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In your face Tennessee! I made my own tacos!

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by Toothpick, Oct 2, 2014.

  1. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    Some of you may be aware of my distaste for the food here in Tennessee. Specifically Mexican food. I have not had a decent taco since I've lived here. Well that all changed today....
    Because I made my own!

    With the help of a friendly member sending me the taco shells all the way from Brooklyn, NY!.

    I came home from work the other day to find a package waiting for me. I never expected to open it and see taco shells. It gave me a good laugh and I said "well, guess I'm fixing tacos soon".

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    So I set off to the store to buy some flank steak. And wouldn't you know....they don't have any. Yup...Tennessee is dead set on preventing me from eating a good taco.
    "are you kidding me?, they don't have any flank steak?!....what about skirt steak...don't have that either!!?"
    But thankfully there is more than one grocery store around here. I thought I was doomed when I get there and browse the meat and couldn't find any at the 2nd store. I FINALLY see ONE package. 1.24lbs, it looked good, I snagged it. But I needed more because I'm sure my brother would come over for tacos, so the only thing close that would work is the Sirloin Tip - Sandwhich steak.

    IMG_0022.JPG

    I bust out the plastic cutting board and the cheap knife. You won't see a pic of those as to not offend anyone here or make you cry. I don't have a method or any reasoning to my cooking. I just cook. Slice and dice the meat and veggies, slap it in the pan, sprinkle on some seasonings until I say "yeah, that looks like enough". I just season to taste.

    The seasonings. The Vickie's Spice Mix is what my mom made, no clue what's in it but it tastes good!
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    The meat cooking.
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    At this point I snagged a piece to taste. Needed more seasoning.
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    cooking up a tortilla.
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    The only cheese I could find besides the pre-shredded by Kraft stuff.
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    The fixins. I put cilantro, onion and cheese on my tacos. My bro came over and likes the sauce.
    I had fixed everything to this point, and am 10 seconds from making a taco when my bro shows up. "where's the refried beans and rice? and the guacamole?". I give him a blank stare and say "I completely forgot about that stuff". And it's true! I can't believe it! I had my mind set on tacos and nothing else.
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    They may not look the best, but that's just my style of cooking. No frills, just eating.
    The meat was tender and seasoned just right. The best tacos I've had in about a year. Even my bro approved!
    I ended up eating 4, and I have leftovers.
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    I owe a certain man here a big THANK YOU for the taco shells. You know who you are.
    I tasted one before I heated them up and it tasted sort of sweet, like sweet corn or something.
    VERY good tortillas!
     
  2. Taylor

    Taylor Professional Craftsman Founding Member

    Tennessee should have a state holiday for tacos now! Have to admit that the title made me chuckle, and now I'm hungry!
     
  3. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    I think I should have sliced the meat thinner and cooked it on the grill. Definitely should have grilled it.
    Thankfully I have a whole lot of shells left!
     
  4. Wagner the Wehrwolf

    Wagner the Wehrwolf Founding Member

    I feel your pain. I live in a food desert on a deserted island. I can remember making Chinese hot and sour soup and asking the grocery manager where the tofu was hiding. He just gave me a blank stare. We got nuthin here.
     
  5. Jim

    Jim Old Curmudgeon Founding Member

  6. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    I work part time at the first grocery store I went to. I was like "we don't sell flank steak!?...or skirt steak?!" all I got was "huh?...we can probably cut it for you".
    ummm "probably"? no thanks. It's the type of grocery store where they don't put out the good steaks or big packs of meat after the meat market closes cause they get stolen. I doubt many people are coming in buying flank and skirt steaks :k

    my belly is on the upswing
     
  7. Brianw

    Brianw The Dark Net Mastermind Founding Member

    Lookin' good jason
     
  8. daveb

    daveb Founding Member

    Don't leave this crowd an opening like that. You'll be getting advice on what knife to slice thinner with, how to slice thinner, sharpening advice to slice thinner, what stone(s) to use, whether or not to back bevel the knife..... :cool:
     
  9. Jim

    Jim Old Curmudgeon Founding Member

    And lets not forget videos of how to do it and what cutting board to use!
     
  10. daveb

    daveb Founding Member

    And a bigger pan on an induction hob!
     
  11. James

    James smarter then your average duck Founding Member Gold Contributor

    not to mention how you spiced your pans, and why only one shell

    and how did you do the bacon
     
  12. Jay

    Jay No soup for you Founding Member

    Those tortillas look vaguely familiar.

    I can attest to the fact that no more than five seconds before they were placed in the mystery donor's hands, they were on the conveyor belt of the tortilla machine. And James is correct- double up on the tortillas.

    (You can always fry one until crisp and use it for the base of one half of the dread tostadilla.)
     
  13. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    doubling up! they do that at the best restaurants too.

    the tortillas are really fantastic.

    I don't know what bacon you are referring to James but seasoing cast iron is easy. Wash, rinse, and dry. Grab your favorite oil, vegetable oil is popular. Pour a little in the pan and rub it all over the pan with a paper towel. Oh yeah, have your oven preheating to 350 during this. Then just toss the skillet in the oven for an hour. Remove and let it cool down, that will take a little bit.

    Or a light coating of oil in the pan and cook it off on top of the stove, on one of the burners.
     
  14. Christopher

    Christopher Founding Member

    Well now we're getting somewhere :cool1

    Those are looking good Jason!! Now you can experiment with different spices and marinades to dial in your favorite profiles. Doubling the tortillas does a couple of things. First, it helps keep the tortillas from splitting, and it also helps balance out the ratio of meat to sweet tortilla goodness.
     
  15. Jeffery Hunter

    Jeffery Hunter Founding Member

    now you need to make your own salsa. Dam now I need to make tacos
     
  16. Jim

    Jim Old Curmudgeon Founding Member

  17. Jay

    Jay No soup for you Founding Member

    Whatever tortillas you have left over can be cut in six pieces, fried, salted, and used for salsa or guacamole.
     
  18. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    a long time ago when I was just a young teen I used to make my own chips just this way.
     
  19. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

  20. Lucretia

    Lucretia Founding Member

    MmmmmMMM!
     

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