I lived in California for most of my life so I KNOW the taco. It has been one of my favorite things to eat since grade school. Mexican tacos are delicious little hand-pressed corn tortillas with some nicely spiced, grilled meat with some pico de gallo and/or chopped onions. Most of the time, splashed with a little Tapatio to heat things up.
Californian-style tacos can be made with corn or flour tortillas; they can house Korean bulgolgi and kimchee or 5-spice chicken with sweet daikon and carrot pickles or even summer succotash.
Basically, a taco can be anything you want it to be. Here's my latest creation:
Peking Duck Tacos
tortilla:
1 cup of ap flour, 1/2 cup cold water, 1/3 cup pork lard, 1 tsp of fine sea salt. mix salt and flour together, then add lard and mix with fingers until flour looks crumbly. add water, but not all at once. sometimes i need more water to get the dough to the right consistency, and sometimes i need less. do it with 2-3 tbsp each time and mix dough until it becomes tacky and still sticks to your fingers, but not mushy and wet, and you can form a ball with it. place in bowl and rest under either plastic or wet towel at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.
duck breast:
take 2 breasts and score the skin diagonally across a few times making sure not to slice into the lean meat. trim off excess fat and chop into large pieces. season breasts with 1 tbsp of fresh 5 spice powder and a generous amount of fine sea salt and white pepper on both sides, making sure to rub into the skin well. set aside breasts.
five spice powder:
2 cinnamon sticks, 4 star anise, 5 cloves, a little under 1 tbsp fennel seeds, and a little under 1 tbsp sichuan peppercorns. toasted, ground and then sifted through.
duck chicharrones:
using the chopped fat and skin, toss into frying pan on medium-low heat. should start sizzling and rendering right away. once the crackling is golden brown to medium brown (depending on how crispy you like them). then take crackling out of pan and put on paper towels to drain oil. toss in bowl with a dash of 5 spice powder, salt and white pepper. set aside.
hoisin-lime sauce:
1 tbsp of minced garlic, 1 tbsp of minced ginger, juice from 3 large limes, 1/2 bottle of hoisin sauce, salt and 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. saute garlic and ginger in oil on medium heat until fragrant and add hoisin sauce, stirring constantly to prevent the sauce from burning. turn off heat and stir in lime juice. add salt to taste. blend sauce in blender until smooth. if there are any lumps, pass through a fine mesh sieve.
cooking duck breasts:
to get a medium rare and well rendered breast, put both breasts skin side down on medium heat in frying pan. render off fat while cooking for 5-6 minutes on that side. add 2 star anise and 2 cinnamon sticks to oil. flip breasts over and give it another 2 minutes on medium heat and finish in 300 degree oven for 5 minutes. throw away star anise and cinnamon. take duck out of oven and rest the breast on counter for 10 minutes.
red cabbage saute:
1/4 small red cabbage. chiffonade cabbage and saute in 1 tbsp of duck fat from rendering of breasts. add 1 tbsp of rice wine vinegar and salt to taste. set aside.
accompaniments:
pluck some good cilantro stems and leaves from bunch. you'll need about 5-8 good stalks. wash, dry and trim 2 scallions. chiffonade scallions into 2-3 inch in length. slice 1/4 of english cucumbers into thin rounds, using a mandolin preferably to get thin and even slices.
cooking tortillas:
take dough out and work on floured bench until it has a smooth and elastic consistency. making into a ball and smash down a bit. cut into 8 pieces. make each piece into ball and flatten before using rolling pin to roll out into flat tortilla. flour and set aside. using low-medium heat and nonstick pan, toast tortillas on both sides until you see golden brown spots form. you might get some air bubbles, but that's ok. you can pop with with a knife or by pressing down on them. when done, the tortilla should be pliable and soft while looking toasted and have nice golden brown spots all over. don't over cook or tortilla will get flaky and crackly.
assembly:
slice into duck breast against the grain, and then rough chop. the inside should be warm and pink. spoon some cabbage over tortilla, then duck, then cucumber, add some cilantro leaves and stems, then add some of the hoisin-lime sauce over the taco and eat. should make about 8. chicharrones can be served on side or sprinkled on top of taco.
