We need to Taco bout it

Last night while we were watching the Taco Chronicles on Netflix I actually missed a few minutes of the show because I drifted off thinking about tacos. I absolutely LOVE tacos; they are my favourite food group. Then later while I was about to fall asleep I realized I didn’t mention my love for tacos in my previous post  so now I will devote a full 1000 words to tacos.

Tacos can be filled with a plethora of ingredients which make them the perfect option for anyone’s tastes. Fish tacos are one of my top 3 fillings but because I am gluten free, not celiac, it is rare that I find a fish taco I can have at a restaurant, until we moved to Hamilton. The first time I had a fish taco at a restaurant was at The Mule, I cannot express how delicious it was; every time we go I order at least one. The other place I have had a fish taco was at Merk, now these fish tacos were unbelievably delicious; I remember the utter happiness my taste buds we experiencing; I am drooling right now thinking about them. The special topping that put these tacos over the edge was the fermented beansprouts made in house. Seriously mind blowing! I do make a mean fish taco but honestly no where near as good as these. I alluded that I have a top three fillings – I might have lied, sorry. Fish is number 1 then everything else is second.

You cannot go wrong with the basic ground meat taco topped with all the trimmings; sour cream, cheese, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, jalapeños and whatever else your heart may desire. When I build my tacos, especially in a crunchy shell, I like to put the cheese in first so it provides a moisture barrier and the cheese gets a bit melty then smear the sour cream on the side before I fill it with the meat and other toppings; I have never wavered from this method.

Then there are the pulled pork, chicken or beef tacos cooked to a tender perfection then tossed in a barbeque sauce. I have fully loaded these tacos but mostly I just add a bit of sour cream, lettuce and, if I’m feeling spicy, jalapeño. Coleslaw is another good topping, a creamy or vinaigrette dressing, it provides the perfect contrast to a sweet or spicy barbeque sauce. You don’t want to overpower the delicious barbeque sauce with too many other flavours or textures.

Let’s hop back to the Taco Chronicles for a bit, if you have not watched it yet I highly recommend it but be forewarned it is subtitled so unless you understand Spanish you will have to read. So far, we have watched 5 of the 6 episodes and all I want to do is go to Mexico and do a taco crawl; I am sure we aren’t the only ones. Each episode focuses on a different type of taco and the region that specializes in it. The love, time and effort that goes into these tacos is astonishing – as good as the Mexican and Taco restaurants are here, I am sure that that much love is not being put into the tacos. (I do not mean that in a disrespectful way to any of the establishments – I would never disrespect a taco)

A few years ago, I started making our soft taco shells mainly because the packages you can buy are too big and I find they are not as good once you freeze them; however I do use them when I am making tacos for a lot of people. I use Maseca to make my tortillas and they turn out perfect every time if you follow the easy instructions on the package. I do make a few tweaks, but I keep the measurements the same; I swap out some of the water for fresh lime juice and a bit of the flour for ground flax; I also add some dried cilantro and lime zest. If you want to give it a go you will need a tortilla press; I tried to make them without a tortilla press and it was a huge fail.

When we started going to the Hamilton's Farmers Market we discovered a delicious food vendor, Mexican Kitchen, and I made is my mission to eat my way through their menu – I succeeded! (I just want to clarify it was over a few visits) The tacos are delicious and made from scratch but my favourite item on their menu is their Pozole soup which I won’t get into because this is about tacos but if you are in the neighbourhood I suggest you try it.

My favourite taco hack is using a soft and hard shell together. As an adult I prefer the soft shells but every once in a while I need a crunchy shell. The problem, and it’s not a real problem, with hard shells is they tend to break and make a mess. I’ve tried the take a bite from the side then top method and it works(ish) but the real win is using refried beans to glue your soft shell to the outside of your hard shell. BOOM! Even when it breaks it’s still together and you don’t have to plan your next bite, just go for it!

Another perfect thing about tacos is they are a social food. We have had a few cocktail and dinner parties and we have served tacos. We can meet everyone’s dietary needs and they are fun. They can be a meal, snack or even for breakfast. For real – breakfast! I know this because we watched the Barbacoa episode of Taco Chronicles last night. Let’s be honest though, I didn’t need a television show to tell me this. I have yet to hear a valid reason why tacos aren’t the perfect food group. If you can think of please let me know, but chances are you are wrong.