Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximus

[Fry]

So... You thought you knew everything about tacos???
FRYTH'S MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT UNDERSTANDING AND MANIPULATION OF THE TACUS MAXIMUS
(AKA TACO)



Contents

Justification
About the author
Introduction
The basics
Classification
Where to eat them
Credits ​

Justification

Many users refer to this site as TI, I thought it could be a reference for Taco Info, but since we don’t have any taco guide, I figured I’d write one.

I’m posting this on the tavern, because it’s the place to talk about anything, so this guide was created mainly for cultural reference.

I hope you enjoy it and find it useful, if you ever travel to Mexico or if you are just curious about the subject in question.

No trolling intended.

DISCLAIMER:
I do not own the pictures used on this thread. They were used only with educational purposes.

THIS IS NOT A GUIDE CONTAINING RECIPES, IT’S JUST A DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TACOS, SINCE THE MISSINFORMATION IS TOO DAMN HIGH.

IF YOU WANT RECIPES, I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO HELP YOU. SO, CONTACT YOUR CLOSEST COOKING TEACHER. THANKS.

Aaaaand, Welcome!


About the Author

Hey, I’m Fryth/Freeth. Also referred as Hern, Herneith or Fry. I play a priest in the 20-24 (now 20-29) bracket. Some of you might have mexican descendence, but it happens that I was born and am currently living in Mexico.

I wanted to write a useful guide, but since I know very little about the game (and apparently everyone has already written a guide about everything), I thought a food guide would be interesting to post.

If you have any questions, you can post them here or PM me.




Introduction

The taco

The word “taco” comes from spanish language and could refer to:

a) A way of eating
b) The dish itself
c) Derogatory term for spanish speakers, specially mexicans (e_e Don’t do that!)​

About the etymology of the word, no one is certain of its origins. Many people think it was originated from the náhuatl (small historical reference here: Mexico was the home of a large amount of ancient civilizations, such as the mayans –that’s probably the only one’s you’ve heard of- but they weren’t the only ones. Náhuatl is the dialect that used to be spoken by one of the most important civilizations in Mexico: the “mexicas” or “aztecas”, which used to live in, what today is known as, Mexico City).
So, in Mexico there were many variants of tortillas (you’ve probably heard that word before). And, according to the written memories of Sahagún (a person from Spain, part of a numerous group, that came to America –the continent- and conquered it), we can find words as ueitlaxcalli, quauhtaqualli and tlaxcalpocholi (all of them in náhuatl), to describe the different types of tortillas.
Long story short, Spanish people were unable to pronounce those words (you could try it too, I bet you can’t ), so instead of saying them correctly, they shortened them to “taqualli” and from there to “tlaco” and finally, taco. (Yay, it’s easier to pronounce that last one!).

There’s a dish called taco. But there is a strong possibility that you have never eaten a real taco. It’s all good, I’m here to help you.

WARNING: This is NOT a taco

Now that we have agreed on that (hehe, I didn’t ask if you agreed), we can continue to the next section.

 

[Fry]

Part 2- Taco guide

The Basics

You can skip this part, but I think it could be useful for you. Since many of the terms are in spanish, and you’re not likely to know what they mean, I encourage you to check this first. If, however, you feel like your spanish is really good or don’t care if you understand or not, then yep.. go on and skip to the next section.

I’ll go on here from basic stuff to specific stuff.

Taco: I already mentioned that there are two asceptions of the word, but I didn’t explain them.

By definition, anything wrapped in a tortilla can be called taco. Yep, anything D:

But there’s also a dish called taco, usually using meat as a filling. We’ll go deeper on that in the next section.

Tortilla: This word is very common. Formal definition says that it’s a a thin, round, unleavened bread made from cornmeal or wheat flour, and baked on a griddle or stone. Tortillas for tacos are mainly made from corn, not flour, and depending on its preparation, you can find them in various sizes and colours, such as the following.

