I walk by a new taco restaurant, and my mouth waters. There is nothing like the solid crunch of a hard-shell taco plus juicy chicken, beef or pork, crisp lettuce, pico de gallo and maybe some sour cream and/or guacamole thrown in. That is a very satisfying bite. I also like softshell tacos too, especially with shrimp. I live in Texas where there often is a taco stand on every street corner. So, I usually don’t make tacos for myself. It is just so much easier — and sometimes cheaper — to buy them. Every culture has its own little pocket of food, and I like them all. The Middle East has falafels; Spain has empanadas. India has samosas. But none are as versatile as the taco. It can be made in many different ways and with widely varying ingredients. Read on for more information.
According to Wikipedia, a taco is a traditional Mexican dish consisting of a small hand-sized corn or wheat tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of fillings, including beef, pork, chicken, seafood, beans, vegetables and cheese, allowing for great versatility and variety. They are often garnished with various condiments, such as salsa, guacamole or sour cream and vegetables such as lettuce, onion, tomatoes and chiles. Tacos are a common form of antojitos or Mexican street food which have spread around the world.
The tacos in the photo above are tacos carnitas, tacos carne asada and tacos al pastor.
Tacos can be contrasted with similar foods such as burritos, which are often much larger and rolled rather than folded; taquitos, which are rolled and fried; or chalupas/tostadas, in which the tortilla is fried before filling.
Etymology
The origins of the taco are not precisely known, and etymologies for the culinary usage of the word are generally theoretical. According to the Real Academic Española, publisher of “Dicconario de la Lengua Española,” the word taco describes a typical Mexican dish of a maize tortilla folded around food. This meaning of the Spanish word "taco" is a Mexican innovation, but in other dialects "taco" is used to mean "wedge; wad, plug; billiard cue; blowpipe; ramrod; short, stocky person; [or] short, thick piece of wood." In this non-culinary usage, the word "taco" has cognates in other European languages, including the French word "tache" and the English word "tack or nail."
According to one etymological theory, the culinary meaning of "taco" derives from its "plug" meaning as employed among Mexican silver miners, who used explosive charges in plug form consisting of a paper wrapper and gunpowder filling.
Indigenous origins for the culinary word "taco" are also proposed. One possibility is that the word derives from the Nahuatl word "tlahco," meaning "half" or "in the middle," in the sense that food would be placed in the middle of a tortilla. Furthermore, dishes analogous to the taco were known to have existed in pre-Columbian society — for example, the Nahuatl word "tlaxcalli," a type of corn tortilla.
History
The taco predates the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico. There is anthropological evidence that the indigenous people living in the lake region of the Valley of Mexico traditionally ate tacos filled with small fish. Writing at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo documented the first taco feast enjoyed by Europeans, a meal which Hernán Cortés arranged for his captains in Coyoacán.
Various sources credit different individuals with the invention of the hard-shell taco, but some form of the dish likely predates all of them. The first known sources mentioning hard-shell tacos are from the early 1890s. An early and significant mention of hard-shell tacos was in the novel “Los bandidos de Río Frío” by Mexican author Manuel Payno. Beginning from the early part of the 20th century, various types of tacos became popular in the United States, especially in Texas and California but also elsewhere. An early appearance of a description of the taco in English was in a 1914 cookbook, “California Mexican-Spanish Cookbook” by Bertha Haffner Ginger. By the late 1930s, companies like Ashley Mexican Food and Absolute Mexican Foods were selling appliances and ingredients for cooking hard shell tacos, and the first patents for hard-shell taco cooking appliances were filed in the 1940s. Juvencio Maldonado — a restaurant owner from Oaxaca living in New York — is sometimes credited as the original inventor of a hard-shell taco-making machine and received a patent for it in 1950.
The most common type of taco in the U.S. is the hard-shell, U-shaped version, first described in a cookbook, “The Good Life: New Mexican Food,” which was written by American educator, nutritionist, activist and writer Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert and published in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1949.
