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Contributed by Christine Szalay-Kudra
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Mexican Beef Tacos with Pepper Jack Cheese
The word "taco" comes from the Spanish word, which means, "light snack" but tacos actually date from the pre-Hispanic era. The Aztecs used to use corn tortillas like Europeans use bread, breaking them up to scoop up food or rolling them up to contain fillings. Today's street tacos evolved from Mexico's rural areas. In those days, the farmers' wives would bring lunch to their husbands in the fields and tortillas were a handy item to wrap the meal in. When Mexico started to become more urbanized and a lot of people relocated to the cities, businesses started to sell regional food to workers who were accustomed to it, which is how taco stands became so popular.
There are some regional differences between tacos. Corn tortillas are used in the south of Mexico and the northern Mexican beef tacos tend to be wrapped in flour tortillas. Tortillas also come in different sizes and you can get white or yellow ones. Because the small size tortillas are usually used for tacos, it is common to get two or three tacos, rather than a single one.
Authentic Mexican tacos are usually served in a soft tortilla, except for "tacos dorados" which are fried until crunchy. Tacos can be grilled, fried, or steamed and different cooking methods suit different taco fillings. Mexican beef for tacos tends to be skirt steak but flank steak is also good and is used in the following Mexican beef tacos recipe.
Cooking Mexican Beef for Tacos
Ingredients -
1 lb skirt steak or flank steak
1 halved, thinly sliced onion
8 oz Pepper Jack cheese
8 small flour tortillas
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 jar tomato salsa
¼ teaspoon cumin
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Vegetable oil, as needed
Preparation:
Remove the fat and gristle from the steak.
Mix the chili powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and cumin in a dish to make a spice rub, then rub this over the meat.
Let the steak sit for 20 minutes or until it reaches room temperature.
Heat 2 skillets on the stove.
A cast iron pan is best for the steak and a nonstick pan is good for the onions but use what you have.
Sauté all but a tablespoon of the onions in some oil over a medium heat and add any leftover spice rub.
Stir the onions occasionally. Sauté the steak over a high heat in 2 teaspoons of oil, for 3 minutes per side.
Check the steak for doneness.
It should be brown on the outside and pink inside, but you can cook it for longer if you prefer it more done.
Put the meat on a cutting board, cover it loosely with aluminum foil, and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Cut the steak into thin slices against the grain.
Warm the tortillas and add the cheese, fried onions, and salsa.
Top with the steak, reserved raw onion, and cilantro.
(Serves 4)
Photo Description:
As you can see from the photo, this simple Mexican beef tacos recipe is largely made up of beef and a tortilla. There is a little salsa, cheese and cilantro as the garnish but this is quite a simple recipe. Sometimes the simple Mexican recipes are the best ones because the flavor of the meat really shines through. The best Mexican beef for tacos is flank steak or skirt steak, although you can use another kind of steak if you want to. The beef in this recipe has a spice rub on it, to infuse the meat with wonderful Mexican flavor.
