OK, here it all is:
Street Taco Recipe:
Tortillas are quality store bought "street taco" Taqueria style mini corn tortillas.
You get a large griddle up to around 350 degrees with a large patty of butter. You melt the butter in the area where 6 shells would cook all at once. You crisp them up slightly browned on each side and load them up on your plate with the freshly re-heated meat. All this goes on the plate and is brought to the toppings real fast while it is hot. No letting is sit around to get cold. That's the secret to the best street tacos. They are right off the griddle loaded up with ingredients and served right to the customer. The faster you start in on them the better they are.
The meat:
I take 2lbs of bottom round beef, already sliced to less than a 1/4 inch slabs, and cook them from 350 to 400 degrees for no more than a minute per side. It could be 45 seconds or even 30 seconds a side. The trick is to not leave it rare and bloody. It's also good not to cook all the moisture out of it. You then place it in a bowl and re heat it for about a minute while you wait for the tortillas to be perfect.
So this is the marinade:
1 half cup of Soy Sauce, not salt free stuff, please.
4 tablespoons of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning mix. I get the cans of the stuff at Walmart. It's cheaper than the little packets.
4 tablespoons of bottled lime juice.
4 tablespoons of roasted garlic rice vinegar.
I mix all that and lay it on in layers making sure that both sides of each slice of meat is coated. I then place the bowl of meat in the fridge.
The onions and cilantro with salt and vinegar:
This is the best part. White vinegar with salt sets off the acidic flavors with the meat and tortilla's savory flavors. So you dice a cup of white onion, a 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro, a teaspoon of kosher salt, and two tablespoons of white vinegar.
Now all you do is add the onion/cilantro mix to the hot off the griddle tacos and add your favorite taco sauce. I mix habanero with hot taco bell sauce for my fireplug tastes. Throw in a Mexican beer and that's it.
Things that will kill all this goodness. Don't add cheese, guacamole, sour cream, or lettuce or tomatoes to this. It kills the flavors and masks them to the point that the meat is no longer the star.
Problem is, I'm not hungry yet! I had a late lunch of canned sardines in spicy tomato sauce (anyone else love canned fish?), jalapeno jack cheese, crackers, and veggies. So it's all sliced and ready but I'm not!
