texas tacos
My room mate and I were out of ideas for what to do for dinner. I asked what she would like and she said "well since I've been cooking all week its your turn; I dare you to out do my nacho creamy noodles". So looking through the kitchen at what we had; I pondered what would be a fast, easy and really filling meal. I saw a small tub of lard in the top of the pantry and remembered I had been wanting to make fried hash browns for sometime now. But what to make it with. I saw some instant mash potatoes and decided 2 spuds was too many for what i was in the mood for. So I looked next to it and saw a can of tomatoes. And I thought "What better to go with a spud than the good old Toe?" and caught myself laughing but at the same time salivating at the intermix of taste. So I kept looking because that wouldnt be filling enough. I saw about 1-2lbs of frozen steak tips left over from a stir fry i had made about 8 days before and thought you know i'd better use these before they get freezer burned. so i got the meat tenderizer for them. While looking for it i found the powdered garlic and garlic salt. giving that i wasn't in the mood to make something really spicy I went with the garlic salt as it fairly difficult to use too much. When i filled up the fryer I realized i didn't have enough Lard to get the fryer to min level. So I looked around for more oils wondering how this was either going to become a disaster or a master piece. I found sesame oil (one of my favorites due to its unique notes of smokiness and rich bodied melodies of heavy oil (even though it's really a medium oil); even adding the entire bottle wasn't enough so I found 1 bottle of vegetable oil and used the entire thing to fill in the missing measure of oil. I set it to heat and went to the directions exactly as I listed them. When I served it; my room mate just sat there utterly stunned. When she asked me what it was called i had decided to call it Texas Tacos because of how large the meat pieces were and how filling just 1 taco was. It was due to the story about Texas toast she had told me about a week before. I've been told to take the recipe to a restaurant but I really want to get a few other reviews first. I have no idea what the food value of it is but it is a magnificent dish.
Ingredients For texas tacos
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1 1/2 - 2 lbsteak tips
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1 pkghash browns
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1 candiced tomatoes with jalepenos
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1 qtlard
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1 bottlesesame oil
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1 bottlevegtable oil
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8 sliceswiss cheese
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4-6 pinchcilantro, fresh
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9 tspmeat tenderizer seasoned
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6 pinchgarlic salt or substitute 5 teaspoons garlic
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4 pinchsour cream
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2 sprigchives, bunch
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4 lgtortilla shell
How To Make texas tacos
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1Assuming you have an empty Fryer; Scoop Lard into fryer; add Vegetable Oil; add Sesame Oil; Set to 375 Degrees F. About 6-10 min depending on your fryer.
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2If necessary de-thaw Steak Tips using the brazing setting on your microwave (check manufacturers book for how to do this if you don't know how) Takes about 6min. If no de-thaw neccessary set oven top to HI and set pan coated with Pam. When spray starts sizzeling you know its ready for searing the tips. Takes about 7-9 mins
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3While your Fryer and oven are heating; Cut Chives into small pieces about 1/4-1/2 inch lengths; Also cut Cilantro into fine pieces no bigger than 1/4 their original size. Set aside in bowl.
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4Check Fryer to ensure it has reached the proper temp; add Pam to the pan on the stove if necessary (sometimes heating both at the same time, the pan gets to temp before the fryer. Take hash browns out of freezer and free them from each other. Pour into basket and set Fry timer for 12 min
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5Season/tenderize the steak tips; and place the full amount in pan; check after 2 min and cut down any pieces you find to be too large so that all pieces are relatively the same size. After 4 min flip/turn the pieces let stand for 2 min and set the oven top to medium heat; Open can of Deiced Tomatoes with Jalapenos; do not remove lid; pour the juice in the can into the pan with the steak tips to help keep them moist and soft. remove lid and set can aside.
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6Add Garlic/garlic salt to steak tips;add a sprinkling of Cilantro and Chives
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7Place out 2 plates and put 2 tortillas on each plate; set the oven top to low and wait for the fryer to get done.
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8Put down fried hash browns on to tortillas in even portions. Pour out Juices from steak tips into the sink or store for a later gravy/sauce. Pour Tomatoes in can into pan with steak tips and brown slightly on stove top while hash browns cool for about 1-2min
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9add steak and tomato mix to tortillas in even portions. add in chives and cilantro to your own taste or serve as a side garnish.
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