My #1 go-to meal is the taco. You can make them as simple or as complex as you want. I’ve made stove-top ground beef tacos more times than I’d like to admit. So it was time to do it again. I grabbed a pound of lean ground beef (significant difference from those Onion Burgers) and thought – Let’s Blackstone.
If you recall, my Quesabirria tacos were pretty darn good – will be better next time – but the biggest pain then was the damn corn tortillas. I wanted to give it another try, but didn’t want to go through the whole Birria consommé for another good, not great result until I get the corn torts right.
The Prep Table
Had these ready to go for a Friday evening, but Señor BBQ, Mi Padre if you will, came over and we did some serious work all weekend. So Sunday evening, I finally got around to it. My cilantro got a little lame – but everything else was pretty okay. I didn’t end up using the guacamole – mostly because the tacos were pretty slamming without it.
So here’s what I started off with. Lean ground beef, nothing special – Did this on purpose. A hot pepper blend of cheese, small corn street taco tortillas, that wilty cilantro, a white onion, store-bought pico, some enchilada sauce and “Roja” taco sauce. Up front – Use your favorite hot sauce – like Cholula – the Herdez wasn’t all that great.
I knew this was going to be a quick rapid-fire griddle experience. I didn’t want to fuss around with anything – wanted to focus on the cook. The enchilada sauce was going to be used to dip the tortilla in before placing it on the griddle, which is why it’s in a bowl. Let’s get outside!
Ah, yes. MrsForensicBBQ bought me a prep table when we were dating and it kinda got lost in the garage – because life happened. Busted it out for this one. Lined up the taco racks, got the spatulas out and fired up the ‘Stone. We’re doing the same as we did with the OOB – Only heat up one side, left the other for prep and finish.
Throw a little bit of water on, watch it dance and disappear and you know you’re ready to go. And then FamilyBBQ stopped by. They saw what was going to happen and I knew they’d be back. After a bit of chit-chat, and the Cayenne Pepper plant delivered (Thank you!) – it was really time to go.
The Process
Throw a little bit of olive oil and use your spatula to cover the surface. Toss that pound of beef on there, give it a chop, and season it up. Because it was an extra lean beef, I didn’t get a lot of fat – which is what I was looking for so I didn’t have to “drain”. Mixed it right up.
Once it got pretty close to being done, I added the ForensicBBQ flavor to it – pickled diced jalapeño. I mix it in with the beef so the flavor is all incorporated.
It’s not a lot of jalapeño, it’s not going to overpower it, just enhance it. Once it’s sufficiently browned, I pushed it off to the side and gave the cooking side a good scrape. Now is where the magic happens. I did two tacos at a time, really so I could pay attention to each. The process was the same – add some oil to the surface and spread it around. Take TWO of the small corn tortillas and dip them in the enchilada sauce. Get both sides sufficiently covered, and toss it on the griddle.
Let it cook for a couple minutes. I used my spatula to scrape underneath to make sure they weren’t sticking. Once you feel the side starting to burn, give it a flip. Now add a small amount of cheese to half of the tortilla. Put a little bit of meat on there and top with a little more cheese. After about two minutes, flip the naked half of the tortilla onto the filling-side. Give it a slight press and start finishing off the taco.
As I started doing more and more of these, I found the right rhythm. I started putting some fresh oil towards the top of the griddle and really crisped up those shells after I made them into taco-form. Bottom half was for the start, top for the finishing. Once these were done, flipped them into those taco holders and went to dress those up with the pico and sauce.
The Result
The picture you all came for:
So I had to go to Taco Bell and buy 3 tacos for the comparison. Truth be told, there was no comparison. It’s such a different taco, such a different result. The Taco Bell beef wasn’t very good, cheese was terrible, lettuce was white – but that Diablo sauce was pretty okay. This gave me a pretty rough stomach ache – which I’m sure is a shocker to all of you.
