Taco Burgers

The taco burgers were created within a day or two of the first attempt at the salsa.

You may see, however, that this post is well after...

For that reason, even though they were a monstrous hit, I cannot give the specific recipe for the taco burgers. I can only give some key ingredients, and the background story, the inspiration.

It all began when I was watching a Totino's pizza rolls commercial, the one where they are eating the taco flavored pizza rolls, and the one kid takes a bit and exclains, "My pizza tastes like tacos!" Anyway, I took this to heart. If a faceless paste drunk/little kid food company can make one food taste like another, why can't us?

So I began with the obvious, to make one classic ground beef dish taste like another ground beef dish.

Basically I had to reconcile a few key differences. Tacos remain in ground-esque form and are placed in a tortilla of some kind. Hamburgers are formed into patties and placed inside buns.

I, therefore, had to make tacos that could be formed into patties and placed inside buns, if I in fact wanted this hamburger to taste like a taco.

To use a taco kit would be wasteful. I had no intention of using the pre-packaged tortillas, was going to make my own salsa, and would have liked more control over the seasoning process. This also eliminated the possibility of getting a packet of taco seasoning. Not to mention with the size of the event where these would be unveiled, I'd have to do some maths as far as how many and a half packets to use. Plus those things are loaded with unneeded salt (though I think I did use a fair share of salt in mine).

So there was step one. Make my own taco mix. Really, it's not so hard. Just get some chili powder, ground cayenne pepper, paprika, and perhaps most importantly, cumin (I guess those actually all are chili powders...). This is where I ran into another issue -- no chili powder in the house.

I had heard of this Mexican Grocery store near me, on Street road, in like Bensalem or something, so I go there, figuring I can find some good stuff. Digression -- This is the most dice place known to man. It is only like two aisles, YET THEY LITERALLY HAD EVERYTHING. In fact here is where I'd link their website if they had one. Anyways, I spend a lot of time browsing the store and all, and of course the store owners don't know any English, so they're trying to get me to move along, but neither of us understand each other. Really, it was kind of humorous. Anyways, I grab some bitchin' chili powder (with like a hint of lime in it, so dice), and I see in the bean section they got some re-fried black beans. At most of our gringo stores, I only ever see regular red/brown re-fried beans. Eu-fucking-reka. Black beans would make this thing just killer. The color of black beans would more closely resemble cooked beef than the brighter red/brown of other re-fried beans. I could blend this in perfectly, and those who don't notice the bean would only notice it tasting more taco-ish, those who do would appreciate the subtle touch.

I put a few other usual hamburger spices in (Worcestershire sauce, etc, you know the drill), make up the patties, and voila.

The only caveat I have is the beans may have affected their structure a little negatively. If one is not careful when flipping or moving these as they cook, they can, and will, crumble.

I have no pictures cos We ate them all.