Meatloaf Tacos

In 2009, all across America, street food has been blossoming like tulips in Holland. The recession has helped redefine consumer habits. Cheap eats have become the new darling in most major cities with no end of possibilities in sight. Non-traditional foods have started to become more and more accessible. No longer does the cubical worker in a financial district need to subject themselves to a “toasted” sub or a box of cornstarch thickened gruel. Fleets of trucks make their way each morning to new destinations and with the aid of social networking sites, such as Twitter, it is possible for the consumer to find a new exciting choice for lunch each and every day.

One big stand-out this year has been the Korean taco. When I first heard about it I was like, what? That is so contrary to everything a dish stands for, right? Well, actually not, right? When you break it down the flower really blooms in this concept; the dish makes perfect sense. In order for a taco to snap you need some basic elements to work in harmony. Inside that thick warm corn tortilla, you must combine a meaty ingredient (yes, grilled portobella mushrooms and fried eggplant are meaty too) with some crunch for texture, aromatics, some spice, maybe something sweet and to finish- some tart acid like lime juice. In the Korean taco you might have spiced pork, kimchi (fermented cabbage), rice wine vinegar, shredded lettuce, a pinch of sugar, garlic, sliced cucumbers, sesame and ginger. For that reason it has won the snap crackle AND pop test.

Ok, so then I’m like Korea is pretty far away on the map so why not do something closer to the border. Maybe a tinge more meaty American. How about meatloaf!? It’s meaty alright. Then how about finishing it with some crunchy junked up slaw, lime juice and Tabasco. Well, we made some in the HOG laboratory, and all I can say is that they came out pretty darn good! The responses I got from the people who tried them were mostly, “damn” and “wow”. Hopefully that meant that they liked them too. Ha.

Click on links below to see videos on meat loaf and how to make a fresh corn tortilla. If you are short on time then a good quality store bought tortilla is just fine.

How to make tortillas, click here.

How to make meatloaf, click here.

Ps.. I added one sautéed jalapeno to the onion mixture and one cup of queso fresco into the loaf ingredients. The slaw is your everyday basic slaw with some mayo,  the juice of one fresh lime and a squirt or rice wine vinegar.  Finish tacos with Tabasco, sea salt and more fresh lime juice.
Hell ya!
StevO from HOG.. more fun eats to come.
Pss.. and what to do with the leftover meatloaf.. Click here.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 7:18 pm and is filed under Food Experiences, Tips and Advice , meatloaf hands on gourmet, street food, tabasco, taco. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.