Taco … Friday?

Click here to go to printable recipe for Shell Tacos (Tacos Dorados/Dobladillas)

In Mexico, every day is taco day, but in the US, a Wyoming-based chain called Taco John’s™ started a promotion in the early 1980s, in which two tacos were offered for 99 cents each, on their slowest day for business … Tuesday. One of their restaurant owners called it “Taco Twosday”, and it was so successful that the whole chain adopted the name, which eventually changed to simply “Taco Tuesday”. The expression became so popular, that many families adopted the trend, and prepared tacos at home on Tuesday nights. Taco John’s kept a trademark for the name, and whenever other companies (including Taco Bell) wanted to use the phrase, they needed permission from Taco John’s. That all ended last year, when Taco Bell filed a legal petition to end the trademark, arguing that “Taco Tuesday” had become a tradition, a popular phrase that was used in many contexts, so keeping it under a trademark was an egocentric stance, and should not be owned by anybody. Taco John’s did not want to give up the trademark, but recognized that a legal battle against giant Taco Bell would not end well. They owned the trademark for all US states except New Jersey, where the name belonged to Gregory’s Restaurant & Bar in Somers Point, N.J.; after Taco John’s decision, Gregory’s relinquished its rights, too, and so, now “Taco Tuesday” is exactly that, a taco meal on a midweek night, for everyone to enjoy and freely name.

Now, travel one decade forward from the first Taco Tuesday, and 2743 miles (4415 km) from its point of origin. In the 1990s, Sweden was opening to new markets, and as the government deregulated television, private advertising was allowed for the first time. OLW™, a Swedish potato chip company popularized a slogan for cozy nights at home, which many Swedish families already observed on Fridays. Fredagsmys – cozy Friday, became an institution for many families, when they would have an easy and relaxed meal at home, followed by a late night with snacks, games or, yes, binge TV watching. In 2007, the term Fredagsmys was officially added to the Swedish dictionary. The American taco kit company Old El Paso™ had been trying yo get to the Scandinavian market since the 1980s, but people thought it hard to prepare. Now armed with the possibility of TV ads that families would watch on Friday nights, Old El Paso ended the confusion by showing how to assemble tacos to each person’s taste, and ideal offering for Fredagsmys. A Swedish company called Nordfalks also had great success marketing their Tex-Mex spices and other products, eventually changing its name to Santa Maria. All those TV ads promoting easy buffet-style taco meals as a Fredagsmys staple resonated with Swedish families, already being familiar to smörgåsbord, and for many, Fredagsmys has become synonymous to Taco Fredag – Taco Friday. In addition to, or instead of, Tex-Mex filling, some Swedish families are opting for chicken, fish, plant-based ground products or legumes and nuts for lighter fillings, and extra toppings such as corn kernels, pineapple or mango, and cucumber have been added, catering to their palate.

As mentioned in my last post, I had a chance to eat plenty of tacos during my visit to Sweden, but none of them was a Tex-Mex shell taco from a kit. Back in Canada, one of my daughters was visiting for the weekend; we all love board games and family nights, so I thought a Taco Friday would work great. The idea of buying a taco kit from the supermarket did not appeal to me, but I remembered a story that my mom had told me, about these crispy tacos from her childhood in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila (South of Texas), filled with well-seasoned ground beef, topped with lots of fresh veggies and Salsa Búfalo™ bottled sauce. For these tacos, called dobladillas (which means “something folded”), soft corn tortillas are filled with the meat, folded in half instead of rolling (hence the name), and then crisped in oil. A similar recipe, called tacos dorados (golden tacos) from Sonora, another northern Mexican state, calls for folding the tortillas, too, but they are crisped empty, to form shells like the Tex-Mex version, and then they are filled. I thought of making these classic Mexican crisped tacos, and offer the traditional toppings for them, in addition to Tex-Mex and Swedish toppings. The result may be seen in the photo at the top of this post, featuring a taco dorado, a Tex-Mex taco, and one Taco Fredag – style.

Since my daughter is vegetarian (now sometimes pescatarian), I used Beyond Beef™, a plant-based ground product, for the filling.

