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Beef & Oaxaca Tacos
Minced cube steak rubbed with cumin, lime, and fresh ground pequin peppers. cooked on a flattop with sofrito and creamy Oaxaca cheese.
I’ve been experimenting a lot on my flat top. Now that I’m through the seasoning stages, and feel I’ve developed a nice barrier I’ve been making everything. If it weren’t for the Texas sun I’d probably be out cooking all day. This recipe was inspired by my little infatuation of what can I melt on the flattop and my undying love of taco truck tacos. These tacos came together in under an hour, had tremendous flavor, and were ultra cheesy. Check out my tips and tricks below for the best beef and Oaxaca tacos. Try this recipe out and let me know what you think!
TIPS & TRICKS FOR THE BEST BEEF AND OAXACA TACOS
peqiun peppers: i can only ever find pequins fresh and whole. when i do they are in the produce section with the other peppers. pequin peppers are the peppers found in Tabasco sauce. they have heat to them with a little smokiness. if you cant find pequin a couple of shakes of Tabasco will do.
cube & slice: for this recipe, i used cube steak. It’s a super cheap cut that leaves tender results, especially with fast cooking. make your cube steak at home by taking top or bottom round, sliced into steaks and use the spiked side of the mallet to make indentation that breaks down the meat. slice the meat similar to fajita strips to get more area covered in seasoning
to reduce moisture: for this recipe, i make a sofrito, the thought was, you generally add minced peppers and onions to anything else on the griddle, so why not a sofrito? the problem is the moisture. you don’t want to steam the meat. you want caramelized chunks. start the sofrito separate to dry it out and a little before it’s added to the meat.
Oaxaca: Oaxaca is the cheese. It’s what you expect cheese to be. super stringy and melty. it’s nice and salty and lets everything shine. i usually find Oaxaca in the meat section its a giant wrapped smooth ball or smooth strips. it looks identical to fresh mozzarella just balled in a unique way.
roll them hot: a lot of times people don’t heat the tortillas. this is a must. tortillas are easier to roll when they are hot and they have so much more flavor to give. roll and wrap your tacos in foil while everything is hot. if you are rolling straight on the flattop reduce the heat on the last burner so you can handle the tortillas better. rolled tacos can easily be unwrapped to fill with onions, cilantro, and jicama later.
add jicama; sometimes with everything coated in cheese your palette needs a break. my tacos generally always include minced onions, cilantro, and lime. today I added jicama for some extra sweetness and cut the heat. try it out!
fresh salsa: since i made the sofrito in the food processor. i decided to make a quick fresh salsa. to make that i tossed in 3 aroma tomatoes, a bunch of cilantro, jalapenos, onions, and vinegar. blended till broken down and still chunky. makes for the quickest fleshiest salsa ever!
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Beef & Oaxaca Tacos
INGREDIENTS
- 2lb Cubed steak
- 6oz Oaxaca Cheese
- Lard
- Large Flour Tortillas
- Jicama, grated
- Yellow Onions, minced
- Cilantro, minced
- RUB
- 2tsp Cumin
- 2tsp Black Pepper
- 5 Pequin Peppers, ground
- 2 Limes
- 1tsp Smoked Paprika
- 2tsp Garlic Powder
- Salt
- SOFRITO
- 1 Carrot, rough chopped
- 1 Yellow Onion, rough chopped
- 1/2bunch Cilantro
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- 1 Jalapeno, seeds optional
- 1 Roma Tomato, rough chopped
- 2 Peguin Peppers
- 1tsp Salt
- 2tsp Olive Oil
INSTRUCTIONS
- Slice the cube steak into thin strips. Combine all the ingredients under rub together and cover the meat. Season with enough salt to cover the meat about a tablespoon.
- Let the rub sit for 30 minutes.
- Combine all the ingredients together listed under soffrito into a food processor, blend until everything is broken down into small chunks. Keep separate from the meat.
- On a flat top over high heat. Put a couple tablespoons of lard into the pan.
- Fry the meat. Next to the meat place the soffrito down and fry the veggies until some of the moisture is reduced.
- Add the soffrito in with the cooking meat and toss together.
- Once the meat is cooked. Lower the heat and place Oaxaca cheese over the top. ( If your pan is dry now throw in another tablespoon of lard) .
- Once the cheese starts to melt, chop it into the beef until completely melted.
- Heat tortillas next to the meat, toss into the tortillas, fold both ends and rolls.
- Tacos can be filled with an additional minced onion, cilantro and crisp jicama.
- Serve with a fresh salsa and enjoy!
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