In the mid-1950s, Glen Bell opened Taco Tia and began selling a simplified version of the tacos being sold by Mexican restaurants in San Bernandino, particularly the tacos dorados being sold by Lucia and Salvador Rodriguez across the street from another of Bell's restaurants. According to Gustavo Arellano, author of “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America,” Bell watched long lines of customers at the Rodriguez's restaurant — called the Mitla Café — which attracted a dedicated customer base for its hard-shelled tacos. Bell began eating there regularly, attempting to reverse-engineer the recipe and eventually won the confidence of the proprietors such that they allowed him to see how the tacos and other foods were prepared. Over the next few years, Bell owned and operated a number of restaurants in southern California including four called El Taco. At this time, Los Angeles was racially segregated, and the tacos sold at Bell's restaurants were many white Americans' first introduction to Mexican food. Bell sold the El Tacos to his partner and built the first Taco Bell in Downey in 1962. Kermit Becky, a former Los Angeles police officer, bought the first Taco Bell franchise from Glen Bell in 1964, and located it in Torrance. The company grew rapidly, and by 1967, the 100th restaurant opened at 400 South Brookhurst in Anaheim. In 1968, its first franchise location east of the Mississippi River opened in Springfield, Ohio.
Traditional variations
Tacos al pastor
Al pastor is a taco made of thin pork steaks seasoned with adobo seasoning, then skewered and overlapped on one another on a vertical rotisserie cooked and flame-broiled as it spins. Based on the lamb shawarma brought by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico, al pastor features a flavor palate that combines traditional Middle Eastern spices with those indigenous to central Mexico. It is a popular street food that has spread to the United States. In some places of northern Mexico, as in Baja California, it is known as taco de adobada. A similar dish from Puebla with different spices is tacos árabes.
Tacos de asador
Tacos de asador — "spit" or "grill" tacos — may be composed of any of the following: carne asada tacos; tacos de tripita or tripe tacos, grilled until crisp; and chorizo asado, traditional Spanish-style sausage. Each type is served on two overlapped small tortillas and sometimes garnished with guacamole, salsa, onions, and cilantro — coriander leaf. Carne asada is a dish of grilled and sliced beef, usually skirt steak, sirloin steak, tenderloin steak or rib steak. It is usually cooked with a marinade and some searing to impart a charred flavor. Carne asada can be served as a main dish or as an ingredient in other dishes.
The term “carne asada” translates literally to "grilled meat;" the English "roast beef" is so named in Spanish. The term “carne asada” is used in Latin America and refers to the style of grilled meat in those countries. In South America, the term used for grilled meat is “asado,” and it has a different style and preparation.
Also, prepared on the grill is a sandwiched taco called mulita or "little mule" made with meat served between two tortillas and garnished with Oaxaca- style cheese. “Mulita” is used to describe these types of sandwiched tacos in the northern states of Mexico, while they are known as gringa in the Mexican south and are prepared using wheat flour tortillas. Tacos may also be served with salsa.
Tacos de cabeza
Tacos de cabeza or "head tacos," in which there is a flat punctured metal plate from which steam emerges to cook the head of the cow. These include: cabeza, a serving of the muscles of the head; sesos or brains; lengua or tongue; cachete or cheeks; trompa or lips; and ojo or eye. Tortillas for these tacos are warmed on the same steaming plate for a different consistency. These tacos are typically served in pairs and also include salsa, onion and cilantro — coriander leaf — with occasional use of guacamole.
Tacos de camarones
Tacos de camarones or shrimp tacos also originated in Baja California in Mexico. Grilled or fried shrimp are used, usually with the same accompaniments as fish tacos: lettuce or cabbage, pico de gallo, avocado and a sour cream or citrus/mayonnaise sauce, all placed on top of a corn or flour tortilla.
Tacos de cazo
Tacos de cazo — literally "bucket tacos" — for which a metal bowl filled with lard is typically used as a deep-fryer. Meats for these types of tacos typically include tripa or tripe, usually from a pig instead of a cow and can also refer to the intestines; suadero or tender beef cuts; buche — literally, "crop," as in bird’s crop; the esophagus of any animal; or carnitas. Carnitas, literally meaning "little meats," originated in the state of Michoacán. They are made by braising or simmering pork in oil or preferably lard until tender. The process takes three to four hours, and the result is very tender and juicy meat, which is then typically served with chopped coriander leaves — cilantro, diced onion, salsa, guacamole, tortillas and refried beans.
