I have always been a soft taco person. Specifically, soft tacos made with flour tortillas. In my experience, hard tacos are awkward to assemble and shatter as soon as you bite into them. And, although I love corn chips and cornbread and all manner of other "corn-y" things, soft corn tortillas just never quite taste right to me. They seem like they should taste good, but I always find the flavour just slightly disappointing and off-putting. So, for years, whenever we've had tacos, it's always been with soft flour tortillas. Occasionally I'll pick up a few soft corn tortillas for TF to use since I know he likes them. But hard tacos? Never.

Until now!

America's Test Kitchen has rocked my world yet again! The most recent issue of Cook's Illustrated delved into the origins of the hard taco and introduced "tacos dorados" (golden tacos). This is apparently what the crispy taco was meant to be before it got Americanized and boxed up into taco "kits" as a convenience food. And it's brilliant!

Rather than starting with a sleeve of pre-fried hard taco "shells", you do, in fact, start with soft corn tortillas. Tortillas that get gently warmed to make them extra soft and pliable, filled with flavourful spiced beef, and then fried to make them crispy and delicious.

Yes, that's right, you fry them after you fill them. Mind blown! Not only does this make them easier to fill, but the outside gets wonderfully crisp while the spine remains pliable enough to open (for adding toppings) and eat without the whole thing shattering and pouring meat and grease all over your hands! Tacos dorados aren't significantly more difficult or time-consuming to make than either hard or soft tacos and they're definitely both more delicious and less messy than either. I have found my taco happy place!

(Oh, and just in case you were wondering: the frying and crisping does seem to perk up the corn tortillas and do away with the disappointment I'd experienced with them in the past.)

Tacos Dorados

Slightly adapted from Cook's Illustrated July/August 2018

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 lb. lean ground beef¹
• 7 Tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 4 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 c. shredded Cheddar + extra for topping
• 12-16 corn tortillas (6-8" diameter)
• shredded lettuce
• chopped tomato
• sour cream
• pickled jalapeños

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Combine water and baking soda in a large bowl. Add beef and mix well. Set aside.
3. Cook onion over medium heat in 1 Tbsp. of oil until softened.
4. Add chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, and sea salt and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add tomato paste and cook for an additional minute.
6. Add beef, breaking up into small chunks and mixing with onion and spices.
7. Although the recipe didn't call for it, I also chose to add a splash of water at this stage. I think I put ~1/3 c. I find it helps with getting the meat evenly coated with spices and adds a bit of moisture and sauciness without making it "sloppy" or overly messy.
8. Using 2 tbsp. of the oil, brush tortillas to lightly coat with oil on both sides. Bake at 400F for 5 minutes.²
9. Once meat is cooked through, remove from pan and add 1/2 c. shredded cheese. Mix to combine.
10. Wipe out pan and add 1/4 c. oil.
11. Fill the tacos. Use ~2 Tbsp. of filling for 6" tortillas or 3-4 Tbsp. for 8" tortillas. Spread the filling over half the tortilla and then fold it over (it will be open on the sides, this is fine and expected).
12. Gently place your filled tacos into the pan with the hot oil (you'll have to work in batches). Cook for 2-3 minutes per side until both sides are dark golden-brown, but not charred or burnt.³
13. Remove fried, crispy tacos from pan. You may now dress them up as you see fit. Thanks to the flexible spine you should be able to open them up like a book to add sour cream, extra cheese, jalapeños, or whatever else your heart desires!
14. Once topped and garnished to your satisfaction, close it up and enjoy the perfectly crisp, non-shattering goodness of a golden taco!

---

¹ Recommended 90% lean. <sup>Back

2</sup> I think I'd try cutting this down to only 3 or 4 minutes next time. It might also be interesting to see if warming them in the microwave (either with or without oil) yields similar results. <sup>Back

3</sup> I had some trouble with the whole "not burnt" aspect. Don't worry! Even the burnt ones were delicious. The not-burnt ones were, however, slightly more delicious, so I do recommend not burning if at all possible. ;P ^Back

Butter tart cinnamon roll banana monkey bread

Via foodnetwork.ca, a dessert for when you can't decide if you want cinnamon rolls, banana bread, or butter tarts. Thanks to the monkey bread ancestry, you can pull it apart and eat it with your hands, but expect your fingers to be very sticky afterwards.

This is the recipe as we cooked it; symbol's notes on future modifications are at the end.

Ingredients

• 256mL brown sugar
• 128mL corn syrup
• 64mL unsalted butter, melted, plus solid butter for greasing pan
• 2 large eggs
• 10mL white vinegar
• 10mL vanilla extract
• 2.5mL salt
• 2 ~500g refrigerated canned cinnamon roll dough cylinders (e.g. Pillsbury's)
• 2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced into 1cm slices

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Grease a bundt pan with butter. (Do not flour.)
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, eggs, vinegar, vanilla, and salt.
4. Pour ~1/3rd of the sugar mix -- 180mL or so -- into the bundt pan.
5. Separate the cinnamon roll cylinders into individual roll discs, then squish each one into a ball.
6. Put the cinnamon balls and banana slices into the bowl and toss to coat with mixture.
7. Pour everything in the bowl into the bundt pan and bake for 40 minutes.
8. Let stand 10 minutes, then release from pan and eat.

Symbol's notes

• The salt doesn't add anything, and can be safely omitted.
• The banana cooks nicely, but doesn't really adhere to the rest of the bread; this means each mouthful gets you either bread or banana, but not both. It may be better to make the cinnamon rolls from scratch, puree the bananas, and spread them into the rolls along with the cinnamon.

Patra Kadhi

Another 660 Curries recipe, like the other patra recipe we make this one with frozen bags of patra rather than making it from scratch. This makes it a quick and easy weekday meal and oh so delicious. It refrigerates and reheats well, too, unlike most dairy sauces.

Ingredients

• 1L buttermilk¹
• 30mL chickpea flour
• 5mL white sugar
• 2.5mL coarse salt
• 2.5mL turmeric
• 2 fresh thai chilis, stems removed, sliced crossways
• 2 fresh thai chilis, stems removed, cut in half lengthways
• 30mL canola oil
• 5mL mustard seeds
• 6-8 medium fresh curry leaves
• 400g patra rounds (~1 frozen bag)

Procedure

1. In a bowl, whisk the chickpea flour into the buttermilk to make a homogenous, slightly frothy liquid.
2. Whisk in the sugar, salt, turmeric, and sliced chilis. Set aside.
3. Heal the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until the seeds stop popping, ~30 seconds.
4. Throw in the remaining two chilis and the curry leaves, cautiously.
5. Add the patra rounds in a single layer. Cook until browned, 3-5 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until the other side is browned as well.
6. Pour the buttermilk sauce over the patra and wait for it to bubble (which should happen almost immediately). Reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, without stirring, until thickened, 10-15 minutes.
7. Serve over basmati rice or a similar delicious, absorbent starch.

¹ Or, if you're feeling frisky, cream or a mix of milk and cream. If you don't have buttermilk but want that tanginess, mix in some plain yoghurt -- but if you don't have any handy, it tastes just fine without, too.