– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Anyone that's had a true authentic

Carneada street taco knows that it can't

be beat. But what was once my $1 anytime

day or night taco has turned into a $4

taco that I cannot afford to eat

whenever I want. So today we're making

them at home better and cheaper.

[Music]

Now the humble but delicious street taco

consists of three key parts. The

tortilla, the meat, and the accuchants.

You need all three. And if you're

missing one, your taco will collapse

both metaphorically and physically, and

that would just be a bummer. Now, we'll

start with our meat. Now, you may see

people online say, "Use skirt, use

flank, maybe even ribeye or strip." And

that's fine. You can use those. I, on

the other hand, don't want to pay for

ribeye, strip, flank, or skirt. It's

expensive. So, for me personally, when

I'm making street tacos, not fajitas,

because they're different, I'm going

with chuck or sirloin. Most of the time,

I'm going to go with chuck because chuck

has great marbling. You just have to

look for it. And you see this? You see

that price? That's $7.99 cut. It's even

cheaper if you don't buy it cut, but in

this case, it's a lot easier. So, for

the extra dollar, I'll pay to have it

cut. Now, like I said before, this is

not fajitas. This is street taco.

Typically, if you're making fajitas,

you're going to want to use a wet

marinade. Street tacos. Personally, I

think you should just dry season it

because it's so thin. It's going to cook

so quick and you just want it to sear

nice and evenly. Oh man, it's going to

fit. Don't worry, I'm going to make it

fit. I'm going to make it fit. Okay, it

kind of fits. And you see how thin that

is? that's going to cook extremely fast,

which is what we want. Now, to season

it, we're just going to go real simple

with some salt, black pepper, onion

powder, and garlic powder. And well,

great question. Why am I putting my meat

on a wire rack? Well, let me tell you.

It's because I want as much air flow as

possible to dry out not only the top,

but the bottom of the steak as well.

Because if it's drier, it's going to get

a better crust. All right, we've got one

side good. Now, we're just going to

flip. And feel free to use a spice rub

because this is pretty simple. Like, if

you want to add a little bit more

flavor, that's fine. Add a little more

flavor. Generally speaking, street tacos

let the meat shine through, but it's

your taco, so do what you want. And now

that we've got this all seasoned up,

we're just going to set it to the side

and wait to cook it because it will be

quite literally the last thing we do.

Now, for our coocher months, you're

going to start with white onion and

cilantro. Very simple, very basic, very

delicious, unless you have that weird

onion gene, in which case it's not

delicious and it's unfortunate and

disgusting and I'm sorry for you. But

anyway, you're just going to go ahead

and peel your onion. I like to just cut

all the way around my onion versus doing

the crosshatch and the top hatch. It's

not my favorite way to cut an onion, but

you know, whatever whatever you enjoy,

whatever gets it into a nice fine,

mostly consistent dice.

Then we'll just move that to a bowl. And

if you're not a big fan of raw onions,

totally understand. They can be a little

bit harsh, but if you just run them

under some cool water and let them sit

for about 10 minutes, then strain them,

it takes away a lot of that punchiness

and makes them a little bit more mild.

So, give it a shot if you like. Now, for

our cilantro, I find the best way to cut

cilantro is just to kind of go at it

like this. Get it all off the stems. But

you also can use the stems because the

stems have a ton of flavor. Personally,

just not going to use it in stuff like

this. I'll use that for salsa for

shadowing.

And we'll just add that over to our

onions. And we'll give that a nice toss.

Beautiful. Now, for our salsa, we have

two options, a red and a green. Now, for

our green salsa, which just so happens

to be my favorite and also not spicy. It

starts off by peeling a bunch to just

removing the skin and unveiling the

gross sticky interior, which I'm not

really sure why it's sticky, but I don't

like it. I can tell you that much. And

because they're sticky, I'm going to

rinse them off. Then we'll just give

them a quick little dry. Then we're just

going to cut these in half and throw

them on a sheet tray. Technically

speaking, you don't have to throw them

on a sheet tray, but I'm just putting in

here for organizational purposes.

We're also going to roughly chop up that

other half of the onion we used earlier.

And this doesn't have to be perfect. I

just want it rough. And then lastly,

we're going to crush some garlic.