-tortilla azul (blue tortilla)

-tortilla normal (just tortilla)

-tortilla para tacos tradicionales (small tortillas commonly used for tacos –the dish)

Verdura: This is a tricky word. Literal translation would be “vegetables”. When you buy tacos, they usually ask you if you want them with “verdura” or not. Verdura, when talking about tacos, refers to the topping, which is usually onion and coriander. Not other vegetables, sorry.

Salsa: Literal translation: sauce. These are prepared manually (you can’t go buy some canned salsa, welllll… you could, but please don’t). There are many, MANY different kinds of them, but we’ll just focus on three or four of them, later on. Just know that I’m not talking about these:

Classification

I haven’t found a formal classification for tacos (let’s be realistic, who writes a guide about them?). So, I decided to group them according to their fillings and I’ll give a small description about them.

The names used here are their popular names. Most of them refer to what’s inside them.

Small warning:Read the description first, I’ll post the pictures as spoilers. They don’t look bad, but when you read some fillings, you might want to throw up.


SMALL TORTILLA


Tacos de carnitas (I am not sure how to translate what, let’s just say “tacos of carnitas”)

These are very common in many parts of the country. Carnitas, literally mean “little meats”. It’s only pork meat, typically the front sections of the hog or pork shoulder, and it’s braised or roasted for a looooong time (it can take days of preparation). The meat is then shredded or pulled and cooked in lard, which makes them kinda crispy except for its center.

Depending on the part, you can get tacos of:

-maciza (just the meat, no fat, bone or skin).

-nana (this is the.. uhh.. uterus of the female pork)

-trompa (its mouth)

-oreja (ears)

-bofe (its cheek)

-others like lung, liver, guts… even the skin, which is prepared differently. ​

Tacos de cabeza (uhh… well, I’ll stop translating. Let’s just say cabeza=head)

These tacos are just filled with parts of the head of cows or pork. Usually boiled with water, onion and salt. And tortillas aren’t fried either, usually just heated with the steam of the meat.

There can be different as the ones above, such as:

-maciza (I already explained this!, it’s just the meat)

-trompa (mouth)

-cachete (cheek)

-sesos (its brain D: )

-lengua (its tongue)

-ojo (the err.. eyes)​

Tacos de barbacoa

Mexican barbacoa is very different from BBQ. Mexican barbacoa is meat prepared in a way that allows it to be very tender when it’s cooked, and shred very easily. The traditional way to make it is with lamb or goat meat, but you could find it made of beef or even chicken. Traditionally, it’s cooked in underground ovens lined with maguey leaves where the meat is cooked. In Mexico, such ovens are frequently located near the “rastros”, slaughterhouses where animals are killed and sold to butchers. This guarantees the meat will be as fresh as possible.

Tortillas are prepared with hands (not machines) and cooked in comales (see image below).

 

[Fry]

Part 3- Taco guide

Tacos al pastor (pastor means shepherd)

These are common in the central part of Mexico. It’s origin is likely to be derived from the shawarma (arabic dish), but it’s also similar to the turkish kebab and the Greek gyros. The meat used in this mexican taco is pork.
The pork is marinated and combined with dried chiles, spices and pineapple. It’s cooked slowly with a gas flame on a vertical rotisserie called “trompo”, which looks like this.

When it’s ready, the meat is sliced thinly with a very large knife and it’s served on small tortillas, usually with pineapple.


Tacos al carbón

This is usually beef cooked in a grill. Similar to “fajitas”. (the only difference is the tortilla, I think, ‘cause all these tacos are made with corn, not flour) They are often served with grilled scallions and beans.


Tacos de fritangas

“Fritangas” is a term derived from the word “frito/frita”, which means fried. They are cooked in a round and metallic container and the meat is fried in them. You can find many types of meat, such as:

-Suadero (this is is a thin cut of beef from the intermediate part of the cow between the belly and the leg).
-Longaniza (pork sausage, spicy and similar to chorizo).
-Cecina (sheets of marinated beef, and a pork cut that is pounded thin and coated with chili pepper)
-Machitos ( the guts of the cow, boiled and previously braided to be fried).​

Tacos de canasta o sudados (canasta=basket)

These are very –VERY- soft tacos. They’re often sold in baskets on the streets, usually in the back of bikes, so that’s where the name comes from. The fillings can be varied, but the most popular are:

-potato and chorizo
-chicharrón prensado (pork rind, but soft and prepared with sauce)
-beans
-Others like green mole, beef, etc.​

They’re usually cheap and often served just with green sauce –with tomato- or guacamole.


