What is authentic mexican ground beef seasoned with? - Page 2

I have to say that if you are attempting to eat an authentic taco,,its not made from ground beef,,,,but shredded  beef  carne asada , lengua,carrbaso    pork or  chicken usually shredded or even chorrizo ,,,please excuse my attempted mexican spelling,,  when you go to a ( authentic mexican restaurant  )  and order a taco it quite often comes on a hard shell, ( because they assume thats how a gringo wants it ),,however when you order an authentic mexican taco it comes on a hot sometimes doubled soft corn tortilla,,,,sorry I never answered your question but I wanted to address authentic first !!!

 the best food comes from somewhere deep within a latin neighborhood,,a little corner tienda  ,, I have had as many as 250 spanish employees at a time,,,,and they have changed the way i enjoy mexican food !!!

What is authentic mexican ground beef seasoned with?

Simple ..................... authentic Mexican seasonings. 

Don't you love the forums?  What did we learn here? 

Hey world ... what are some good Mexican ground beef recipes?   Different regions have different recipes.   A famous chef I know always makes his differently.   He has a restaurant in land XYZ.   My mother is from XYZ.   She doesn't speak Spanish there but a derivative of it.  I speak German.  Well my aunt speaks French, isn't that amazing?

Where is my friggin' taco meat recipe?  Guests are coming in a few hours and mine tastes like Taco Bell (has NO taste in other words).

I use cumin ,s and p, paprika, hot pepper of some kind, thyme, oregano, or california spices, cilantro, some smoked paprika. Everyone has their own way to do it. I use for taco or any other mexican dish. I chop meat coursley not fine.

The irony!!!!  I just so happened to ask a Mexican Waiter (?) the other night, how they cooked their ground beef and what they put in it spice wise...

He told me basically peppers, tomatoes, onion, salt.....I do not recall him saying cumin or garlic specifically.  That doesn't mean they are not in there.  He also told me that the ground beef and spice (list above and whatever else) is not cooked on the stove.  It is put in a crock-pot and cooked for time unknown.   

A few hours at least.  The ground beef does basically fall apart-so to say.

When making chili, I personally like to brown my ground beef in a skillet and thoroughly rinse it and then put in crock-pot with other ingredients and let it cook on low for a few hours.  Excellent!

Nothing says "Mexican" like a crock pot.

BDL

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgemmerling 

I personally like to brown my ground beef in a skillet and thoroughly rinse it

Why rinse it?

After browning the meat in a skillet it is sometimes rinsed to remove any excess fat, the same thing can be done by leaving it in a fine mesh conical strainer for about 20 minutes or so.

Not exactly the best idea, but it is done with the intention of reducing fat content.

I like a few others believe it's not the fat content of food so much as total number of calories of the consumed food that is the issue, but that is harder to explain i guess, so long live the 'low' fat fad.

For that ultra-tender beef that you sometimes find.

Start the finely ground beef in ample water, add about 1/4 tsp baking soda per pound of beef, stir, simmer and stir lots more until well cooked and almost all of the water has been driven off.

Don't let it brown at all during this time - browning will cause lumps to form.

Once the beef is very fine, leave the fat in but use a binder (Masa, oat meal or rice flour any low gluten flour) to soak it up, then add your spices and brown it a bit. 

This will start you well onto the way to a 'taco-bell' type of juicy, meaty mush that so many people love!

(they simply add more things at the end to get their 'brand' of flavour profile)

When I ate them in L.A. and Mexico meat was shredded nt ground beef; Rinsing it just takes out all the flavor of the meat where as draining in a China Cap leaves at least some.

I marinade a two pund top sirloin cut thin in:

2 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of cumin
1 teaspoon of ground New Mexico chilies
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
White pepper
juice from 1 lime
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

for an hour the cook it medium rare over a very hot grill. Let it rest for ten minutes, the chop it into small pieces,

Garnish with chopped cilantro, Pico de Gallo, roasted onions, roasted Jalapenos, avocado slices,  and lime slices. Serve with freshly steamed  4 inch white corn tortillas, 2 per taco.

Just for giggles thought I would throw this in.

I add about a tablespoon of fresh ground coffee in the mix for a bit added depth.

Grind it really fine and use dark roast. Italian, or French roasts.

Use sparingly or you muddy the flavors.

No offense but Taco Bell has to be the least authentic Mexican taco meat I have ever tasted.   I only only gag them down when I can't find anything else to eat.   This comes from someone who is a native Texan and travels Mexico extensively.  I am curious why anyone would want meat to taste like that.   Tasteless, but that is my opinion.  Again no offense but I just don't get that someone would want to duplicate Taco Bell.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonJuane 

No offense but Taco Bell has to be the least authentic Mexican taco meat I have ever tasted.   I only only gag them down when I can't find anything else to eat.   This comes from someone who is a native Texan and travels Mexico extensively.  I am curious why anyone would want meat to taste like that.   Tasteless, but that is my opinion.  Again no offense but I just don't get that someone would want to duplicate Taco Bell.

I absolutely agree.

While the title of the thread is "authentic" what the OP is actually referring to is found in his second post where he clarifies the details.

I have highlighted the important bits.

What he seems to be describing to me is ground meat that has been tenderized by raising it's PH.  

Which isn't just a TacoBell thing - it is simply the most recognizable use of the process.

Thus the entire point of my post.