There's nothing I hate more than peeling

freaking

>> garlic. Now, we'll just squirt on a

generous amount of olive oil. Make sure

it's all nice and coated, as well as a

dubious pinch of salt. Now, you have two

options here. You can throw this under

your broiler, let it char up, or you can

just do it on the stove. I'm going to do

it on the stove. Now, I'm using a flat

top here because I'm going to use that

for everything today. But you can also

just use a pan, you can use a kumal, you

can use a walk. You really use whatever

you want. Don't use a walk. That's that

was a bad idea. I'm sorry I said that.

But once this gets nice and hot, we're

just going to add on a little bit of

that olive oil just to give ourselves a

nice base coat. I'm going to use this

tamatillo to kind of spread it out. Be

efficient with it. And then I'm just

going to place all of our veg on here to

char. Now, the tomatillos and the onions

are going to take some time, but the one

thing you really want to watch out for

is the garlic because you don't want to

burn it. So, this is a nice way to kind

of keep an eye on it versus if you throw

it in the oven, you throw them in the

broiler, it's harder to watch.

After about 2 minutes, our garlic is

already charred up. We're going to

remove that. And then after about 8

minutes, they all should have a nice

char on them, and they should be nice

and soft.

Maybe I should have done it in the oven.

Anyways, now we're just going to give

this a quick wipe down because it's

important to clean as you cook. And now

we're just going to add all this to a

blender along with an avocado. Oo, a

beautiful one, might I add. Our

cilantro. Look at that story resolution.

The juice of a lime, some chicken buan

powder, salt, and of course, pepper. And

then you're going to add in some ice.

Now, you can just use water, but ice

preserves the color a little bit better

as well as cools down everything because

you don't really want a hot salsa. I

mean, you might. I like a cold salsa. I

think the contrast is better. But hey,

if you want a hot salsa, just use just

use water. It's not going to be as

green. Just use water. And we'll just

throw the cap on there. And we are going

to blend it.

And remember, this is a Takaria salsa

for street tacos. So, you want it to be

extra smooth because typically you you

pour it from a bottle. But, you know, if

you want it chunky, leave it chunky.

Beautiful.

Well, hot damn would you look at that. I

overfilled it. But that's good. It's

good. And just because we're feeling a

little bit fancy, we'll go ahead and

crush on some kotiah right on top. Now

for our red salsa, which is going to be

spicy. It starts off with some Roma

tomatoes. And again, we're just going to

put those on a sheet tray, but this

time, this time, I'm going to do it in

the oven because you only make that

mistake once. Then we're just going to

cut up a jalapeno. You can leave the

seeds in, you can leave them out. It's

going to be spicy, so I really don't

think the jalapeno seeds are going to

make that big of a difference. But if

for some reason you're like, "Hey, I

want to take those seeds out," go for

it. But it's going to be hot either way.

We're also going to need half of a white

onion just like the other one. And if

there's something in either of these

salsas that you're not a particularly

big fan of, like that's okay. You can

leave it out. The beauty of salsa is

that it's so versatile. You can put

whatever you want into it. You could

take whatever you want out as long as

there's tomatoes or tomatillos in it.

And even then, it really doesn't even

need to have that cuz I got like

pineapple salsas and stuff. So really,

you could just do whatever you want.

Don't let people tell you what to do.

And the last thing that's going to go in

here is some garlic. And then like

before, we're just going to add in a

hefty amount of olive oil. Make sure

those garlic pieces are especially

coated because if we're going to throw

it in the oven under the broiler, we

want to make sure they don't burn. And a

hefty pinch of salt all the way around.

And I almost forgot the thing that's

going to make this really spicy. I left

them in the bag because I really didn't

want to touch them with my hands. But

agua chili and some chili dearos. That's

a lot more chili deos than I thought I

got. That's a lot. I would say five.

That's like 12. And now I'm just going

to throw this under the broiler until

everything is nice and charred and soft.

All right. And after about 20 minutes in

the broiler setting on the toaster oven,

because it's not going to be as powerful

as regular oven, we're just going to add

all this into our blender. And go ahead

and add in those juices as well. Then

we'll add in our lime juice, some

cilantro, a little bit of chicken

powder, and of course, salt and pepper.

Then we'll just pop that baby on and

give it a whirl.

Wait, I forgot the ice. Less ice this

time, but still a little bit of ice.

Helps cool it down. Makes a little bit

thinner. And now we give it a whirl.