NORMAL SIZED TORTILLA

Tacos dorados o flautas (flauta=flute)

These tacos are shredded meat (can be beef, pork or chicken), that is wrapped tight till they’re like a stick and then fried until they’re crunchy. They’re called “flautas” because they look like them. Their size can vary from around 10cm to 20 cm tall. (4-8 in).
These are not seved with “verdura”, and the toppings can vary. Some of them are sour cream, grated cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, etc. It’s mainly up to you.

Tacos de guisado (guisado=stew)

Like I said before, anything wrapped in a tortilla can be called a taco. These ones are more familiar (you’re likely to make them at your home), but there are some food stalls that sell them aswell.
They can be filled with any traditional food, really. Such as steak, egg, chicken, chicharrón, nopales, mushrooms, pork, etc.

OTHERS
There are other dishes that can’t be considered “everyday dishes”, but they’re part of our culinary heritage from the ancient civilizations that once lived in Mexico.
There are lots of regional, exotic dishes, such as:

-Tacos de charales

Charales are very small fried fishes (small meaning about 1 inch). They’re served with sauce and lemon.

-Tacos de gusano de maguey

Maguey (or agave) is a regional plant. But tacos are not made of the plant, but its habitants, the worms. If you think this is nasty, you should know they’re very expensive .
They’re fried and served with guacamole.


-Tacos de escamoles

Escamoles are eggs of ants. Very expensive aswell.

-Tacos de chapulines (chapulín=grasshopper)

Burritas or burritos

By definiton, they are tacos. However, they’re not entirely mexican, but Tex-Mex. You probably know more about them than me, because (I know this is shocking), they are not that popular in Mexico City, just in the north of Mexico, so I really haven’t tried one. (Thankfully).
Their main characteristic is that they’re not prepared with corn tortilla, but flour tortilla.

 

[Fry]

Part 4 - Taco guide

Sauces

You must know that, at least for most mexicans, it’s not a taco if it doesn’t have sauce. The spicier, the better.

I won’t go really deep into this subject, mainly because the variety of sauces is extense. However, I’ll just mention the most popular/traditional sauces.


Red sauce

Its main ingredient is tomato. It’s blended with water, garlic, onion and chilli.


Green sauce

It’s typically made by blending raw tomatillos (green tomatos), with jalapeño pepper, white onion, coriander and sometimes lime.


Guacamole

It’s a variant of the green sauce, but with avocado and sometimes tomato.


Pico de Gallo

It’s a fresh, uncooked type of “salad”, made with chopped tomato, onion, coriander, chilli (habaneros or jalapeños) and lime juice. Other ingredients can be added, such as shrimp, avocado, or even mango.

Where to eat them
There are many places that sell tacos, at all prices. You should know that the price of a good taco should be around 7 to 14 pesos (50 cents to 1 dollar per taco). Anything lower than that could kill you (I’m serious), mainly due to it’s questionable meat and poor hygiene.
You can find at least 1 place to buy tacos on almost every street. Yes, at least, but not all them are good.
Apart from checking on the price, you should be careful to go only to crowded places. A place with lots of costumers is usually a place that is trusted to serve good food.
Talking about the places, there are many of them.

Tacos the canasta are sold on bikes like these:

There are stalls on the streets near the subway stations that look like these:

You should avoid them unless you’ve been living here for ages, mainly because your digestive system would be “new” to try the food there and you’re likely to get sick.

There are other stalls that aren’t near subway stations but these aren’t good for you either. (They can be good for me , but not for you).

