needles, eggshells, and hairspray...: how i love these STRIKING tacos

last night i was able to cook for the first time in a long time. not just whip something up since it was the weekend and i promised to be the weekend chef.... really cook something.

i have always loved the way my uncle made these yummy tacos. whenever these are for dinner, i scarf until i feel i will pop with the next breath. so i decided it was time to learn how to make them myself.

* a small backstory to these tacos i learned while chit-chatting in the kitchen yesterday: my tia used to make these back when my tio was on strike. they were not made to be yummy but made to stretch the meat they could afford to feed 4 hungry, growing boys. *

so here is the recipe for the tacos i adore

you will need:

about 4-6 good size potatoes (washed. i prefer to keep the skins on. feel free to peel them.)

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

spices for meat

corn tortillas

oil or lard for frying

and toppings of your choice (lettuce, cheese, tomato, sour cream, salsa, avocado, etc)

first put your potatoes to boil until soft when poked with a fork.

(i was being instucted by by uncle on this recipe and he insisted on me putting all potatoes whole. i found no reason why they cant go in cubed so they cook quicker and smash easier. i just asked why he did not have me cube them and he said he had never thought about it and always did whole since his mom always did whole.)

once they are boiled, remove the potatoes

drop the heat to medium and add your ground beef. do your best to keep the ground beef in a big chunk. this will help keep your meat from draining with the water later.

once the beef is browned on one side, carefully flip the chunk of ground beef over to get the other side cooking

the water will look kind of icky at this point but that is normal. when the other side looks browned you will carefully flip it one more time to make sure there's no pink on the outside. once the outside is all browned, remove the chunk of meat and discard all the water and it's contents.

Place the meat back in the pot and begin to break it up. you may see some pink on the inside and that is okay because you will cook it still on medium heat as you break it up and that will finish browning it all. at this point you will add your spices and seasonings. i added a dash of salt, pepper, and a good shake of mesquite seasoning.

once it is browned you can turn the flame off

next you will add your potatoes a bit at a time and mash mash mash

dont worry about mixing the meat up with the potatoes yet

just mash

once all potatoes are mashed up you can mix the meat and potatoes up well

set your meat and potatoes aside and warm up your tortillas.

stuff your tortillas with your meat and potato mix. be sure to pack it well into the middle. you do NOT want to risk any meat or potato falling out why you are frying

POP!

i found out the hard way

and now to fry

in my home we use lard

i put a decent sized scoop into the fryer. it melted into the perfect amount

take a cookie sheet and lay down some paper towels then place a wire rack on top. this will let any excess oil drip off your tacos

carefully place 1 taco in to fry at a time. by only frying 1 taco at a time you allow your oil to keep its proper heat. it only takes a few seconds on each side. flip carefully and when you are ready to remove taco, gently shake excess oil off before placing on wire rack