Midwestern Tacos

Ingredients

EL-FI:

• 500g ground beef, pork or lamb (can’t get pork at EL-FI)¹
• 1 white onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1 bunch cilantro
• leaves of your choice (You can shred some romaine, but I like spinach – you do you)
• 3 limes
• some sort of melting cheese
• Doritos, or some other corn chip²
• 2 medium tomatoes, or a bunch of cherry tomatoes (my prefered)

The following are optional, only if you intend to make quick pickled onions

• 3 red onions
• 200 mL vinegar
• 200 mL water
• sugar to taste (maybe 30g?)
• salt to taste (maybe 10g?)
• 2 peeled garlic cloves

Edeka

• creme fraiche (optional, this is basically a sour cream substitute)

Mira Food Store

• 1 tbsp freshly toasted and ground cumin ³
• a bunch of dried mexican chilis, usually I choose from a mix of ancho, guajillo, pasilla and chilis de arbol. Generally I go with about 6 guajillo chilis, then slightly less of the rest.
• 1/2 can chipotles in adobo sauce
• 1 tbsp mexican oregano
• 2 avocados (these guys tend to have to best quality avocados in the neighborhood)
• soy sauce

Directions

For ground meat:

Rip up all the dried chilis, removing stems and seeds. I like to use disposable gloves for this because the chilis can leave your fingers pretty spicy; you’ll quickly find out where your body’s mucus membranes are if you don’t thoroughly wash your hands after handling the chilis. If you have time, it can be nice to toast these dried chilis, as it can bring a bit of roastiness to the finished product, but don’t stress too much about it. Once deseeded and roasted, cover with boiling water and let sit for a few minutes. While the chilis are rehydrating, coarsely chop the onion (we’re going to blend it, so it just needs to be small enough for your blender/food processor/immersion blender to be able to chew through). After soaking for 5 to 10 minutes, blend up the chilis with the cumin, garlic, tomato paste, canned chipotles, and enough of the soaking water to make a thick sauce. Make sure to add a few healthy glugs of soy sauce.

If you’re like me, you’ll want to try to multi-task, so while you’re preparing the chili sauce, you can brown the ground meat. Once it has developed some nice color, add the chili sauce to deglaze the pan. Cook until the sauce has reduced considerably, to the point where little moisture is left. Salt and pepper to taste.

For optional quick pickled red onions:

Thinly slice some halved red onions, jamming everything into a Mason jar or a bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar and water to a boil with the garlic, sugar and salt. Once boiling, pour over the sliced onions. Keep in the refrigerator for a week or two. This can be ready in as soon as half an hour, but I will sometimes prepare it the day before so the onions are chilled before serving.

For everything else

Shred some cheese and the leaves, cut up limes into lil’ wedges, thinly slice the radishes, and cut up the avocado. Wash and coarsely chop the cilantro. I don’t like the goopy seeds in tomatoes, so I usually scoop out all the guts, leaving the succulent meat behind.

To prepare the tacos, scoop some of the meat sauce into a shallow bowl, and top with crushed up corn chips, creme fraiche, shredded cheese, cilantro, leaves, radishes and sliced avocado. Generously squirt the whole affair with lime before chowing down. If you made the pickled red onions, add some of those to the mix. I will sometimes add some refried beans to the taco bowl as well. If you’re looking to channel that real Midwestern vibe, stir everything up until it’s more or less homogenous – this simulates the experience of having a middle-aged woman named Pam mix up your “walking taco” for you at your church’s annual potluck.

What is this?

This is my gourmet take on a Midwestern classic, the walking taco⁴. I’ve never had a walking taco at home, but growing up I would have it occasionally at church potlucks, cubscout meetings, or school carnivals. Most recently I had one at the Benton County Speedway in Iowa. Walking tacos comprise a bag of Fritos or Nacho Cheese Doritos⁵ into which taco fixins’ have been piled. Taco fixins’ usually means ground beef mixed with Old El Paso brand taco seasoning, shredded iceburg lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, and a healthy dollop of sour cream. Once the fixins’ have been put in the bag, one usually crunches up the corn chips while simultaneously massaging the taco fixins’ into the chip fragments. Eaten with a disposable spoon (or spork), the walking taco is a triumph of Midwestern cuisine. It’s pretty inoffensive given how bland it is, but it’s also deeply comforting.

My intention with this recipe is to make something that is just as comforting as the walking tacos I had growing up while actually tasting really delicious. The dried chilis impart a deep bass note of flavor that is amplified by the umami of the tomato paste and soy sauce. Freshly toasted spices, along with the onions and garlic run circles around the six month old, half used bag of taco seasoning you have hanging out in your Midwestern “pantry”. Substituting spinach or romaine for the iceberg lettuce means the leaves have some crunch and flavor. The pickled onions and lime adds a burst of acidity that complements the rich chili sauce.

I honestly think that using cubed chuck roast or some other fatty cut of beef would be much tastier than ground beef, but I think that would stray too far from the ethos of the original recipe. For the white Midwestern home cook, ground beef is part of your weekday evening arsenal of ingredients. Cubed or whole cuts of meat are reserved for special occasions – we’re not out here trying to make a pot roast, for cryin’ out loud! While this is a dish that I haven’t seen prepared much for weekday supper, I do think that it is intentionally informal and low-effort, hence my insistence on ground beef.