Tacos

The tortilla doubled and nothing fried — two warm tortillas per taco, because one tears under anything wet.

Chicken, Pork. Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name, chicken, lard, pork.

Ingredients

• 24 corn tortillas, as on their own page, small
• 600 g cooked filling — carnitas, as on its own page, or tinga, as on its own page
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• a large handful of coriander, chopped
• salsa verde, as on its own page
• salsa, as on its own page
• lime wedges

Method

1. THE TORTILLA IS DOUBLED AND NOTHING IS FRIED. Two warm tortillas, one on top of the other, for every taco -- which is why twenty-four tortillas make twelve tacos. A single corn tortilla is about two millimetres of starch and water, and the moment anything wet and hot sits in it the middle gives way; the taco splits as it is lifted and the filling lands on the plate. Doubled, the lower tortilla takes the juice and the upper one stays intact, and the whole thing holds all the way to the last bite. This is the entire difference between a taco made at home and one from a stand, and it is almost never written down.
2. THEY ARE WARMED ON A DRY GRIDDLE IN PAIRS AND STACKED IN A CLOTH. Two at a time, twenty seconds a side, then straight into a folded towel. They steam each other soft in there and a stack is better after ten minutes than it was at the start; left out in the air they go leathery in two or three minutes and crack along the fold.
3. THE FILLING GOES IN HOT AND THE QUANTITY IS SMALLER THAN IT WANTS TO BE. About two tablespoons per taco, in a line down the middle, not spread to the edges. An overfilled taco cannot be folded with one hand and the filling comes out of the back, which is the other common way this goes wrong.
4. ONION AND CORIANDER ARE NOT OPTIONAL AND GO ON EVERY ONE. Raw white onion and coriander are the whole counterweight to a rich fatty filling, and a taco without them tastes heavy by the third one. Everything else on the table -- salsas, lime -- is a choice; these two are part of the dish.
5. THEY ARE ASSEMBLED AT THE TABLE AND EATEN IMMEDIATELY. There is no holding a taco. A tray of them made in the kitchen five minutes ahead will have soft lower tortillas and cooling filling. The filling goes to the table in its pan, the tortillas in their cloth, and people build their own.
6. The carnitas made as on its own page and kept HOT in its pan.
7. A griddle set over a medium-high heat, DRY.
8. The tortillas warmed IN PAIRS, 20 SECONDS a side, and each pair stacked straight into a folded tea towel.
9. All 24 warmed this way and left in the cloth at least 5 MINUTES to steam soft.
10. The onion and coriander chopped and put in small bowls.
11. The salsas warmed or at room temperature, and the limes cut.
12. Everything taken to the table: the pan of filling, the cloth of tortillas, the bowls, the limes.
13. AT THE TABLE: a PAIR of tortillas taken from the cloth and laid flat, one on the other.
14. About 2 TABLESPOONS of hot filling spooned in a line down the middle. Not more, and not spread to the edges.
15. Onion and coriander scattered over, then salsa, then a squeeze of lime.
16. Folded with one hand and eaten at once, over a plate.
17. The next pair taken from the cloth. Nothing is built ahead.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes