TacoProject

taco documentation

Sofia Tran

Taco Night Soundtrack & Menu

Planning a taco night this weekend? We put together everything you need: music to cook to, a quick look at a street cook in action and our printable menu.

Press play

Start with some traditional Mexican folk music while you prep the salsas.

Watch a pro

A short clip from a street food stall, for inspiration and a little humility.

The menu

Download and print the menu we use for our own taco nights. It lists three fillings, four salsas and two aguas frescas.

Taco Night MenuDownload

The spread

A spread of tacos on a long table
Our full Taco Night spread, shot at full resolution.
A glass of horchata
Photo: Sharon Hahn Darlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Crispy Baja Fish Tacos with Chipotle Crema

Prep (min)

20

Cook (min)

15

Total

35 min

Serves

4 (8 tacos)

Difficulty

Medium

Heat 🌶

2

🥄 Pairs well with: Pico de Gallo, Chipotle Crema

Ensenada and San Felipe, on the Baja California peninsula, both lay claim to the battered fish taco. Wherever it started, the formula is simple and perfect: hot, crackly fish, cool shredded cabbage, a creamy sauce and a squeeze of lime. This version adds chipotle to the crema for a smoky kick.

Ingredients

Chipotle crema

  • 1/2 cup Mexican crema or sour cream
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 to 2 chipotles in adobo, minced, plus 1 tsp adobo sauce
  • Juice of 1/2 lime and a pinch of salt

Fish and batter

  • 1 1/2 lb cod, halibut or mahi-mahi, cut into 4-inch strips
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for dredging
  • 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 cup cold Mexican lager
  • Neutral oil for frying

To serve

  • 12 corn tortillas
  • 2 cups finely shredded green cabbage
  • Pico de gallo, sliced radish and lime wedges

Method

  1. Stir together the crema ingredients and refrigerate.
  2. Heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy pot to 375°F (190°C).
  3. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and garlic powder, then whisk in the cold beer until just smooth. Lumps are fine.
  4. Pat the fish dry, season with salt, dredge in plain flour, then dip in batter.
  5. Fry in small batches for 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until deep golden. Drain on a rack, not paper towels, to keep it crisp.
  6. Warm the tortillas, add fish, cabbage, pico, a drizzle of crema and a squeeze of lime.
PrepCookServes
20 minutes15 minutes4 (12 tacos)

Want more coastal flavor? Browse the Baja tag.

Made this recipe? Leave a comment below and tell us what you changed. Find more ideas in the Salsa Heat Guide and the Taco Glossary.

More Recipes

Slow-Cooked Birria de Res Tacos with Consommé

Prep (min)

30

Cook (min)

210

Total

4 hrs

Serves

6 (18 tacos)

Difficulty

Weekend project

Heat 🌶

3

🥄 Pairs well with: Salsa Roja de Chile de Árbol

Birria comes from Jalisco, where it is traditionally made with goat and served as a stew. The word itself is a joke: birria means something like “a worthless mess,” supposedly what Spanish colonists called the tough goats they left to locals. The locals got the last laugh. Here in taco form, the Tijuana-style beef version (birria de res) has conquered the world, thanks largely to the ritual of dipping crispy tacos into a cup of hot consommé.

Crispy red birria tacos
Photo: T.Tseng / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Ingredients

  • 3 lb (1.4 kg) beef chuck, cut into large chunks
  • 2 lb bone-in short ribs or oxtail (for body in the broth)
  • 6 guajillo chiles, 3 ancho chiles, 2 chiles de árbol, stemmed and seeded
  • 4 Roma tomatoes and 1/2 white onion
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick (Mexican canela if you can find it)
  • 3 bay leaves, 4 whole cloves, 1 tsp cumin seed
  • 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano and 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 8 cups water or beef stock
  • Salt, corn tortillas, diced onion, cilantro, limes

Method

  1. Season the beef generously with salt and sear in batches in a heavy Dutch oven until well browned. Set aside.
  2. Simmer the chiles, tomatoes, onion and garlic in water for 10 minutes until soft.
  3. Blend the softened vegetables with the cinnamon, cloves, cumin, oregano, thyme, vinegar and 2 cups of the cooking liquid until silky. Strain for the smoothest consommé.
  4. Return the beef to the pot, pour the sauce over, add bay leaves and the remaining water or stock. Bring to a simmer.
  5. Cover and cook on the lowest heat (or in a 300°F oven) for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the beef falls apart.
  6. Remove the meat and shred it. Skim the red fat from the surface of the broth into a small bowl and save it. Season the consommé with salt.
  7. Dip a tortilla in the reserved fat, lay it on a hot griddle, fill with beef, fold and fry until crisp on both sides.
  8. Serve with cups of consommé topped with onion and cilantro, and lime wedges for squeezing.

