Beef tacos

With ground beef. That has got to be an American thing. I do not recall seeing ground beef in Mexico. I'm sure they have it, I just didn't see it. 

* 1/2 small diced white onion

* 1 clove garlic squashed to bits

* 1 diced jalapeño pepper inner membrane included, seeds discarded. 

* powdered cumin

* powdered cilantro

* sea salt 

* black pepper

* hot chile flakes 

* hot cayenne powder

* 1 level teaspoon flour

* 8 oz ground beef

* 1/2 cup commercial beef broth. (substitutions: chicken broth, beer, milk, water)

* 1 small tomato

Taste. Adjust as necessary. Mine wasn't nearly hot enough so I added more cayenne powder. 

The cut tomato is added to the finished mixture only to avail its adhesive quality. Helps prevent tomato chunks falling all over the place. The cheese melts by the heat of the mixture in the taco shell so the only loose bits are the combined lettuce with cilantro. 

The idea for tacos arose from discovering boxes of taco shells in the pantry when I was scrounging around two weeks ago. Hey, you take your inspiration from wherever it comes. I didn't know the boxes were in there. I didn't know if the shells would still be any good. The shells were heated in a toaster oven for eight minutes and they seemed to me fresh as new.  

The cheese is Swiss Gruyère, decidedly non-Mexican but it sure is good. 

Okay, I get why tacos are so popular even when utterly Americanized, Texas-ified, California-ized, commercialized, industrialized, Pasteurized. And don't you love the commercials where the dad is hammering penny nails into the table top in order to create taco holders and you can feel the frustration with tacos tipping over, and then the little girl whispers something into his ear and the next thing she is instantly celebrated with shoulder ride through adoring crowd, confetti, and mariachi trumpets, for having solved an enduring vexing problem -- flat bottom taco shells! I do admit that is a brilliant idea, especially for a little girl. I mean come'on. Credit where it is due. After all these centuries, all the adaptations and developments, a commercial enterprise comes along and improved the shape of taco shells.