Ok.. so this person I worked with was in Mexico and he asked a street vendor for a taco. When he got it he asked where the tomatos and lettuce was and the vendor smiled and said "ahhh, taco bell".
You may be right! I hadn't heard of that before so I did some research on Google and found this article in The New York Times.
Not sure I want to eat fast food ground beef anymore
There has been a lot of media about these fast food restaurants using ground beef that is soaked in ammonia to get rid of the e-coli. Perhaps the ammonia is the flavor that people have become addicted to.
hmmm. All I find from mainstream news outlets (NY Times) is a few articles that some fatty beef products are treated with ammonia. I can't find anything that supports ALL ground beef being soaked in ammonia........
I'd like to read up on that, do you have any links to mainstream articles, ChefJune?
But of course, as we all know, the best tacos in the U.S are served from street corner taco trucks. Some a not good, but most are better than what's served at authentic Mexican restaurants. Beef and tongue are my favorites. And no, you will not find lettuce and tomatoes.
Good food, safe food, costs money. To grow it right, raise it right, sell it fresh, is not going to be a "bargain". But you get what you pay for. Find a good butcher, a pastured animal farm, whatever, and start buying from them. Kosher butchers, Halal butchers, old world Italian or Mexican butchers. You can see and taste the difference.
My brother, for a family of six, buys a live cow, once a year, at the 4H auction of their local county fair. He looks the beast in the eye to express thanks, and gets to talk to the 13-year old kid who'd raised it for the past several years with loving care and the intent to produce a healthy ribbon-worthy animal. For a fee, it's delivered to his doorstep butchered and frozen a couple days later.I agree. We get our beef from our farmer friend -
Wow !! I have never heard of this.I cant even begin to think of why annybody would ever think this was a good idea.I really do hope you are wrog about all of that because that is just sick.I wouldnt even consider useing ammonia to clean my cookware let alone have it be the main ingrediant in my tacos.I think you guys are just messing with me.I dont recall the F.D.A ever indorsing an ammonia merinade.Why would they?
So, like roadfix, I chase the trucks in places like Echo Park for my carnitas tacos. I'll have to ask, the next time I walk up to a window, whether they use ammonia in their marinade.
Not that ammonia gas is great, but [it] can't be much worse than . . . exposing fruit to gas to ripen or retard ripening can it?