Anyway, now that you see what commercial tacos look like – here’s the ForensicBBQ taco:
So mad that cilantro got lame on me so quickly, kinda ruined the photo. But the taco shells and beef were great! Sure a steak, asada, pastor, barbacoa would’ve been better – but my go-to is the ground beef taco, and I wanted to make what I’ll certainly make again – and with little effort.
No surprise, I told FamilyBBQ that tacos were about done – they were still in the area – and showed up for the ultimate taste test. MadreBBQ fed me for many years, I could only try to repay the favor. FamilyBBQ is more picky than I am – especially FatherBBQ – so I left the rest of the tacos naked – beef and cheese. Let them dress it up as they see fit.
You can see they got so much better as I got more comfortable and really found my flow. Those later ones were dynamite. The more char, the better in my opinion. If you over-stuff with the beef, it crisps up towards the top and makes for a great bite. I had I think 24 shells, so 12 tacos – might as well keep going and make lunch!
So there we have it. Three dressed to the nines, and a few in the nude. I don’t see a need to continue stove-top tacos if I have this ability. Nice weather, propane in the tank – fire up that Blackstone and have yourselves a fiesta. I had two of them for lunch today and while not as good – they were still very flavorful and delicious. This was a first for me – I made tacos so great, SisterBBQ fell head over heels for them (Inside joke – sorry, had to. I know joking about it is a slippery slope, but once it starts rolling, hard to stop).
I wanted a simple taco – easy to make any day of the week. The birria was a process, and not one I can make on the fly. Future taco posts will definitely feature barbacoa, pastor, and asada – and I may change up the enchilada sauce dipper to a red sauce. Maybe with a little more seasoning/sauce to it. Hey – always growing.
Thanks for checking this one out!
Recipe
Ground Beef Blackstone Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 Lb Extra Lean Ground Beef (96/4)
- 24 Corn small "Street Tacos"
- 3-4 Tbsp Taco Seasonings ish – Didn't measure at all.
- 3 Tbsp Diced Pickled Jalapeno
- 2 Cups Shredded Cheese
- 1 Bunch Shredded Cilantro
- 1 Diced White Onion
- 1 Can Enchilada Sauce
- 8 Tbsp Olive Oil Just have the bottle on hand
Instructions
The Essential Taco Prep
- Drizzle some olive oil on a medium-heated Blackstone. Use the spatula to spread it around
- Add the pound of ground beef and brown it. When nearly browned, add your taco seasoning. I sprinkled from a hermes jar, and kept adding until satisfied.
- After browned and seasoned, add your pickled diced jalapeno. (This is a ForensicBBQ addition – not necessary, but it's my go-to)
- Set the finished beef aside – clean/scrape your cooking surface
- Add Olive Oil to the Blackstone surface, take 2 corn tortillas, dip in the enchilada sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Flip the tortilla, add shredded cheese, a some of the beef and some cheese on top – cook for another 2ish minutes.
- Fold the tortilla on itself – taco-style – and crisp the edges. Cook until desired crispiness.
The Extras
- Let it rest for a minute – then you can add your pico, cilantro, onion, guac, sauce, etc. and enjoy.
The Bonus Content
So after my extreme pleasure of these tacos – I was eager to get back at it and do it again. I changed some things up – and in my opinion – for the better. Better for me, of course. I swapped out the “Green Enchilada sauce” for Red (Like I said I would) and added an absurd amount of Cholula hot sauce to the bowl. I swapped out a local brand “Hot Pepper Cheese” for one containing cream cheese to aid in the melt.
These were dynamite for lunches, and being a Sunday – it was time to do this again. I’ll just throw these pictures in a group photo down here so you can see them, but I hope you see the difference between the first ones and the second ones. More confidence, more knowledge and what a great cook.
Equally, if not better the second go around – so much so the featured picture is from this second cook. Cheers y’all!
Side note: I’ll be traveling for work again for a little bit – so next Forensic Friday may be postponed a little bit. I thought about pushing this one for Taco Tuesday, but I was anxious to share this with you all. Thanks and we’ll see you when I get back!
By far my favorite post and taco! MadreForensicBBQ ❤️