Restaurants are other option, but they’re a bit more expensive (for us, not for you!). You should always eat there. They’re not Taco Bell, (thankfully), so you’d be getting real AND HYGIENIC tacos.

There must be tacos near where you live, in case you can’t come here. Those are probably “’muricanized”, so I wouldn’t say they’re real tacos. However, you’re free to eat whatever you want.

If you have made it to this point, you either know a lot about tacos now or just skipped it all to comment on the thread. Either way, thanks for giving it a look. I hope it was useful for you.

Good luck on your taco adventure!!!


Credits

This guide was written after some research and based on my own experience. I want to thank @Rhaellia and @Kincaide for taking the time to read it and checking its syntaxis and grammar, aswell as giving me useful feedback to finish it. Special thanks to Rhae that helped me give it a format, because I was lost on this html and BB code thingy. Thanks to @Lil that read some part of it and thought it was funy ;__;
Super special thanks to @AlbinoCow who cared enough to bring back my beloved guide, after I thought it'd be lost forever and ever, when the old TI "disappeared" :')
And thanks to you, random TI user, that read, comment (and probably will attempt to troll) this thread.​

 

[Goohd]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

Can you actually get a guide author title by making this?

 

[Tiger]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

I came in here to learn about tacos. I was not disappointed.

 

[Goohd]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

You forgot to mention homemade tacos taste bad. ALWAYS BUY THEM.

 

[Garrett]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

me gusta

 

[Brov]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

You forgot to mention homemade tacos taste bad. ALWAYS BUY THEM.

questionable statement

 

[Eriwen]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

Tl;dr

 

[telle]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

Amazing!
...now I'm hungry.

 

[Atychiphobia]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

I didn't know I would read about tacos today

Very informative and enjoying to read!

 

[Fry]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

Can you actually get a guide author title by making this?

Uhh, I have no idea, that'd be funny, lol.. it's a guide after all.

You forgot to mention homemade tacos taste bad. ALWAYS BUY THEM.

That depends on the person cooking, so.. I wouldn't say that.

 

[Stamm]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

I really want to try all those dishes but I live in the backwater mountains of the south. Also the one time I visited Mexico all the restaurants had altered their dishes to make them more appealing to Americans

 

[Fry]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

I really want to try all those dishes but I live in the backwater mountains of the south. Also the one time I visited Mexico all the restaurants had altered their dishes to make them more appealing to Americans

What part of Mexico did you visit?
This guide was referring mostly to the types of tacos you can find in Mexico City. But -maybe you know this- the city is uhh "separated" into zones according to the social class... believe it or not, but it happens.
If you go to a restaurant in the "upper class" zones, it's likely that they have places for foreigners, so yep, you won't find "true" mexican dishes.
How do you recognize them?
If streets look all nice and huge, there are nice buildings and generally good looking people, you might be in a upper class zone.
Something like this: (Places like Zona Rosa, La Condesa, even Coyoacan)

If you want to try the real food, you should come to the other zones, usually from the center to the south of the city. These aren't THAT nice, but you can find the real mexican culture here.

My advice, if you ever come here again get a good guide or a friend that is from here, so you can get the best possible experience.
Have a good day

 

[Stamm]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

What part of Mexico did you visit?

Cozumel, so it was pretty much a tourist destination.

 

[Fry]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

Clicked on thread, WAS disappointed.

why is that?

 

[bigdip]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

I spent a semester studying abroad in Costa Rica ( just a lil further south ) and damn does this take me back to the food there. I lived with a host family and my mama tica was a cook at a local soda and damn did she cook me some awesome dishes (REAL tacos included ). Your guide just makes me want to go back for the fooodd!! And yea, it took me about 3 weeks or so before I could stomach street food

 

[Srs]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

Was thinking that this guide was not going to be relevant to me, but if you are what you eat, then I'm half taco.

HOTPOCKET GUIDE INC!

 

[arcade99]

Re: Fryth's manual for the correct understanding and manipulation of the tacus maximu

You forgot to mention the King of the tacos. *Cough Cough* Wink* Wink* (;