Taco Cheat Codes, Tricks of the Taco Trade

By Ari LeVaux, Columnist

We shook hands to make it official. If my tacos were the best ever, as claimed, I would win the wager. Otherwise, victory went to my adversary. It was admittedly the most audacious of claims, the longest of long shots. Out of how many hundreds of Mexican restaurants and taco trucks? She took a bite and stared at me, her eyes smooth blend of “OMG,” “WTF” and “up your nose with a garden hose.”

If this confidence sounds like braggadocio, it wouldn’t be on my behalf. I did not invent that runny green sauce of cilantro, jalapeño, garlic and lime that you may have noticed at your local taco stand. I don’t know where it came from or even its name; the recipes online refer to it with the same list of ingredients. I also did not invent the trick that probably won me the wager, which I learned from a friend in California. 

I did kind of invent the braised oxtails, spiced with thyme and succulent with red wine. They were leftovers from a non-Mexican meal, they were nonetheless stellar as a stand-in taco filler, the only true requirements of taco filling, as I understand it, being that it be delicious and savory, ideally with protein.

As for the tortilla trick, it feels like cheating. You heat the tortillas in a pan or griddle, and when they are piping hot on one side you flip them and add grated cheese to the piping hot sides now facing up. The cheese must be of a melty variety, such as a Mexican orange, or a northern cheddar, or manchego if you are from Spain, or blue cheese, if you partake.

When the cheese melts, turn off the heat, load the tacos and enjoy the best-ever-ness, or bask in the glory of serving them to others. The warm, cheesy treatment toughens the tortillas, making them less likely to fall apart if there is too much sauce on the tacos, as there frequently is.

Mayo Verde

It goes well on steak, eggs, salad, sandwiches, veggie side dishes, and basically anything savory. Or pour it into a glass, where it’s drinkable as a $20 bottle of wine. I call it Mayo Verde because it’s green and half mayo. We could also call it “game changer,” “performance enhancer,” or “food improver.”