4 Ways to Make a Taco

Posted in Mexican Food Recipes

Making a taco is easy, you just put in ground or shredded beef, top it with some shredded lettuce in a hard corn tortilla, add some cut up tomatoes and perhaps some salsa and you’re done!

Wait a minute!

Tacos can be as simple or as creative as the cooks who make them.

Read below for some of our four different ways to make a taco.

  1. Make the traditional taco as described above. Try using two tortillas per taco (helps keep the taco’s contents from spilling should the shell break) and add an onion relish with cilantro and lime juice. You also could try a pico de gallo salsa. As for your meat, you can choose from grilled beef, carnitas (pork), fish, or shrimp. If you want a real Mexican taco, you can add meat cuts such as tongue, brains, cheeks, or lips.

Traditional tacos can include grilled beef, fish or chicken, as pictured above.

  1. Make a carne asada taco. Marinate the flank or skirt steak in a sealable plastic bag in the juice of your choice then grill the steak to your desired state of rareness (medium rare, well-done, etc.). Dice up the meat and add it to your tacos.
  2. Make adobo. You’ll first lightly toast three ounces of dried chiles over medium heat in a saucepan. Once toasted, soak them in enough boiling water so that they are covered completely and then make the adobo sauce of your choosing (take a look at this recipe). Roughly dice the meat of your choice and brown it in a skillet (traditional adobo is made of pork shoulder, but you can use chicken or beef chuck). Add the meat to the adobo sauce and then add the meat to your tacos shells.
  3. Make carnitas. Cut up 3.5 pounds of pork shoulder roast (also known as pork butt roast). Carnitas use the fattiest part of the pig, but you can cut out/trim some of the fattest parts, if you like. Place the roast in a large casserole dish with wet spice mix of your choice. Add enough liquid (water, vegetable oil, orange juice or – if you’re going for the full, Mexican style carnitas – rendered lard) to just cover the carnitas. Cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil and cook the carnitas for about three hours. Remove them from the casserole and break them up a bit when they have cooled. Heat your broiler and place the shredded carnitas on a baking tray for several minutes until they become crispy. Stir with a fork and brown them again. Add them to your tacos.

No matter what type of taco you prefer, any of our Matitto’s locations can put together one that will have you salivating for more. Come have lunch or dinner at one of our restaurants today!