# South Texas Breakfast Tacos



## no mayonnaise (Oct 19, 2011)

There seems to be a distinct lack of good breakfast taco recipes out there.  The ones I do find don't really resemble what I grew up eating in the breakfast taco capital of America, instead more resembling a Mexican omelet shoved into a tortilla.  Figured I'd put out some info on how it's done more traditionally.
The key to these is the tortilla.  You simply cannot use store-bought tortillas. Either make your own or get a dozen from your local taqueria but only if they are freshly made!  If you are stuck with no other options, one thing you can do to liven up store-bought tortillas is to lightly brush 1 side with bacon grease, and first put the ungreased side down in a really hot pan.  Let brown slightly, maybe 30 seconds at most without burning, then flip over to the greased side.  Wrap in foil in keep in a low oven til ready to use--but still inferior to fresh made.  These are basic tacos and you can mix and match the fillings to your taste, but don't get carried away; breakfast tacos are meant to be simple on-the-go breakfast food that you can eat while driving to work.
Let's get started with my personal favorite:

Potato Egg and Cheese
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3 large eggs
Cheddar or Provolone cheese
A Handful of French fries (My secret ingredient are frozen Ore-Ida waffle fries, feel free to make your own they're all the more better that way but I find the extra hassle and mess totally not worth it--Plus if you go frozen, this turns into a one-pan breakfast that's REALLY quick and who can complain about that??)
Avocado, optional

Lay out the fries on a cookie sheet, toss with oil or spray with Pam, season with salt and pepper, then oven-bake the frozen fries until almost done.  At the temp listed on the bag, I go for 11 minutes.  The fries will be semi-crispy.  In a nonstick pan over medium heat, use a tiny bit of grease and crack all three eggs into the pan.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir immediately to scramble the eggs in the pan.  After about 10-20 seconds toss the cooked waffle fries into the eggs and continue to scramble the eggs while breaking up the larger fries with the edge of your spatula, while now gently turning the eggs in the pan in a folding motion to not turn the fries into mashed potatoes.  You want the liquidy eggs to seep into the fries a little bit.  While doing this, put the cheese on the open tortillas and once the eggs are done, divide evenly into the tortillas.  At this point you can put a slice of avocado in the taco on top of the eggs.  Wrap in foil and keep warm 'til ready to eat.  Serve with salsa.

I'll add more in the coming days.


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## MountainMath (Oct 19, 2011)

Sounds good to me!


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## TATTRAT (Oct 19, 2011)

Mi Gusta


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## texherp (Oct 20, 2011)

The way we made them growing up was with frozen, country-style hash browns in a pan with a little breakfast sausage, then add the eggs on top when the potatoes are done.  Sometimes you could toss in some bell pepper, onions or garlic powder.  It's so good with a warm flour tortilla and salsa!


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## no mayonnaise (Oct 20, 2011)

Bean and Cheese
(pretty much just a recipe for refried beans)
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1 lb. dry pinto beans, picked over for stones, rinsed and soaked for 8 hours in plain water
1 yellow onion, 3-4 Tbsp. of it brunoise or finely minced.
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
5 strips of bacon, or as much as it takes to render about 1/4 cup of bacon grease
1 smoked ham hock or pork belly

Drain beans from soaking water and refill with clean water about 2" over beans.  Add in half the onion and the ham hock.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until beans are done, anywhere from 1-2 hours.  They will be soft and you can squeeze them easily with your hand.  Reserve 1 cup of the boiling liquid, discard the onion and ham hock.  In another pan, render all of the bacon fat and remove the bacon.  Add in 3-4 Tablespoons of onion and a sprinkle of salt to the bacon fat, and sweat until the onions are soft and translucent.  Add in the garlic and cook to remove the pungency of the garlic, 1-2 minutes more.
Using a spider or slotted spoon, start transferring the beans into the bacon grease.  Once everyone's joined the bacon fat party in the other pot you can start mashing with a potato masher.  You want the beans to be a smooth consistency, don't undermash them.  You could use a blender if you wanted.  Add the beans boiling liquid to the beans as needed to keep them moist.  Season with salt and pepper.  If using black beans instead, which isn't so common in SoTex, make sure you add some epazote to the boiling liquid.
Prepare tortillas and cheese like before.  Add beans.  A favorite of mine is to skip the cheese and add a scrambled egg.  Even better is an over medium egg broken up in the tortilla.  And possibly even more of my favorite is a bean, bacon, and cheese.


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## Cooking_Queen (Jan 18, 2012)

Soundssss sooo good... But I tried it and omg out of this world good thanks


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## Zhizara (Jan 18, 2012)

Thanks for inspiring me to try a breakfast taco (omelet).  I just beat 3 eggs, let it get half set, added a wide stripe of heated taco meat and added shredded taco cheddar to cover.  I finished it with a minute under the broiler, folded and plated, then added salsa across the top.  Quick and delicious!


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## giggler (Jan 18, 2012)

You don't say where you are from..

but I guess South Texas..

what about Guisada?!

My personal Fave is Bean and Egg..

Use Mayo's bean recipe but smash them, then scramble 1 egg and serve in taco..

note.. I think store bought flour tortillas are just fine..

but Homemade Salsa is The Key to this dish!

Eric, Austin Tx.


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## GLC (Jan 18, 2012)

The cafe in my Austin office building offers the full array of options, carne guisada, picadillo, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, cheese, beans.  And a popular alternative to hash browns, what they call "hot potatoes," like chopped fries with onions and jalapenos. It's not Joe's Bakery or Juan In a Million, but it'll do.


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