Taco shells: Soft, Fried Crisp, or Store Bought?

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I usually make my own soft taco shells. I use a basic tortilla recipe and add some extra milk and egg and cornmeal. They are lovely.
Can you provide a recipe Alix. I'd love to give them a try.
kades
 
I usually make my own soft taco shells. I use a basic tortilla recipe and add some extra milk and egg and cornmeal. They are lovely. n
They are so easy-peasy to make. I've been making flour ones for 30 years (ugh) and corn ones for about 10 years. If you can roll lefse or a pie crust, you can make flour tortillas.

FLOUR TORTILLAS (Step-by-step recipe) - YouTube
 
jharris said:
I use a gas grill to prepare the meat for my Baja style tacos (beef, chicken or fish). Never, ever ground beef!

After grilling the meat I wrap it loosely in foil and place it on the warning rack of the grill.

I then lightly spray my white corn tortillas (choose the ones that are most pliable) on both sides with olive oil.

Next I cover the entire surface of the grill with foil and grill the tortillas until lightly browned being careful to keep them soft enough to wrap.

In bad weather I broil the meat in the oven and heat the tortillas on a griddle on the stove.

Made them tonight. Went to two stores looking for mangos or mango salsa with no luck.

Found "Mango Salsa" at Sunflower Market here in Albuquerque but the mango was # 5 on the list of ingredients. Tomato was #1. No thanks!

Looking at my presentation I see it needs work but they were tasty.
 

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Thanks CWS. I'll give that a try. Now, does anyone have a recipe for the hard corn tortillas?

I have tried to make corn tortillas without a taco press...it was a pain. I used my krumkake iron for years as a taco press. I also learned that without Masa harina, they were almost impossible to make (fell apart, crumbled, etc). I use the recipe on the bag. I cut a ziplock bag to fit both sides of my press--I found that worked better than waxed paper or plastic wrap.


First, you have to start with soft corn tortillas:

Homemade Corn Tortillas | Health Foodie

homemade corn tortillas - In Jennie's Kitchen

(I cook them on my lefse griddle which is not oiled--the only things I cook on it are lefse or tortillas Making lefse is easy using the special non-stick lefse grill. Heritage-quality lefse griddle).

Then you have to fry them. If you don't have one of the u-shaped tortilla frying baskets or the multiple baskets for deep-frying (Amazon.com: NEW, 8-Mold, Taco Shell Fry Basket, Tostada Shell Fr Basket, Deep-Fryer Basket: Kitchen & Dining) or taco frying tongs (Chrome Taco Shell Fryer | Kitchen Tools & Gadgets| Kitchen Supplies - Kitchenworks Inc), you can use tongs, a wooden spoon, or a couple of forks.

How To Fry A Taco Shell - YouTube


Or, you can stuff them and then fry them:

Pati's Mexican Table: Potato, Scallion & Chorizo Crispy Tacos

(I like this show when I can catch it on CreateTV).
 
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Made them tonight. Went to two stores looking for mangos or mango salsa with no luck.

Found "Mango Salsa" at Sunflower Market here in Albuquerque but the mango was # 5 on the list of ingredients. Tomato was #1. No thanks!

Looking at my presentation I see it needs work but they were tasty.
Ah, I wish I had read your post before going shopping this afternoon. I saw your pic including the limes, and limes are really good on tacos. In fact I use lime juice (and sometimes zest) in a lot of my recipes as a "secret ingredient." (One that might not occur to a lot of people in some dishes.)

I remember Sunflower Market from Santa Fe. I sure wish we had these in California.

Check out Trader Joe's for mango salsa. I'm not sure but I think I remember buying it there.

And I agree about no ground meat in tacos. I quit doing that a few years ago and never looked back. I'm shortcutting tonight, using Trader Joe's chicken heat & serve asada with poblanos, red peppers and onions.

Breaded and fried fish pieces are good in tacos too!
 
Shrimp also work well in tacos (I prefer corn tacos when I use shrimp as the filling)--I usually steam shrimp with a crab seasoning mix, top with salsa fresca, avocado, black olives, some shredded Monterey Jack, sour cream, chopped jalapenos on top of the sour cream.
 
Oh yeah! Shrimp too. I really like seafood tacos. It's funny, I usually prefer flour tortillas (like I'm having tonight) but with seafood tacos (or egg & chorizo tacos) I too prefer corn tortillas .

When I use shrimp I saute them.

I too like to add avocado (diced) to tacos. And cilantro. I'm trying cilantro sprouts (from WFM) tonight.

