2023

From Heritage Acre

Meat
To start the show you need a good meat that is seasoned well. I use an 80/20 grass fed ground beef and saute it till it is brown and crumbly. Then, you add 1/2 cup of water and taco seasoning. Don’t buy prepackaged seasoning when you can make it and save a ton. Plus, you know and can pronounce the ingredients.

Taco Seasoning:
½ cup salt
⅓ cup paprika
¼ cup garlic powder
4 tbsp onion powder
⅓ cup black pepper
3 tbsp white pepper
2 tbsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano

Continue to simmer the meat and seasoning mixture till it cooks out most of the liquid.

Taco Fixin’s
Here is where things start to get personal. First, you can either be a crunchy corn tortilla or a soft flour tortilla person. Or both! No judgement here! Hey, it’s homemade tacos were talking about. It’s all good!

Next, cheese…cheddar is pretty standard but I have kids who don’t want any cheese and my husband who likes pepper jack.

Finally, all the extra goodies like lettuce, tomato, onions, jalapenos, cilantro, avocado, or you could get fancy with queso and/or guacamole. Don’t leave out the salsa! Oh, I just remembered sour cream too.

Taco Party
With all these options a taco bar is the way to go. Everyone can prepare their taco to fit their own taco-personality and you can begin eating and not taking everyone’s order.

What about the leftovers?
Ha Ha! As if there are any leftovers. However, if you do have leftover meat…nachos, beef enchiladas, mix the meat in with scrambled eggs for breakfast. One more and I’m done..”Taco ’bout good!” aaand Done!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef (grassfed, of course)
1 1/4 tsp salt
3 large bell peppers (choose colors your family likes – we tend toward red and yellow), cut in half lengthwise and cored
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 roasted green chili, chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp dried oregano
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup cooked rice
1 1/2 cups shredded colby/jack cheese

Preheat oven to 425; oven rack should be in the middle.

Place peppers, cut side up, in the baking dish and drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil and lightly salt (about 1/4 tsp). Roast peppers for 20 minutes. They’ll be slightly browned.

While peppers are in the oven, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and green chili and cook for another minute. Add the ground beef and seasonings (salt, chili powder, cumin, oregano). Cook on medium/high heat, breaking the meat up with a wooden spoon, until meat is browned and thoroughly cooked. Reduce heat to medium and add the tomato sauce, cooked rice and 3/4 cup of the cheese and stir until completely combined and melted. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Remove the peppers from the oven and spoon the meat filling into each pepper. Use the remaining 3/4 cup cheese to sprinkle over the meat filling. Place the peppers back in the oven and roast for 10-15 minutes, until the filling is hot and the cheese is melted.

Serve with a salad and enjoy!

Sofrito(to add to burger mix)
4 cloves garlic
1 Fresno Chili pepper, seeded, chopped
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 small red onion, rough chopped

Burger mix:
1 3/4 pounds grass fed ground beef
Sofrito mixture
1 1/4 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 3/4 teaspoon salt

Garlic aioli:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 teaspoons lime juice

Add On’s:
tomato slices, avocado slices, red onion slices, lettuce(butter, romaine, red leaf or a mixture)
Portuguese rolls or any semi-hard roll, sliced, lightly grilled

1. Combine sofrito ingredients in small bowl. In large bowl combine all ingredients and form into 6 burgers.
2. Heat grill to medium high. Make garlic aioli by combining all ingredients together and set aside.
3. Lightly oil grill and cook burgers 5 minutes per side. Lightly toast rolls during last few minutes.
4. To assemble burgers spread both sides of rolls with aioli. Place tomato and avocado slices on bottom roll, top with burger, onion slices, lettuce and top of roll.

Serve with Elote Corn Salad, if desired. Makes 6 burgers.

Use a sous vide machine, fill with water and set to 130 degrees.

Use rib or ribeye steaks up to 2 pounds

Season:
Rub with 2 cloves garlic
Liberal amount of kosher sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Two springs fresh thyme

Vacuum seal or use a zip lock bag with as much air removed as possible. Cook to desired temp Cook time 60 to 180 minutes depending upon machine.

Remove steak and pat dry

Apply oil or butter to the steak

Sear for about 30 to 60 seconds on each side. (The picture shows the steak was cooked in a pizza oven)

Ready to eat.

No need to rest the steak.

Submitted by Brad Buchanan of Flying B Bar Ranch – Certified AGA Member

1. Pick a grassfed brisket and defrost in the fridge if its frozen.

2. The night before the cook pat dry the brisket with a paper towel, then rub with Olive oil. Sprinkle your favorite rub liberally all over the brisket. Then wrap with saran wrap. Put it back in the fridge overnight.

3. On the smoke/cook day heat your smoker to 225 degrees.

4. Place the brisket, fat side up, on the grill grate.

5. Smoke until the brisket is at 160 degrees.

6. Pull the brisket and wrap with 3 layers of heavy-duty grill aluminum foil and place back on the grill.

7. Continue at 225 degrees. At some point the brisket will “stall”. That is where the meat temperature seems to stop rising. Be patient.

8. Once it starts to climb again keep a close eye on it. When you can stick a knife into it and it feels buttery soft going in, around 199 – 201 degrees, pull the brisket

9. Wrap it with two beach towels, over top of the aluminum foil, and put in a cooler that is about the right size.

10. Let the towel wrapped brisket “rest” in the cooler for at least 2 hours, 3 or 4 is even better.

11. When ready to serve slice the brisket perpendicular to the grain of the meat.