[Music]

Oh yeah. Oh crap. I'm already sweaty.

Gross. It's It's burned it. It sits

there and it waits until you've taken

like your fourth bite and then it's

like, "Hey, what's up? I'm here to

party."

And there you have it. If you used as

many chili debles as I did, use this

sparingly. It's delicious, but it's hot.

Uncomfortably hot. And for the last of

our cuchamonts, we're just going to

slice up a few limes

and some radish.

I like to cut the tips off and then use

this baby mandolin because baby mandolin

is super dope.

Ah, this is so cool. I love it. You

should get one. And now for our

tortillas. Now, you don't have to make

your tortillas from scratch. In fact,

let me tell you a secret. Most of the

time, I don't. I live close to a Mexican

market and often just buy the ones that

they make because they're really good

and it's really hard to beat 60

tortillas if it was like $3 and change.

So, by all means, skip this next 30

seconds and just make these or take the

next 30 seconds to learn how to make

them because they're super easy and if

you want to, it's a fun thing to do, but

also like this is okay, too. Now, for

corn tortillas, it's pretty simple.

There are three parts to it. You have

your masa, you have your water, and you

have salt. It is almost a 1:1 ratio of

masa to water, but it's not quite.

You're really more looking for feel than

an exact measurement. So, let me show

you what you're looking for. So, first,

let me get my masa in here. I'll give

this a hefty pinch of salt. And this is

very warm water. You want warm water

because it helps to hold it all

together. If you use room temper cold,

it gets a little more crumbly. Little

bit of water. Take it slow. Then you're

just going to use your fingers, move it

around. Take your time. Really feel it

out. Give it a little bit of tortilla

foreplay. Once it's all nice and

crumbly, you're going to add in a little

bit more. And you're just going to keep

doing this until you've got the

consistency that you're looking for. And

you can do this in a stand mixer or with

a hand mixer, but it's a little bit

easier with your hand because then you

can really feel how grainy it is and how

much water you need to add versus if

you're just going off of look, you know,

it's a little bit harder. There we go.

Now it's starting to come together. And

we're just going to push it all

together. Make sure it's all

incorporated. We don't want any dry

spots. We don't want any wet spots. We

want it to all be nice and even. Now

you'll know your moss is ready because

it'll come together in a nice smooth

ball when you roll it together and it'll

hold its shape. But then when you take

some and you form it into a little ball

and then press it out, you should see

minimal crackage around the edge. You

want it to hold its shape. A little

crack is okay, but you don't want it to

be ripping from the sides. Now, to form

your tortilla, you need two things. You

need a tortilla press, and arguably, you

can get away with just using two heavy

flat objects, like a cutting board or

two large books. Uh, and the second

thing you're going to need is a Ziploc

bag. Now, we use a Ziploc bag because it

prevents the tortilla from sticking to

our press and tearing apart. This is a

little bit easier to remove. And so,

what I like to do is I'll just cut off

the top. And then I'll just cut off the

sides because I want it to be able to

open up like a book. And if it's sealed

on the sides, it's not going to open

like a book, you know? Voila. Reading.

Now you're going to open up your

tortilla press. You're going to lay in

your makeshift tortilla non-stick

device. Then you're going to take some

of your masa and you're going to roll it

up into a ball. And you'll find the

right size that you like. You'll find

that maybe you like smaller tortillas.

