Love this, especially the trademark story, although I hate things being decided by corporate threats of lawsuits.
I make my own flour tortillas for soft tacos, but that's very snottily Martha Stewart of me to mention, so yeah, I buy them about half the time. That said, the last time I bought hard shell tacos, they were ridiculously tiny and impossible to fill. Grrr.
I always loved my daddy’s tacos. He would pat ground beef in a half moon shape on one side of a tortilla and put them in an iron skillet with oil and fry them folding the other side of the tortilla over. Once done, and draining them on a sheet of paper towels, we put cheese, chopped tomatoes, lettuce and chopped sweet pickles inside. I think he learned to make them this way in Arizona. We’d keep them warm in the oven while he made tostadas and enchiladas.
I can't decide if I like the story of the trademark on Taco Tuesday or Linda's path to a cookbook more, but I'm very interested in this cornbread salad! What a great reminder that you never know what will happen when you just keep doing what you love.
Taco night is popular in the Scandinavian countries. This article about Magnus Nilsson from the Splendid Table talks about it. They also eat something called Taco Quiche that we made once at a cooking class at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. It's delicious.
From the article:
MC: Here's a question. How did a recipe for tacos make it into the book?
MN: The taco was brought to Sweden in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s by spice companies, and their goal was to sell seasoning kits, like little bags of taco seasoning. This became an instant hit. People loved it. The idea of the Friday night family taco in Sweden was kind of popularized, and what happens when something is really popular is that people grow bored with it, because they over-consume.
That's when the interesting parts really start to happen, because that's when you lose all respect for the origins, and you start adapting to better suit your circumstances, to better suit your palate, and so on. And that has led to dishes like the taco quiche, for example.
We really started leaning into Taco Tuesday during the pandemic. Sometimes, I change it up with taco salad, nachos (tonight), fajitas, or even my own version of taco soup.
There are so many incredible taco places here in SoCal, so half the time I’m a little ashamed when I take some packaged soft tortillas I picked up at Trader Joe’s that have already gotten stale and attempt to make something edible out of them. I’m so excited to make this taco salad--I think those stale tortillas might even revive when fried in oil, plus the variety of choices for fillings may just keep my always hungry (and fussy like a kid) husband happy--and me too! The taco soup and salad look off-the-chart good too! Luckily it’s dinner time here!
My husband and I both love tacos despite our empty nester status. When I was working as a special education assistant in the elementary school, this shocked one of my students. (Mrs. Laurent-you’re too old to eat tacos)! I always double the ground beef filling, so we can have them leftover for lunch. I am a fan of clean out the fridge taco salad while David likes the crispy corn tortilla shell tacos.
Taco (Salad) Tuesday! - No. 247
Love this, especially the trademark story, although I hate things being decided by corporate threats of lawsuits.
I make my own flour tortillas for soft tacos, but that's very snottily Martha Stewart of me to mention, so yeah, I buy them about half the time. That said, the last time I bought hard shell tacos, they were ridiculously tiny and impossible to fill. Grrr.
I always loved my daddy’s tacos. He would pat ground beef in a half moon shape on one side of a tortilla and put them in an iron skillet with oil and fry them folding the other side of the tortilla over. Once done, and draining them on a sheet of paper towels, we put cheese, chopped tomatoes, lettuce and chopped sweet pickles inside. I think he learned to make them this way in Arizona. We’d keep them warm in the oven while he made tostadas and enchiladas.
I can't decide if I like the story of the trademark on Taco Tuesday or Linda's path to a cookbook more, but I'm very interested in this cornbread salad! What a great reminder that you never know what will happen when you just keep doing what you love.
Taco night is popular in the Scandinavian countries. This article about Magnus Nilsson from the Splendid Table talks about it. They also eat something called Taco Quiche that we made once at a cooking class at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. It's delicious.
From the article:
MC: Here's a question. How did a recipe for tacos make it into the book?
MN: The taco was brought to Sweden in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s by spice companies, and their goal was to sell seasoning kits, like little bags of taco seasoning. This became an instant hit. People loved it. The idea of the Friday night family taco in Sweden was kind of popularized, and what happens when something is really popular is that people grow bored with it, because they over-consume.
That's when the interesting parts really start to happen, because that's when you lose all respect for the origins, and you start adapting to better suit your circumstances, to better suit your palate, and so on. And that has led to dishes like the taco quiche, for example.
https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2016/07/21/taco-quiche-tacopaj
Taco John's also donated money to charity after relenting on the trademark. https://tacojohns.com/taco-johns-to-share-taco-tuesday-issues-challenge-to-competitors-and-leb-to-support-workers-not-lawyers/
The trademark came to light because Lebron James wanted to trademark it. That's part of the reason he's been a spokesperson for Taco Bell ( Jersey is a holdout https://njbiz.com/battle-for-taco-tuesday-in-nj-shows-no-signs-of-cooling-off/#:~:text=While%20the%20Yum!,where%20Gregory's%20holds%20the%20rights. ).
https://www.today.com/food/news/taco-bell-taco-tuesday-trademark-taco-johns-rcna84678
this one, even older may have a paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/style/lebron-taco-tuesday-trademark.html
We really started leaning into Taco Tuesday during the pandemic. Sometimes, I change it up with taco salad, nachos (tonight), fajitas, or even my own version of taco soup.
Funny coincidence because last night I pulled out your Dinner Doctor book and bought the ingredients for the taco soup.
I love the 1954 can-do: use chips, no problem! Great and delicious post, Anne!
There are so many incredible taco places here in SoCal, so half the time I’m a little ashamed when I take some packaged soft tortillas I picked up at Trader Joe’s that have already gotten stale and attempt to make something edible out of them. I’m so excited to make this taco salad--I think those stale tortillas might even revive when fried in oil, plus the variety of choices for fillings may just keep my always hungry (and fussy like a kid) husband happy--and me too! The taco soup and salad look off-the-chart good too! Luckily it’s dinner time here!
My husband and I both love tacos despite our empty nester status. When I was working as a special education assistant in the elementary school, this shocked one of my students. (Mrs. Laurent-you’re too old to eat tacos)! I always double the ground beef filling, so we can have them leftover for lunch. I am a fan of clean out the fridge taco salad while David likes the crispy corn tortilla shell tacos.
I'm afraid to read this before I've had breakfast.... 😆😅