if you don’t feel like peeling it all yourself. Try to stay away from garlic powder, though.)
2 baby carrots or 1 small peeled carrot, minced(Carrot adds a depth to the flavor by providing some natural sugar. It’s a good trick for a lot of spicy dishes, actually.)
1 pound ground beef (preferably 80/20 or 85/15. Check Homemade Burgers Done Right for why).
1 can diced tomatoes, or about 1 or 1 1/2 cups diced fresh tomatoes and 1/4 cup water
2-3 Tablespoons chili powder (If at all possible, get the stuff from a ethnic grocery store. It’s less expensive and more flavorful. This is where the heat comes from - so choose how much you want and the type carefully. If you’re not sure what you want, start with the mild stuff and work your way up from there.)
1 Tablespoon cumin
1-2 teaspoons lime juice (If you don’t have lime around, lemon will work as a substitute. This serves the same purpose as the “citric acid” in the premixed seasoning - helps keep things tasting fresh)
2 teaspoons freshly chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano - fresh or dried
In a large frying pan or heavy-bottomed dutch oven, saute the onions, garlic, and carrot in the olive oil until they’ve softened. Add the ground beef and cook over medium-high heat until the beef has mostly cooked through. Drain off all but a few tablespoons of the fat (do this either by literally straining the mixture or - more easily, push all the meat to one side, then use a large spoon to skim the fat off the other side.) Add the tomatoes and seasonings, cover, and let simmer over low heat for 10-30 minutes, adding water as necessary to keep the mixture from scorching. And that’s it - you should have a delicious, fresh-tasting taco meat that is leaps and bounds healthier and tastier than the mix stuff. And just as quickly.
For an easy, quick, simple-to-feed-a-group taco bar, lay out the meat along with warmed tortillas (wrap them in tinfoil and warm in a 200-degree oven while the meat is simmering, or individually warm them in a dry frying pan over medium heat), grated cheddar or colby-jack cheese, fresh romaine or butter lettuce, salsa, warmed corn niblets, sour cream, and homemade or deli-purchased guacamole.
Or, use taco meat in your favorite pasta casserole - or on burritos to freeze for your at-work lunches - or whatever else sounds good. If you’d like to freeze just the taco meat, put it in freezer-safe zipper lock plastic bags and toss in the freezer. Just defrost it on the stove over low heat instead of in the microwave - the microwave tends to make any ground beef very very chewy.
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