A Red Taco Letter Tuesday

Our "Crazy Tacos" Obsession Enters Phase Two

You have to love Wikipedia:

“The origins of the taco are not precisely known, and etymologies for the culinary usage of the word are generally theoretical.”

Yum! And this:

“There is significant debate about the origins of the taco in Mexico, with some arguing that the taco predates the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico, since there is anthropological evidence that the indigenous people living in the lake region of the Valley of Mexico traditionally ate tacos filled with small fish.”

Say all that in one breath…

What science does know with an absolute certainty is that tacos arrived in our Long Beach kitchen around five years ago, their prior development impeded by our living next door to a first-class taco chef. It was just too easy to wangle an invitation to one of her periodic feasts—until we moved and were forced to fend for ourselves.

Even today, it will come as a shock to some of our fellow gringos that there’s more to Mexican cooking than tacos, burritos, and enchiladas loaded down with cheese, guacamole, and bottled tomato sauce. For us, a week in Mexico City served as an eye-opener, followed by our discovery of Hugo’s in Houston, followed by another week wandering the Sonoran Desert.

Along the way, we befriended superb cooks from Oaxaca, Guadalajara, and the Baja, and none of them cooked anything like the others. It was quite intimidating—in a good way—the point being, that there are few limits on the variations you can introduce into Mexican cuisine without sacrificing its essential identity.

We love the traditional tacos—Pastor, Carne Asada, Carnitas, Barbacoa, and Camarones—but there’s a problem with preparing them in Los Angeles. A thousand grocery stores, restaurants, friends, and (yes!) taco trucks already serve them, often with delicious, house-made corn tortillas. Over the years, many of these chefs and entrepreneurs have built devoted followings by cooking their tacos to a standard of the highest quality. You’re never going to compete with that, so if you’re going into the home-grown taco biz around these parts, you need to bring your imagination.

As some of you know, we started issuing quick Substack Notes under the rubric of “Crazy Tacos” to report on some of our more promising experiments. Now that we’ve gone out and bought our first comal, tortilla press, and bags of Masa Harina, we’re pausing here to feature ten of our existing favorites in the newsletter. When you next hear from us (taco-wise), we’ll be on our way to mastering the fine art of the fresh corn tortilla in all of its exotic hues.

Hopefully, it won’t take years!

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Skirt steak with Ben’s lemon-lime Jamaican Jerk marinade, grilled. Glinda’s guacamole. Pickled Ukranian tomatoes, white hominy, chopped black olives. Paprika-garlic-yogurt drizzle. Cilantro.

Street corn tortillas sautéed in lard. Broiled pork tenderloin, marinated in ancho chile, smoked paprika, garlic, cider vinegar. Braised sweet/sour (molasses-cider vinegar) cabbage and onions. Our own Mexican Tzatziki (cilantro instead of dill). Cherry tomatoes. Lime-sweet corn-avocado salad.

Skirt steak and shrimp, marinated in harissa and North African spices, grilled. Corn grilled, sliced off cob with avocado, garlic, onion, cilantro. Mayonnaise-sour-cream-pickled-jalapeño glaze.

Swordfish marinated in Slap Yo Mama, rice vinegar, black mustard seed oil, broiled and smashed. Cubed potatoes, parboiled in garlic bath. Slaw of Napa cabbage-radicchio-sweet onions. Chopped paprika tomatoes.

Flank steak marinated in Ben’s Jamaican Jerk, grilled. Glinda’s guacamole. Wilted arugula salad (olive oil-balsamic-cayenne).

Street tacos. AK king crab sprinkled with black bean soy sauce. Roma tomatoes. Yogurt-mayo-pickled-jalapeño drizzle. Crab-shrimp bisque.

Swordfish fingers marinated in turmeric, Kashmiri chilis, broiled in black mustard seed oil. Smashed avocado, cherry tomatoes. Mayo-sour-cream-pickled-jalapeno drizzle. Sweet Vidalia onions.

Chicken breast simmered in Ben’s black-eyed pea chili. Glinda’s guacamole. Pickled cherry tomatoes Ukrainian style (vinegar-dill). Vinegar-leu cheese drizzle.

AK king crab. Flank steak marinated, grilled with fermented Chinese black beans, Shaoxing wine. Crushed avocado-garlic bed. Shaved sweet onions. Yogurt-rum drizzle.

Swordfish braised in cumin-cardamom-turmeric-lemon-Kashmiri chilis. Cabbage, sweet onions braised in oil-vinegar-garlic. Roma tomatoes. Garlic-Kashmiri chili—sour cream topping. Italian parsley.