Tacos de lengua
Tacos de lengua or beef tongue tacos are cooked in water with onions, garlic and bay leaves for several hours until tender and soft, then sliced and sautéed in a small amount of oil. "It is said that unless a taqueria offers tacos de lengua, it is not a real taqueria."
Tacos de pescado
Tacos de pescado or fish tacos originated in Baja California in Mexico, where they consist of grilled or fried fish, lettuce or cabbage, pico de gallo and a sour cream or citrus/mayonnaise sauce, all placed on top of a corn or flour tortilla. In the United States, they were first popularized by the Rubio’s fast-food chain and remain most popular in California, Colorado and Washington. In California, they are often found at street vendors, and a regional variation is to serve them with cabbage and coleslaw dressing on top.
Tacos dorados
Tacos dorados (fried tacos; literally, "golden tacos") called flautas ("flute", because of the shape), or taquitos, for which the tortillas are filled with pre-cooked shredded chicken, beef or barbacoa, rolled into an elongated cylinder and deep-fried until crisp. They are sometimes cooked in a microwave oven or broiled. Barbacoa is a form of cooking meat that originated in the Arawak-speaking Caribbean with the Taíno people, from which the term "barbecue" derives. In contemporary Mexico, it generally refers to meats or whole sheep or whole goats slow-cooked over an open fire or, more traditionally, in a hole dug in the ground covered with agave leaves, although the interpretation is loose, and in the present day (and in some cases) may refer to meat steamed until tender. This meat is known for its high fat content and strong flavor, often accompanied with onions and cilantro — coriander leaf.
Tacos sudados
Tacos sudados or "sweaty tacos" are made by filling soft tortillas with a spicy meat mixture, then placing them in a basket covered with cloth. The covering keeps the tacos warm and traps steam which softens them.
Breakfast tacos
The breakfast taco, found in Tex-Mex cuisine, is a soft corn or flour tortilla filled with meat, eggs or cheese, and can also contain other ingredients. Some have claimed that Austin, Texas is the home of the breakfast taco. However, food writer and OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano responded that such a statement reflects a common trend of "whitewashed" foodways reporting, noting that predominantly Hispanic San Antonio, Texas "never had to brag about its breakfast taco love — folks there just call it 'breakfast.'"
Indian taco
Indian tacos, or Navajo tacos, are made using frybread instead of tortillas. They are commonly eaten at pow-wows, festivals and other gatherings by and for indigenous people in the United States and Canada.
This kind of taco is not known to have been present before the arrival of Europeans in what is now the southwestern United States. Navajo tradition indicates that frybread came into use in the 1860s when the government forced the tribe to relocate from their homeland in Arizona in a journey known as the Long Walk of the Navajo. It was made from ingredients given to them by the government to supplement their diet since the region couldn’t support growing the agricultural commodities that had been previously used.
Puffy tacos, taco kits and tacodillas
Since at least 1978, a variation called the "puffy taco" has been popular. Henry’s Puffy Tacos, opened by Henry Lopez in San Antonio, Texas, claims to have invented the variation, in which uncooked corn tortillas — flattened balls of masa dough — are quickly fried in hot oil until they expand and become "puffy." Fillings are similar to hard-shell versions. Restaurants offering this style of taco have since appeared in other Texas cities, as well as in California, where Henry's brother, Arturo Lopez, opened Arturo’s Puffy Taco in Whittier, not long after Henry's opened. Henry's continues to thrive, managed by the family's second generation.
Kits are available at grocery and convenience stores and usually consist of taco shells — corn tortillas already fried in a U-shape — seasoning mix and taco sauce. Commercial vendors for the home market also market soft taco kits with tortillas instead of taco shells.
The tacodilla contains melted cheese in between the two folded tortillas, thus resembling a quesadilla.
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