Taco Tuesday is a breeze once you have the right meat locked down. The meat I’m talking about here is what goes on the classic “Americanized” tacos that many people ate growing up. You know … the super basic tacos with the pouch of meat seasonings, Ortega hard shells filled with layers of diced tomato, shredded lettuce, and cheddar cheese from a bag. We garnished tacos liberally with sour cream, and a generic store-bought hot salsa from a jar.
Classic beef taco meat brings comfort to the senses if it’s what you grew p with. My taco making got transformed since moving to Astoria, New York in 2004 when I was introduced to more authentic tacos trucks. I simultaneously felt the urge to revisit the classic taco meat I had known for so long and take it up a notch without changing it too drastically. Because I was exposed to more authentic ingredients from Mexican and Latin cuisine in Astoria, my work was already cut out for me.
Be sure to check out my other taco meat options, like Spicy Shredded Stewed Beef, my Smoky Sofrito Stewed Chicken Breast, or the quickest-ever pre-seasoned taco meat comes from simply removing fresh chorizo sausage from it’s casing and frying it up in a pan.
A key ingredient in this taco meat upgrade is culantro. It’s similar to cilantro but much more potent with a clean aroma. This hard-to-find herb combines beautifully with chipotle peppers as successfully as tomatoes do with basil. So when you see it in the store, grab it while you can.
Simply line up your freshly chopped culantro as if they’re ribbons and chop them very thinly crosswise. This technique is referred to a chiffonade.
All you have to do is throw these Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce into a food processor and break them down into your desired texture.
I can’t say enough amazing things about Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce (pictured above). Chipotle peppers are jalapeños that have been dried and smoked, so they naturally impart a smoky flavor to your taco meat. The adobo sauce already has “spices” (salt included), tomato sauce and vinegar. So when put in a food processor it serves as the perfect starter for many quick recipes. It’s like instant flavor! If you’re not too much into spicy food, simply decrease the amount of chipotles and add more plain tomato sauce.
Use this taco meat as a substitution for me braised beef in my Mexican Shepherd’s Pie with Braised Beef.
Ingredients
Clockwise from upper left: plain tomato sauce, Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce, ground beef, ground turkey, diced onion, ground cumin, chopped culantro.
This is what culantro. It can be difficult to find, so grab it when you see it.
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 can Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce
- 1 cup finely sliced culantro, firmly packed
- 1 heaping tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 2 cups plain tomato sauce
Instructions
- In a 12-inch skillet, heat canola oil to medium high. Sauté the onions until translucent. Meanwhile, break down the chipotle peppers in a food processor.
- Stir the chipotle peppers, culantro and ground cumin into the sautéed onions until evenly distributed.
- Add the ground beef and turkey, then break it up. Stir in the plain tomato sauce and cook until the beef is fully browned.
Yied: One almost-full 12-inch skillet
