Reddit reviews Tacos: Recipes and Provocations: A Cookbook

SALSA ARRIERA, from the book "Tacos" by Chef Alex Stupak

This book is awesome.

• I highly recommend to anyone interested in Mexican cooking.
  
  3 cloves garlic, skins on
  
  15 serrano chiles
  
  1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
  
  1/2 medium white onion, minced
  
  Take a cast iron skillet and place it on medium heat for 5 minutes. Place 3 cloves of garlic (with the skins still on), and 15 serrano chiles (uncut, with the stems) on the heated skillet.
  
  Roast on the skillet for 6 minutes, turning occasionally.
  
  Turn off the heat, remove the peppers and garlic from the skillet, and set aside to cool until room temperature. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel the garlic and discard the skins.
  
  Place the roasted garlic into a molcajete/mortar pestle with 1 tsp of salt an crush to a paste.
  
  Add 1/2 white onion (minced) and crush until coarse.
  
  Remove the stems of the peppers and roughly chop. Add to molcajete/mortar pestle. Add 5 Tbs water.
  
  Continue working salsa to a coarse texture.
  
  Season with another 1/2 tsp salt and stir to combine.
  
  Salsa will keep up to 3 days.
  
  EDIT: There is a sidenote included w/ this recipe that says, "If you don't have a molcajete, prep all of the ingredients as instructed and add them all at once to the jar of a blender. Pulse to combine and season with salt."
  
  

I made this recipe out of a book, pretentiously called Tacos: Recipes and Provocations. I strongly recommend this book if you want to have a treasure trove of authentic and fusion taco recipes at hand (I am not affiliated in any way).

I don't wanna post the full recipe, but the general process for the taco filling was this:

First, I made some red chorizo. I toasted a bunch of spices (mexican oregano, canela, black pepper, clove, coriander) and a bunch of dried guajillo peppers. I soaked the toasted peppers in hot water to soften, then strained the liquid. I blended the peppers with some roast garlic and vinegar, then ground the toasted spices to a powder. I mixed all of this into ground pork.

To make the filling, I seared a bunch of sliced onions and garlic in a deep sauce pot using lard. Once soft, I added about a cup and a half of the chorizo, and cooked until crumbly. Then I added 3 12oz cans of lager, mixed, and then added a cow tongue (cut into three pieces so that I could submerge them). I simmered this for four hours, then removed the tongues, to let them cool. I added some diced potato, and simmered for 30 minutes. Finally, I peeled the tongue, diced it, and threw it back into the pot. I mixed it all up and seasoned with salt.

Probably the best lengua I've had ... ever.

Corn tortillas are tricky, because once they are cooled down they lose their elasticity and become brittle, and heating them back up won't help. This is because a gel-like substance forms during the cooking, and the substance become solid when they cool. Once the gel is gone, heating will not restore it and you get brittle corn tortillas. So there are really two options for fresh tortillas:

1. Cook the corn tortillas ahead of time (same day) but keep them warm (around 120 F is good, above 110 F). This will keep them soft on pliable. But too long and they could dry out. I forget how long they'll last like this, but I'll try and remember to check when I get home and update.
   
   
2. Make homemade flour tortillas instead. Unlike corn, they will reheat quite well and will still be much tastier than a store bought corn tortilla. Can be a bit more time consuming because you roll them out instead of pressing them.
   
   
   All my comments are sourced from Tacos by Alex Stupak. It's the book I happen to be working through right now. And before he gets into any Taco recipes he spends a bunch of time on corn and flour tortillas.
   

I have OP's book, and the dough is unleavened. You don't want to use warm water here, because you're going for a flaky texture.

OP just needs to add a bit more water. Stupak actually addresses this in the recipe.

I am getting a book on tacos and a tortilla press for my family's cooking-themed white elephant. I might throw in a bottle of spice mix and/or masa harina to round it out.

This has been getting good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Tacos-Recipes-Provocations-Alex-Stupak/dp/0553447297

A recipe I like:

Skirt steak: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/09/steak-tacos-charred-corn-sriracha-recipe.html

This isn't bad either.

I just made cheeseburger tacos for my gf the other night and she absolutely loved it. It's not as bad or lame as it sounds. I actually got the idea from this book , which I highly recommend if you're interested in authentic taco preparation and just for inspiration.

Basically what I did was take ground beef, mix in cumin, oregano, couple minced closed of roasted garlic, a little chipotle, salt. Made one big patty and cooked it in a skillet until it was about med/med-well. Then I threw a shit ton of basic "Mexican blend cheese" and chopped up the burger with the cheese. Recipe called for special Mexican cheese that I can't get at my local store. Put mayo and a chipotle sauce I made on the shell, hit it with the meat/cheese, topped with slices of tomato and avocado, minced shallot and roasted pepper strips.

My gf gave me a weird look when I said I was gonna make cheeseburger tacos.. After we ate, we went in the back and had great sex.

Edit: y'all can downvote me all you want, but I encourage you to be open minded. I was skeptical at first, but I'm so glad I tried making this.