Hotdogs! (Formerly Tacos!)

[Sub_Topical]

So...I did a family thing the other night and a relative proceeded to load a pan with vegetable oil, get it good and smoking, and then drop in the corn tortillas one by one to fry them all crispy before making up a standard beef/cheese/salsa/tomato/lettuce taco.

I stopped at one because of the oil quotient, YOW!

I'll tend to dry pan heat a whole wheat tortilla and slap in some shredded cabbage and carrot along with cilantro, salsa verde, lime, pepper and a piece of grilled giraffe.

So how do y'all attack Taco Mountain?

[Sub_Topical]

Man, that filter makes me sound exotic as hell!

[Choop]

if you fry the tortilla it's not a taco it's a tostada, don't matter if it's folded or not. at least, according to the mexicans i've chatted with about it.

dos soft corn tortillas, guacamole, shredded lettuce, queso fresco, diced tomato, touch of minced onion, smack it with some green tabasco. that's a damned fine taco.

i like your second combo there with tilapia or grouper, any heavier meat of the pisces variety just doesn't taste right.

also good is carnitas with caramelized onions, cholula, and crema (which has supplanted sour cream in our house)

[CortJstr]

My typical lazy taco night is ground chicken, Penzey's taco seasoning, lettuce, store-bought shredded cheese, and store bought guac. Diced tomatoes if in season.

[Carlos del Vaca]

I like frying up them corn tortillas too, but deep-frying at home is such a monster.  Better left to the professionals.  I have found, however, that putting your tortillas on the grill and letting them get a little browned & crispy is almost as good.

This here recipe for tacos al pastor is frikkin' awesome.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tacos-al-Pastor-242132

[Asherdan]

Bingo, choop, tilapia works very well for that kind of thing.

I find a nonfat plain yogurt in place of sour cream is fairly undetectable trending towards a plus.

And like The Mayor said, I like to crisp the tortillas up on the grill.

[pmcd9]

A lot of people are calling bullshit on that taco.

[side_show]

I had a sad time where I tried to make tostados with ground deer meat.  It was not successful.  The meat was extremely gamey to begin with, and no amount of spice or sauce could correct the balance.  Decision - mild meat only for tacos from now on.

[jay-ell]

We do ground beef, shredded lettuce, prepackaged shredded queso, and sour cream rolled up in a soft flour tortilla. I like some sauteed onions on top, but Pedro leaves those off because he loves me.

Taco night = a night off from "real" cooking up in this piece.

[Choop]

if i were to make a venison taco i would add some ground pork to the meat. the fat and mildness really cuts the gamey flavor.

i also add beef steak to my venison chili so SUCK IT HATERS

[theinevitable]

oh my god carlos TACOS AL PASTOR ARE ALL I HAVE EVER WANTED.

I go eat these way too often.

[Asherdan]

An awful lot of people do exactly that, choop, because it works. White tail deer you have a chance of getting a sweet taster, but the mule deer out here are all eating scrub oak acorns and manzanita brush and taste like it. The last deer I took, I had a hell of a hike out so I boned out the carcass so I just had to tote meat and a head with a tongue hanging out up the hills. Took it to the butcher and had him grind most of it with a pork and seasonings mix and it came out swell. The backstraps and rumps I had cubed and seasoned and that helped them out as well. I also had some ground with chorizo for breakfast patties. That deer made good stews, chili and tacos.

I'm going back to a spot I found during season this year that has wild black berries. Maybe I can pick off a mule deer that's a sweet taster, or even better, a juicy little black bear.

[AugustWest]

An awful lot of people do exactly that, choop, because it works. White tail deer you have a chance of getting a sweet taster, but the mule deer out here are all eating scrub oak acorns and manzanita brush and taste like it.

This must be true, because all the venison we get doesn't taste very gamey at all.  Less gamey than lamb or mutton for sure.  It's all whitetail here, goddam garden eatin' road-hazards. 

And I like gamey.

[Asherdan]

...goddam garden eatin' road-hazards. 

And I like gamey.

You ever want a great tasting deer, nail one who's eating off an apple orchard.

If you like gamey, some of that has to do with prep and handling. If you can be on the sticking end, take your time field dressing and cooling the carcass down and that will 'darken' (for lack of a better word) the flavour right up. That's why I'm an absolute nut about cleaning game out almost as soon as it stops twitching.

If people are getting store bought venison that's gamey I'd be thinking the trip from the pen to the culler scared them spitless and dumped a bunch of adrenaline and hormones in the bloodstream.

I know it's old-school and all that, but goddam if I can stand wild game that's been 'hung' for a while.

[side_show]

I have no idea where this deer came from, and was most definitely not the cause of it's demise.  My husband's friend brought us a sack of meat from his hunt, all proud of himself.  Meantime, I found bits of bone in the ground meat and it tasted like crap.  Still have the steaks in the fridge and am thinking of feeding them to the dog.

In the land of good-ass tacos, I make what must be the most bastardized Canadian version ever, but I love them.  Hard shells, ground beef browned with with President's Choice taco seasoning and ketchup, in a shell with sharp cheddar, shredded lettuce and sour cream.  Is so wrong.  Is so good.