Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Food Related => Topic started by: Hank D Thoreau on September 12, 2021, 07:55:55 PM
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I decided I needed another use for pulled pork. We have a cook at our house with an air fryer so I decided to try taquitos.
The pork butt took 14.5 hours in my Daniel Boone. With prep, rest and shred, I probably put over 16 hours into it.
Making the taquitos turned out to be pretty easy. I used store bought corn tortillas instead of making my own. Homemade tortillas will come next.
I tried both standard and extra large size to see which worked the best.
The fryer was set to 375 deg F. The first batches used the regular sized tortillas. We had to soften them in the microwave with a damp paper towel for about 20 seconds to get them to roll.
The pulled the first batch after 8 minutes and the tortillas were very crispy. We went 6 minutes with the next batch. They were softer, more so on the bottom where the fat migrates. So 6 to 8 seemed like the right range depending on how soft or crispy you like them.
The next day (today) we cooked a couple more batches. This time we had trouble with the tortillas breaking when we rolled them. I am not sure why. We had to heat them much hotter to minimize, but not eliminate, the breakage.
We also had to throw away a number of tortillas that broke on us. We ended up using the large tortillas and increasing the time to seven minutes. These turned out like the six minute taquitos with the regular sized tortillas.
The final batch was cooked for eight minutes and turned out nice and crunchy. The eight minute taquitos are in the picture below.
I made up a quick guacamole from California avocados, green onions, tomatoes, Herdez Salsa Casera and garlic salt. I like the Herdez salsa better for making guacamole and bean dip than as a dip for chips.
These simple taquitos are a real comfort food winner that I am going to keep on my menu when I do pulled pork or beef. I used no oil which make them a bit healthier than a conventional fried taquito.
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Nice cook and write up! I am a beef taquito guy, but that is due to pulled pork aversion! You guacamole looks very good!
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I do shredded beef from beef chucks pretty frequently. It is a favorite at my house. The next batch will more likely be beef taquitos.
I have some heirloom blue and red corn masa. I made tortillas from the red, which I posted about. I still have to try the blue.
The colored masa is a bit stronger in flavor. I may order some white masa just in case the red and blue overwhelm the taquitos.
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So there is only meat in them? Sorry, I am not up on the Mexican foods. I will make what the places we usually go to call Flautas, we went to another place about 45 minutes away and they called them Taquitos but they looked pretty much like Flautas. I usually try some thing different every time we go, so I have no favorite things, the Chicken and cheese flautas are all the GF usually gets.
I have done something like you have with taco meat in flour tortillas in the air fryer, I usually hit them with some olive oil spray from the Misto.
We rarely do corn tortillas, although I love hard shell tacos.
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A light spray of oil on both sides then into a hot skillet for a few seconds should help with the breaking. The older they get the more fragile they can become. I waste lots of them or turn them into chips.
I was taught that flautas are made with flour tortillas and taquitos are corn. Taguiritos and enchritos are made up BS from Taco Bell. :rotf:
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In general, taquitos are made of corn tortillas and flautas are made of flour. Flautas are generally larger than taquitos since flour tortillas are usually larger.
That said, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
I think there are dishes that are made for corn and dishes that are made for flour. I was very disappointed once when I bought some enchiladas for lunch from Sam's Club and they turned out to be made from flour tortillas.
That is just wrong. Below are some pictures of American style tacos, and enchiladas made from hand made red corn tortillas.
I make corn tortillas, but have never made flour. My sister makes flour. This is my post on making corn tortillas. https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=4867.0
I am thinking of making a mold and trying to make hard taco shells in the air fryer. I eat a lot of tacos.
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Hank I will try guacamole with Herdez, sounds interesting. Thanks. I do use it for Mexican stir frys and reheating leftover meats.
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In general, taquitos are made of corn tortillas and flautas are made of flour. Flautas are generally larger than taquitos since flour tortillas are usually larger.
That said, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
I think there are dishes that are made for corn and dishes that are made for flour. I was very disappointed once when I bought some enchiladas for lunch from Sam's Club and they turned out to be made from flour tortillas.
That is just wrong. Below are some pictures of American style tacos, and enchiladas made from hand made red corn tortillas.
I make corn tortillas, but have never made flour. My sister makes flour. This is my post on making corn tortillas. https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=4867.0
I am thinking of making a mold and trying to make hard taco shells in the air fryer. I eat a lot of tacos.