Maybe you like bigger tortillas. It's

it's really up to preference, but I

start about there. It's like a large

grape. Then you're just going to place

it in the center. You're going to lay

down your press very carefully. And I

like to do two presses. I like to do a

light press this way. And then I'm going

to lift it, rotate it 180°, and press

this way. Because the problem with these

sorts of things is that this is a hinge,

which means as it closes, it's going to

be tighter on one side and taller on the

other side. So if you just do it one

way, you're going to end up with a loped

tortilla. Then you're just going to

remove it, peel back one side, then

you're going to place it in your hand,

and peel back the other side

like this. Now, for your tortilla making

station, you're going to have three

sections where you're going to press

your tortilla, where you're going to

cook your tortilla, and where you're

going to rest your tortilla. Three very

important parts. Once we're at about a

nice medium heat, you'll start by taking

your dough, form it into a ball like we

talked about, place it inside your

press, give it a good press. Then, we're

going to rotate it 180°, press it again,

and then we'll just peel it right off

like that. Then, we'll just let this sit

and cook for about 30 to 40 seconds

before we flip it. And usually in that

time, you have enough time to start your

next one. Then we're just going to go

ahead and flip it over and let the other

side cook. Once they're finished, you go

ahead and remove it. You'll place it

inside your little tortilla bed or hot

pocket or I guess it's more of a

sleeping bag. And personally, I like to

think of tortillas as sort of like

pancakes. The first few are going to

suck, but then after that, you get used

to it. They start coming out better and

better. Eventually, you're going to

start to end up with tortillas that are

pretty darn good. And if you decided to

go with the storebought tortilla route,

no shame. You can go ahead and throw

them onto your griddle to make sure they

get nice and heated and warm.

And now finally, we make a full circle

back to our meat. It has been sitting

and waiting and soaking up all the

flavor. Now, we're just going to pat it

dry. And then we're going to cook it on

a grill top. You can cook it on a grill,

you can cook it on the stove, either

one. And the reason I'm patting it dry

is because I want to make sure I absorb

as much of that moisture that has been

pushed out from the salt as possible

because I want it to sear quickly. Once

it's nice and pat dry, just like that,

we can preheat. Let this get up to temp.

We want medium high. And then once we're

there, we're going to add on a little

bit of neutral oil. I'm just going to

spread that around. Make sure we have

nice and even coverage. And then we'll

just carefully lay on our meat.

Make sure it has full contact all the

way through. And then once that first

side has started to sear, we're just

going to go ahead and lift it up and

flip it. And if you have weights, you

can also use those to kind of help fight

that curl to make sure it gets a nice

and even sear. And after about another

minute, we're going to go ahead and

check it. We got good sear, so we're

just going to go ahead and remove it.

And if anything stayed behind, I would

just go ahead and scrape it off before

you throw on your next piece of meat.

And you're just going to keep repeating

this process until you've cooked through

all of your meat

>> because you only make that mistake once.

>> Literally the last piece of meat.

We're almost done. We're just going to

power throw and we're done. And now that

we have cleared out the house of smoke

for the second time today, time to chop

our meat. Take your meat, throw it down,

and then I'm going to layer it on top of

each other. So,

I can save some time. Cut it one way.

Rotate

and cut it the other way. And that

should leave you with some nice

bite-sized knada. Now, would you look at

all of this knada that we have for what

was it like? $15, $13, something like

that. This is fantastic taco meat. Oh.

And to assemble, you'll just start with

your torn tortilla, some of your

carneasada, onions and cilantro, and a

squeeze of lime. And then you do this

about 25 30 more times. And you have

this.

[Music]

[Music]

It is everything that you want at a

price that you want. What's not to love?

This isn't all of it. There's more. This

is just all I can fit on the biggest

plate that I own. So you tell me this is

happiness.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
taco /ˈtɑːkoʊ/ A1	noun - a Mexican dish consisting of a folded or rolled tortilla filled with various ingredients
meat /miːt/ A1	noun - the flesh of an animal, typically muscle tissue, used as food
season /ˈsiːzən/ A2	verb - to add salt, spices, or herbs to food to enhance its flavor
salsa /ˈsɑːlsə/ A2	noun - a spicy sauce typically made from tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, and cilantro
tortilla /tɔːrˈtiːə/ A2	noun - a thin, flat bread made from corn or wheat flour, used in Mexican cuisine
marbling /ˈmɑːrbəlɪŋ/ B1	noun - the presence of small streaks of fat within the lean tissue of meat
char /tʃɑːr/ B1	verb - to burn the surface of food until it blackens slightly
versatile /ˈvɜːrsətəl/ B2	adjective - able to adapt or be used in many different functions or activities
crust /krʌst/ B1	noun - a hard outer layer, especially on bread or meat
consistency /kənˈsɪstənsi/ B2	noun - the degree of thickness or firmness of a substance
efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ B2	adjective - performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort
mandolin /ˈmændəlɪn/ C1	noun - a kitchen utensil with a blade used for slicing vegetables
foreplay /ˈfɔːrpleɪ/ C1	noun - preliminary sexual activity intended to arouse a partner
dubious /ˈdjuːbiəs/ C1	adjective - hesitating or uncertain about something
resolution /ˌrezəˈluːʃən/ C1	noun - the quality of being determined or resolute