Things I Wish I Knew Before Making Taquitos
21 year old Allie was screaming at this recipe. Why? Tequila, my go to is being used in this recipe!
Though, instead of slinging it back, have you ever had it in food? Honestly, unless I had food from some of friends back in the day and it was marinated. I never heard of this concept until today.
Taquitos with Carne Deshebrada, in English shredded beef is a recipe where you can actually eat your tequila. Funny concept. What is even funnier, I don’t even know how to pronounce Carne Deshebrada without sounding American. Ha seriously, California-Spanish culture did not rub off on me as well as I thought.
To make the taquitos, I had to use the following ingredients:
• 2 pounds of beef roast- tri-tip, brisket, or chuck.
• 1 onion, white or yellow, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed, and quartered
• 1 serrano pepper, stemmed, and quartered
• 5-6 garlic cloves peeled, smashed
• 1/2 cup of tequila
• 1 tablespoon of kosher salt.
• 30 corn tortillas
• Oil for frying
• Salsa and guacamole for serving.
Our Ratings
My rating: For cooking sakes, I would like to have taquitos over and over again. I loved how the meat was marinated with garlic, jalapeño, and onion. The meat shredded easy. The only struggle for me was frying the food. I will get better at that concept eventually. However, when rolling the taquitos with the corn tortillas, the tortillas kept on ripping because of the amount of meat. For that alone, I would say the process to make is about 8 out of 10.
For taste, I would say those taquitos with sour cream, green salsa, and Tapatio, the tastes are 9 out of 10. You cannot beat authentic Mexican food though.
Shayne’s rating: Shayne saw my struggles in the kitchen and how I was battling with the oil. Same way I am thinking, you cannot beat authentic Mexican food though. He literally told me, we are going to leave making Mexican food to the professionals. Though for his tastes, he would say the taquitos are a 8 out of 10.
Our Financials
Can you guess where I shopped for these ingredients? Walmart! I have to say within the last ten years Walmart has stepped up their game. It’s not a dump store like it used to be back in the day. In either case, because of the step up, I feel like it has been easier to get my ingredients and there is more variety than how it used to be where I had to go to target or real grocery only store to get my supplies. Of course I smile because of how cheap this really was! Well for the produce portion.
However there were some lessons learned this shopping trip, I had to go to Publix to buy my beef and my tequila. I do not typically buy meat at a grocery store anymore because it does tend to be expensive. However, Walmart was fresh outta beef. Ha not at Publix, I actually had options. Second, I learned that not all grocery stores have a separate liquor or spirits license. The Walmart I shop at only sells wine and beer, no liquor whatsoever. Where I am from in California, liquor had to be sold. I never went to a grocery store or Walmart and saw no liquor on the shelves. Thankfully, we still have grocery stores around for that reason.
Below is the breakdown of each item.
• 2 pounds of beef roast- tri-tip, brisket, or chuck. $19.74
• Onion, white or yellow.- $2.58, I bought the ones already chopped.
• Jalapeno peppers,- $0.12
• Serrano pepper- $1.10
• Garlic cloves peeled- $2.98
• Tequila- $25.99
• Tablespoon of kosher salt.- already had the salt
• 30 corn tortillas- $3.97 for 80
The total amount for the ingredients for this recipe was $56.40. Now I can say, this has been our most expensive recipe we have made thus far. Hey when the recipe calls for spirits you cannot deny the calling. Especially, when you’re a sucker for tequila and lime. Luckily, we will not go broke after this recipe. Because of the cost of tequila, I would only make this recipe if I had some on hand. Other than that, I do not think this would be my go-to.
Those Cash Back Application Winnings
With my cash back applications, I was able to strike a win or two for all of the applications.
Ibotta actually came through for me. When I buy spirits, I always check this application first to see what brands will show for cash back. I was able to buy 1800 Silver Tequila
and receive three dollars cash back. Granted the tequila still cost me, 22.99 by that point but I can’t cheap out on the spirits.
Fetch Rewards in total ended up getting me 125 points. I got 25 points at Publix Liquor for the tequila. I got 50 points at the grocery portion of Publix. I also got 50 points from shopping at Walmart. Not too shabby for three receipts.
Shopkick got me 10 kicks for walking into Walmart. I was blanking on turning on my location to get kicks at Publix both times. Oh well, better than nothing.
Coinout got me 26 cents on cash back from three receipts. Again Coinout is not the cash back application that will make you rich overnight but the total does accumulate over time. I got 26 cents richer than I was before these shopping trips.
Outcomes and Recommendations
Overall, this shopping and cooking experience was definitely one for the books. Real cooks have scars from their experiences right? I got oil splatters on my arms to remind myself of these wonderful taquitos.
For example, frying is not the typical way of cooking food. Baking is more of the style. Also when making something like taquitos, steam or warm up your tortillas first. You will save yourself from some frustration because tortillas will rip when not warmed up.
I got a taste for how food was like back home in California. I miss having Western Mexican food that is not bombarded with Southern America twists. I miss the CaliMex style of Mexican food and this recipe just gave that back to me in a couple taquitos. I am grateful to have recipes like this in my back pocket.