Shell Tacos with Traditional and International toppings –

Tacos Dorados/Dobladillas con rellenos tradicionales e internacionales

Printable recipe: Shell Tacos, Tacos Dorados, Dobladillas

Ingredients

8 corn tortillas
oil, for frying
Filling
1 lb (454 g) ground beef, chicken or plant-based
½ white onion; end removed, peeled, and chopped finely
2 cloves garlic; peeled, and chopped finely
1 large tomato; washed, stem spot removed and halved lengthwise
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp black pepper, or to taste
1 tsp ground cumin, or to taste
Toppings
Traditional Mexican:
½ white onion; end removed, peeled, and chopped
1 large tomato; washed, stem spot removed, and chopped
½ Romaine lettuce; washed in vinegary water, and sliced finely
Bottled hot sauce, such as Búfalo™, Cholula™, or Huichol™
Extra for Tex-Mex:
½ lb (225 g) Cheddar cheese; grated
2-3 fresh jalapeño peppers; washed, stems removed, and sliced into rounds
2 avocados; washed
Juice from half a lime
Salt, to taste
Extra for Swedish Fredagsmys:
1 cup corn kernels; canned, or cooked from frozen
1 English cucumber; washed, ends removed, peeled and chopped
2 slices pineapple; from packed in juice, chopped
Wheat tortillas; optional
Side extras: Potato chips, candy and/or chocolate; optional

Prepare filling: Warm up oil in a frying pan over medium heat; add onions and sauté until translucent, then add garlic (photo below, left). Stir and continue cooking for thirty seconds, then add ground meat or plant-based product, breaking up with a spoon (photo below, right):

Continue cooking and stirring, until no longer pink.

Nest tomato halves in the middle of the pan, cut side down, and cover pan with lid (photo below, left). Reduce heat to low, and allow to simmer for five minutes, then uncover pan, and remove and discard skins from the tomato halves (photo below, right):

Chop tomato pulp with a spoon (photo below, left). Season with salt, pepper, and cumin (photo below, right):

Incorporate all ingredients and continue cooking and stirring for another five minutes:

Remove from heat and reserve.

For Tex-Mex, prepare guacamole: cut avocados in half; discard pits, then scoop pulp into a bowl, and mash, adding salt, to taste. Sprinkle the juice from half a lime to cover the mash, and do not stir until serving time.

Arrange toppings at the table:

Mexican – Onions, tomatoes, lettuce and bottled sauce:

Extra Tex-Mex – Cheddar cheese, guacamole, and jalapeños:

Extra Taco-Fredag – Corn kernels, cucumber and pineapple:

Prepare taco shells: Pour enough oil in a frying pan to cover the bottom, to a depth of about a quarter inch (6-7 mm); place pan over high heat, until oil is hot, then reduce heat to medium. Working with one tortilla at a time, place in the hot oil (photo below, left), then immediately flip, folding in half with tongs (photo below, right):

Bring folded tortilla to the edge of the pan, and keep top half lifted with the tongs, to form the characteristic arched shape of the shell (photo below, left); after a few seconds, flip to crisp the other half, keeping the arched shape with the tongs (photo below, right):

Transfer to a plate covered with paper towels, and repeat with the rest of the tortillas:

This process requires constant monitoring, since the tortillas crisp very quickly, and could either burn or end up with a less than desirable shape. To illustrate this, check out this 54 sec clip, showing the entire process of frying one taco shell:

Optional: To complete the Fredagsmys table, I added wheat tortillas, as well as an assortment of potato chips and Swedish candy and chocolate bars:

Bring everything to the table – From right: Filling, bottled hot sauce, taco shells, traditional Mexican toppings (tomato, onion, and lettuce), Tex-Mex extra toppings (Cheddar cheese, guacamole and jalapeño peppers), Taco Fredag extra toppings (corn kernels, cucumber and pineapple), plates for self-serve, wheat tortillas, and treats:

Each person may take a tortilla shell and add filling at the bottom:

From there, finish with toppings, to taste. In the photo at the top of this post, and below, from left: traditional taco dorado with onion, tomato and lettuce; Tex-Mex taco with all toppings from traditional, plus Cheddar cheese, jalapeño peppers and guacamole; and Fredagsmys taco with all the previous toppings, as well as corn kernels, pineapple and cucumber:

To prepare Coahuila style dobladillas, add filling to a corn tortilla before frying, arranging as a strip along the centre (photo below, left); fold tortilla in half (photo below, right):

Prepare pan with oil as for taco shells. Place folded taco in hot oil (photo below, left); once crisped, flip, to crisp the other side (photo below, centre). Transfer to a plate covered with paper towels (photo below, right):

To prepare, gently open the tortilla, to avoid cracking (photo below, left); add onion on top of the filling (photo below, right)

Then add tomatoes (photo below, left) and finish with lettuce (photo below, right):

Serve immediately:

As each person eats any of the tacos, bottled hot sauce may be added, to taste:

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