Those Tacos look awesome, I would eat them and look for more.
I have ordered enchiladas a couple times from different places, but I have not found any to compare to the first ones I had. They were bought from the trunk of a car, and they were great. I really liked the sauce and the flavors in them.
I am going to go back through you makingtortillas thread and check it out. it sounds like another project I need to try.
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Those look great! When we make crispy tacos we just fry them flat in a CI skillet for a few seconds and then flip one half over onto the other to make the taco shape and keep flipping as needed. We use the store bought H-E-B corn tortillas because they are the softest ones I have ever found, but only if they are pretty fresh. I have found that storing them in the fridge makes them get stiff and fall apart. We just keep them in the pantry. Once it gets cooler I am going to try to make corn ones again. So far I haven't been very successful.
We get flour ones from a local restaurant. The girls love them.
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Enchiladas? I have seen people sell tamales out of cars and food trucks, but not enchiladas. Did they sell them in large amounts? Or did they sell individual enchiladas?
I have ordered enchiladas a couple times from different places, but I have not found any to compare to the first ones I had. They were bought from the trunk of a car...
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All that time you put into the taquitos and I cannot take my eyes off the guacamole! That looks outstanding.
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All that time you put into the taquitos and I cannot take my eyes off the guacamole! That looks outstanding.
I was eying that up too!
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Enchiladas? I have seen people sell tamales out of cars and food trucks, but not enchiladas. Did they sell them in large amounts? Or did they sell individual enchiladas?
I have ordered enchiladas a couple times from different places, but I have not found any to compare to the first ones I had. They were bought from the trunk of a car...
A girl that used to work or one of my customers at the time, got into helping someone she knew. This person made things and I think she, may have had a small storefront somewhere, but the girl I knew would get stuff and take it round to the car dealerships and garages around lunch time. She usually had hoagies, enchiladas, other sandwiches, things like that. I think the enchiladas were packaged 3 or 4 to a tray, they had a very red sauce on them, it was on the thinner side.
I hadn't seen her for a while and one day we bumped in to each other, she told me that the person making the stuff quit for some reason.
we had a guy that had a small bakery in his basement, he would come around in a caravan loaded with cookies, small pies, apple dumplings, gobs, huge cinnamon rolls, pieces of cake. Another would come around with bags or jars large red skin peanuts that had larger grains of salt. I have not had boiled peanuts so that maybe what they were. Some one would come selling different nut rolls around Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you can think about it we probably had someone coming in to the store selling that food item at one time or another.
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I think there is one important key to making good guacamole....NO SOUR CREAM.
Sour cream distracts from the flavor of the avocadoes, onions and tomatoes.
Guacamole does not have to be smooth and creamy.
For full disclosure, I also drink orange juice with extra pulp.
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I have never been real impressed with restaurant enchiladas. They are usually pretty anemic and look like they were thrown together quickly.
My enchiladas are big, round and have an abundance of filling, without being too much. They are much more of a meal than the flat enchiladas you often find.
My taquitos are also bigger and meatier than what you normally find. That is the advantage of making your own.
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The taciqutos I make are tighter and deep fried, the ground beef meat is more of a highly seasoned paste to stay in the shell. More of an appetizer you would dip in your guac then an entrée item! Much like the very sought after 2 for .99¢ tacos at Jack n the Box...Man, do I miss those and the Extreme Sausage Sandwich!
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The worse taquitos I have ever eaten were frozen, made with some sort of thin meat, like sandwich meat, rolled up with the tortilla.
The second worse are the frozen ones with filling that looks like it was injected. This is more often found with chicken taquitos.
In general, these are okay if you cover them with enough guacamole to add some actual flavor. Of course, that depends on whether the guacamole is any good.
Usually, with these type of frozen taquitos, you get that liquidly light green guacamole.
Good guacamole cannot be poured; it must be spooned.
As far as Jack-'N-The-Box is concerned: are they still making the fajita pita?
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Last time I was at a Jack n the Box was 2016 or 17. Never knew the did a Pita!
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I think there is one important key to making good guacamole....NO SOUR CREAM.
Sour cream distracts from the flavor of the avocadoes, onions and tomatoes.
Guacamole does not have to be smooth and creamy.
For full disclosure, I also drink orange juice with extra pulp.
I agree. No sour cream and extra pulp for me also. And I like chunks in my guacamole.