The quesabirria variation

Quesabirria tacos with melted cheese
Photo: Missvain / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Quesabirria, the cheese-loaded version that exploded out of Tijuana and Los Angeles taco trucks in the late 2010s, is the same process with one addition: lay a handful of shredded Oaxaca cheese (or low-moisture mozzarella) on the fat-dipped tortilla before the meat. Let it melt and crisp at the edges, where it forms a lacy, frico-like crust. Some cooks go further and make a mulita, sandwiching the filling between two tortillas.

Can I make this in a slow cooker or pressure cooker?

Yes. Slow cooker: 8 hours on low. Pressure cooker: 60 minutes at high pressure with natural release, using about one cup less liquid.

Made this recipe? Leave a comment below and tell us what you changed. Find more ideas in the Salsa Heat Guide and the Taco Glossary.

More Recipes

Taco Haiku (Reader Submissions)

We asked for your taco haiku. You delivered. Five-seven-five, no more, no less (we counted, mostly).

Warm tortilla sighs
salsa verde, bright and green
my shirt is ruined

by Marisol, Austin

Trompo slowly turns
pineapple falls like a star
caught, then gone. Again.

by D. Okafor

Tuesday comes again
the taco does not judge me
for the fourth one. Fifth.

by Anonymous

Mushroom, epazote,
no meat in this tortilla
still counts. Yes. It does.

by Sam (vegetarian)

You call that salsa?
I have seen hotter water.
Move. I will cook now.

by Grandma Chela

Want to be featured next time? Drop your haiku in the comments.

How to Make Homemade Corn Tortillas from Masa Harina

Prep (min)

15

Cook (min)

20

Total

35 min

Serves

16 tortillas

Difficulty

Easy

Heat 🌶

1

🥄 Pairs well with: Salsa Macha

A fresh corn tortilla is a different food from the stiff, bagged kind. The good news: masa harina, dried and ground nixtamalized corn, makes excellent tortillas with just water and salt. Nixtamalization, soaking corn in an alkaline solution of slaked lime, is a technique developed in Mesoamerica thousands of years ago. It loosens the hulls, makes the dough hold together, and unlocks niacin.

What you need

  • 2 cups masa harina (Maseca or a stone-ground brand)
  • 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups hot tap water
  • 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
  • A tortilla press (or a heavy pan and a flat plate)
  • A plastic bag cut into two squares
  • A comal, cast-iron skillet or griddle

Method

  1. Mix masa harina and salt, then add 1 1/2 cups hot water. Knead for 2 minutes. The dough should feel like soft Play-Doh and not stick to your hands.
  2. Cover and rest for 15 minutes so the flour fully hydrates.
  3. Heat your comal over medium-high heat. No oil.
  4. Roll a golf-ball-sized piece of dough, place it between the plastic squares, and press to about 1/16 inch thick.
  5. Peel off the plastic and lay the tortilla on the comal. Cook 30 seconds, until it releases.
  6. Flip and cook 45 to 60 seconds, until spotted underneath.
  7. Flip again. Press gently with your fingertips; if the tortilla puffs, you have done it right.
  8. Stack in a towel-lined basket. They continue steaming and softening as they rest.
A handmade tortilla on a comal
Photo: Juan Daniel Flores Romero / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Troubleshooting

ProblemLikely causeFix
Edges crack when pressedDough too dryKnead in water 1 tbsp at a time
Sticks to the plasticDough too wetKnead in a little masa harina
Stiff and leatheryComal too cool, cooked too longRaise heat; cook faster
Raw in the middlePressed too thickPress thinner or rotate the tortilla halfway
Never puffsHeat too low, or skipped the final flipHotter comal; press gently after the second flip
Tears when flippingFlipped too earlyWait until the edges lift on their own

The official tortilla hydration formula

For the engineers in the audience, we have reduced the process to science. Please do not cite this.

# tortilla_hydration.py  (results not peer reviewed)
water_cups = masa_cups * 0.8
           + humidity_penalty(kitchen)
           + 0.1 * abuela_is_watching
           - 0.05 * times_you_said_"it is fine"

if dough.cracks():
    water_cups += 1 / 16   # add a splash, knead, repeat
elif dough.sticks_to(hands):
    water_cups -= 1 / 16   # you went too far
else:
    return "perfect. stop measuring and start pressing."

Now go put them to work in some al pastor.

Made this recipe? Leave a comment below and tell us what you changed. Find more ideas in the Salsa Heat Guide and the Taco Glossary.

More Recipes