Tacos Our Way

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
• 1 teaspoon recaito (optional)
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon ground dried ancho chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, to taste
• 8 -12 taco-size corn tortillas or 1 package hard taco shell
• butter (if using corn tortillas)
• For garnish
• shredded cheddar cheese
• chopped tomato
• chopped or shredded lettuce
• sour cream
• guacamole or chopped avocado
• hot sauce or catsup

1. Saute the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat until just soft, then add the garlic and recaito and stir well.
2. Add the ground beef, then the ancho and cumin, and cook until meat is well-browned, using a spatula to break up the cooked meat into smaller pieces (some folks call this "hamburger gravel"), about 10 minutes.
3. Julie's method of putting together her taco: take a corn tortilla and thinly spread butter on both sides, then fry in a hot skillet for about 15 to 20 seconds per side to soften the tortilla; fill with cooked meat and desired garnishes (for me that's just cheese, meat mixture, and - yes- catsup because that's how I grew up eating them and yes I know it's weird).
4. Steingrim's method: fill hard taco shell with cooked meat, all garnishes, and hot sauce so spicy you'd swear it would eat its way through the bottle.
5. Note: recaito is a kind of prepared herb mixture containing onion, garlic, peppers, recao leaves, and cilantro; we get it in the jar in the Mexican section of the grocery store.

onion, olive oil, clove garlic, recaito, lean ground beef, ground dried ancho chile powder, ground cumin, taco, butter, cheddar cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, hot sauce

Taken from www.food.com/recipe/tacos-our-way-107538 (may not work)