I could enjoy some jalapenos or seranos or even Thai chilis but all I have tonight is canned Hatch chilis (good, but not very spicy).

Tacos are Latino hamburgers. There is an endless list of options and add-ins. All you need is a bun (for hamburgers) or a tortilla (for tacos). (I do not subscribe to the lettuce wrap hamburger or lettuce wrap taco theories.)

I think lettuce, onion and tomatoes are required for both.

I sometimes make a different sauce (particularly for fish/seafood tacos). I mix mayonnaise and some kind of hot sauce (perhaps Cholula or Sriracha sauce) and in fact I think I'll try that tonight.

Salsa anything is good. I wish I had some sour cream tonight but I don't use enough to justify purchase. (I'm single. Sour cream usually spoils out before I can use it all. Regular cream too.)
 
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We have a place in Jamaica Plain that employs Mexican girls that make them by hand every day. A lot of our local Mom and Pop stores carry them. I get the real fresh corn ones and just heat them in butter and eat them plain. I am not a fan of the flour ones.:angel:
 
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For me, if it isn't made with a corn tortilla, it's not a taco. I lived in San Diego for ten years, starting in 1976, when the corner taco shops were all run by Hispanic families, and their food was authentic Mexican. The tacos were always made with fresh corn tortillas, softened in a little hot oil, and filled with shredded beef, or carne asada. I never at a hard-shelled, corn tortilla taco until I ate at a taco bell.

If it's made with a flour tortilla, it's going to be a burrito, or tostada, or enchilada, or something like that. That's just the way I see it. Doesn't make it right or wrong.


That said, puffy tacos taste great, as do our ground beef, Velveeta cheese, and ketchup tacos. Of course I also make shredded beef, and carne asada as well.

The great thing about food is that you can make your tacos out of anything you want. You can use flour tortillas, crisp or soft corn tortillas, and fill them with whatever you like to fill them with. And they're all great. But for me, tacos are made with fresh corn tortillas.:chef:

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Another way I like to make tacos is to cook the meat then place a serving amount in a flour tortilla and fry that in about 1/2 inch of oil until the tortilla crisps up. They're a bit greasy but the semi-crisp flour shell is really good!

I usually just heat my flour tortillas on an open gas burner, flipping it a few times until it's lightly browned. They can't get any healthier than that because there's no oil. (I guess you can steam them too but I like the flavor the browning gives them
 
This would have made a good Poll topic, with Other.

I am partial to flour tortillas, but it dpends what the dish is, i.e.

I like flour for wraps, tacos & Moo Shoo.

Corn is good for a crumbled up Mexican-style salad.

I have yet to try the stand-up corn tortillas/taco shells, but think they would make for a great ice cream taco - dipped in chocloate.
 
Another way I like to make tacos is to cook the meat then place a serving amount in a flour tortilla and fry that in about 1/2 inch of oil until the tortilla crisps up. They're a bit greasy but the semi-crisp flour shell is really good!

I usually just heat my flour tortillas on an open gas burner, flipping it a few times until it's lightly browned. They can't get any healthier than that because there's no oil. (I guess you can steam them too but I like the flavor the browning gives them
I generally roll out all the flour tortillas (mine are usually 8 inches--I have a stainless steel stock pot lid that makes a great tortilla cutter if I want them perfectly round, and thanks to having made flatbread with my grandma, I can roll them to the perfect thinness--when I can read the writing and markings on my Bethany pastry board Amazon.com: Bethany Housewares 500 Pastry Board and Cloth Set: Home & Kitchen), layer them between waxed paper, and cook individually so they come off the griddle (no oil, fat) hot. And, I flip them using my lefse stick. I've actually set up everything on the table, including the griddle, so everyone can cook their own and fill it hot off the griddle. It takes about 30-45 sec per side. Sort of like a fondue party.

I make flour tortillas using whole wheat flour, a blend of whole wheat and masa, whole wheat flour and a slurry of kale/Swiss chard, have made them with tomato powder and pesto; chilpolte chili. Ironically, I would never "divert" from potato lefse and add other ingredients, but have no problem mixing up the basic tortilla recipe.
 
Please let me know if you ever develop asparagus flour tortillas. :)
If I can get enough asparagus to grow--or be in MN during wild asparagus season. But now you've given me another idea....and I'd like to make some with chickpea flour...and wild rice flour....hmmm...wasn't thinking of making tortillas this weekend, just salsa, but maybe I need to add tortillas to my list of things to do this weekend...
 
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