Tacos, what's the point of them?

[MrTiddlesTheCat]

Can someone explain the mystery of tacos for me? DS is constantly mithering that he wants tacos but I don't get them at all. So you get this hard shell thingy that you fill with hot chilli. Then you try to eat it but as soon as you bite into it, the whole thing falls apart and lands on your lap.

Clearly I'm missing something, like someone who's never seen pasta before thinking you eat it raw or something. Anyone up for teaching an old cat something they've clearly failed to learn themselves?

Put lettuce (washed and dried) in the bottom first, it prevents it from falling apart meat just goes along the top you don't fill it up.The soft shell boats are quite useful instead and don't fall apart as easily

I also find them a faff so don't make them but Taco Bell is DDs takeaway of choice if having it.

Get a burrito instead? As far as I can gather, fillings are potentially identical, at least in their chain restaurant incarnation, but they fall apart less easily.

The point of tacos is they’re delicious. Each bite has a variety of flavours, temperatures and textures from the tortilla, the main filling and salsas. Tacos don’t have to be a hard shell. Soft corn tortillas are more traditional (though harder to get in the UK)

I adore tacos. And yea they are messy to eat. Those soft shell boats are horrible.

I love a taco, lettuce, tomato, cheese, meat and spicy mayo nom nom

I also love burritos….i just love Mexican food

I do the soft tortillas. It's the hard shell ones he's whinging about. I've taken to doing all the other stuff and putting tortilla chips on the side, thus pre empting the collapse.

What blasphemy is this? Tacos are the perfect delivery mechanism for a gorgeous combination of meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese and spices.

I could live on tacos

But how do you eat it without half of it disappearing down your cleavage?

You can buy soft corn tortillas for tacos in nearly all major supermarkets. They’re much nicer. We have them weekly, mostly fish, but sometimes pork or vegetables.

They’re great for hosting as they’re gluten free, you can put out a range of fillings that will please carnivores and vegans, people can add their own spice level. Just add a couple of jugs of margaritas and palomas!

I'm with you OP. Just don't make sense!

Lean over your plate so it falls onto that. I know it is street food but it's far too messy or, Im far too messy at eating to have tacos out the house really.

They don't touch the crispy ones in Mexico - they are a US invention - basically using a tortilla chip as a bread - it is a genius move but utterly inauthentic

As above. A couple of leaves of little gem lettuce as a shell liner . And don’t overfill the meat you greedy cah.

when we have tacos (which everyone loves) we serve them in what we call "bowl plates" and often after a few bites it's more of a taco salad.

Just put the taco meat (I actually put black beans in my mixture as well) in the shells and have the rest of the extra bits in bowls on the table and everyone makes their own.
Cheese (first topping so it melts on the heat of the meat)
Shredded lettuce
diced tomato
peppers
jalapeños
salsa
guacamole (literally mushed up avocado with fresh lime squeezed in and sea salt)
soured cream
etc

Delicious!!!!

When I first bite them and they crack at the bottom, I just keep a steady pressure on the 2 halves to keep the filling sandwiched between them and not much falls out. I also lean over the plate. Agree that shredded lettuce in the bottom helps keep the beef in there.

I usually have (from bottom up) lettuce, tomato, avocado/guac, chillies, meat, cheese, sour cream.

I want tacos now.

You mention having them with chilli? They're much easier to have when the filling doesn't have a sauce

We make our own corn tortillas for them not a fan of the shells either

I’m a messy eater too so I eat them in taco bowl format. Enchiladas and quesadilla are easy to eat “nicely”

I’m guessing that your son likes tacos through YouTube or similar? Is he after something like the Big Mac taco which was popular on social media a few months ago?

We all love tacos here. When we're having the hard shell NOT the tortilla wrap, I find straight after heating in the microwave not the oven as they get harder, to ensure when you fill you have plenty of juices from the filling and leave to sit for a minute and they soften up the shell, they're still crispy, they still break but not to the point of the whole thing collapsed. Another thing I found is we always used old el paso they are much thicker, then I discovered m&s taco kit and their shells are much thinner, they don't break into pieces .

Turn the buggers sideways and then when the base cracks the now bottom part (hopefully)will stay in one piece allowing it to act as a platter for the fillings. You def have to lean over the plate though, this is not an eat in the sofa kind of food

but also look at flautas, chimichangas and enchiladas..food of the gods

Soft corn tortillas aren't hard to get, Old El Paso do them!

I agree with you op, we have nachos if we want the crunchy ones.

Line your plate with a soft tortilla, eat the crunchy one leaning over your plate. Two tacos for the price of one.

They are messy but your filling is probably way too wet. An authentic taco would be filled with pulled meat like pork slow cooked, or crispy fried fish. Chilli beef in a taco is not going to work. Also ditch the hard shelll ones, grim and not Mexican!

Perfectly put 👌
😋 they're delicious, that's why. Soft shell tacos just aren't the same, hard shell all the way! 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