There is hardly a more popular handheld food in many parts of the world than the taco. There are a hand full of fast food chains that feature them, and an uncountable number of Mexican restaurants and street stalls that specialize in tacos, and it is also a food that is easy to make at home.
Almost anything you can think of can be used to make a taco, but the first decision you have to make is whether to use corn or flour tortillas. If you are going for authentic Mexican tocos, corn tortillas are hands down the best way to go, but Americans taste are a bit different and flour tortillas seem to be the most popular choice.
So, how do you make a good taco? The list of possible ingredients is vast, from leftovers, cold cuts, seafood, pork, beef and chicken. Almost anything goes! It’s another endless list, but one of my favorite incarnations of the taco is the breakfast taco. The breakfast taco seems to have originated in Monterrey, Mexico in the 1900s and moved on to Texas around 1950 and then throughout the USA.
It’s a very efficient way to have breakfast on the go, if you are careful and wrap it in parchment paper or even a paper towel, it’s not messy at all A well made taco can be as healthy as you want to make it. The basic breakfast taco is nothing but bacon, ham or sausage and eggs (scrambled or fried). I like to add a good hot sauce, like Valentina, and maybe a fresh herb, like basil or cilantro. If you want to jack it up a bit, add guacamole.
Next on my list of great tacos, and this is about as American as it gets, is a cheeseburger taco. Gruyere cheese is considered to be the best melting cheese, so be sure to use it if you can. As always, I prefer to hamburger patty to be well seasoned (Dale’s and red pepper flakes at a minimum) and cooked over the glowing embers of a hard wood fire.
Many popular prepared salads go well with tacos, like pimento and cheese, chicken salad or tuna salad. If you go with the pimento and cheese, make sure to run it under the broiler to melt the cheese, it really makes a difference.
You really do not have to serve anything with a taco meal, they do pretty good on their own, but if you want a little more diversity, corn chips or potato chips work well. If it a chilly day, a bowl of hot tomato soup would be nice and of course there is a world of condiments that would work: mayo, hot German mustard, guacamole, salsa and hot sauce, Valentino is always my favorite.
But you don’t have to over think a taco meal, just open the fridge and use what you have, somehow, it always works out.