00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Taco Beef Lettuce Cups.
00:08That's right, we're giving crispy taco shells the day off.
00:12And instead, we'll be filling nice, fresh, crisp lettuce cups with what I think is the best, easiest, most crowd-pleasing ground beef taco filling I know.
00:22And to get started, what we'll do is add some sliced green onions to a little bit of vegetable oil, set over high heat.
00:28And then we'll also be transferring in one pound of lean ground beef, which as usual, we'll break up with a spatula.
00:36And by the way, you could use any onion for this.
00:39But what I love about the green onion is that we can use the white part and light green parts to saute with.
00:44And then we can save and slice up the dark green parts and use that to garnish.
00:49But anyway, like I said, we'll break that meat up with our spatula.
00:52Not super fine at this point, but fairly small, into something that looks like this.
00:59And once we reach this stage, we'll reduce our heat to medium-high.
01:03And then we'll flavor and season this up with some salt, followed by some freshly ground black pepper, some garlic powder.
01:10We will also want to do some chili powder, of course, followed by some ground cumin, as well as three or four shakes of cayenne, just to warm things up a bit.
01:20And then I think we also want a nice big pinch of oregano, ideally Mexican oregano if you can find it.
01:27But if not, regular will work.
01:29And then we'll finish up with some tomato paste, as well as my one and only secret ingredient, some tomato ketchup, which is going to add a touch of sweetness,
01:39plus give us that little bit of hint of warming spice in the background.
01:41And what we'll do is cook this stirring for about a minute, at which point we'll kind of spread everything out into a nice even layer.
01:49And then we'll let it cook for another minute or two, without stirring it.
01:53Since what we want to have happen is this mixture to dry out a little bit, to the point where things start to caramelize onto the bottom.
02:00So let me go ahead and grab a spatula and give you a good look at what I mean.
02:06All right, you see how those crumbles of meat are taking on a little bit of browning?
02:09That right there is exactly what we want.
02:12And not only is that going to make our taco beef look better, it's going to make it taste better.
02:17So once that's happened, we'll give it another mix and then spread it out again.
02:22And we will give it a second crustification, which is plenty for me.
02:27But if you want to go for a third, feel free.
02:29Just be careful not to go too far, since golden brown is good.
02:33But we want to try to avoid any golden black.
02:36And that's it.
02:37Once we've done the old crust and stir twice, we will finish up by tossing in a nice big splash of cold fresh water.
02:44And we'll go ahead and stir that in.
02:47And basically what we're doing here is rehydrating the meat.
02:50And adding some moisture back in that just got evaporated out when we were doing the crusting step.
02:55And at this point, it's decision time.
02:58Right, this is now pretty much ready to use whenever we want.
03:01And we could, if we want, leave it kind of saucy.
03:03Or we could actually let it crustify again to get a drier, stickier version.
03:09And personally, as I tend to do, I'm going to go somewhere in between both.
03:12But anyway, right about here, I was very happy with the appearance.
03:17And it smelled incredible.
03:19So I went ahead and turned off the heat and grabbed a spoon.
03:22So we can give this one more stir.
03:24And of course, taste for seasoning and adjust if need be.
03:28But mine was tasting absolutely perfect.
03:30And once it is, we can arrange our lettuce cups on a tray.
03:33And for this, I highly recommend you use butter lettuce or bib lettuce, which features these perfectly shaped cup-like leaves.
03:42And yes, some are going to be nice and big like this one.
03:44And others are going to be half the size.
03:46But that's fine.
03:48The people that are going to be enjoying this are also going to be different sized.
03:52So we got that going for us, which is nice.
03:55And that's it.
03:56We'll take our still warm taco beef.
03:57And we will fill our cups up with as much as we think will fit.
04:03Oh, and I should mention, you don't have to portion for your guests.
04:06You can set this up as a taco beef lettuce cup bar.
04:09And have all your lettuce in one bowl, and your beef in another, and your fixings around the side.
04:14So if you'd rather do that, go ahead.
04:17I mean, you are after all the eon flux of your taco beef lettuce cups.
04:21But no matter which way you go, people are going to be very animated when they start eating these.
04:26And that's it.
04:28We'll finish up very simply by garnishing with some shredded Monterey Jack.
04:32Or the taco cheese of your choice.
04:34And since I really want the taco beef to be the star, I'm not going to overdo it with the toppings.
04:39Okay, I think just a little pinch on each is perfect.
04:42And then I'm also going to do a little scattering of finely diced red onion.
04:46Followed by some diced tomato.
04:49Or if you wanted, you could use like a mild tomato salsa.
04:53But I think the beef is so perfectly seasoned.
04:55I do prefer the plain diced tomato.
04:58And then we will finish up with a little bit of freshly sliced green onion.
05:02And that's it.
05:03Our taco beef lettuce cups are ready to enjoy.
05:06And that, my friends, I think is the perfect delivery system for this very flavorful, very savory beef.
05:13And that's coming from someone who absolutely loves and grew up eating crispy beef tacos.
05:17And I'm always up for enjoying some of those.
05:20But I have to say, I really do like these just as much.
05:23And as I mentioned earlier, if you learn this version, you've actually learned lots of different versions.
05:30Since instead of beef, you could use pork or chicken or turkey or lamb.
05:34And instead of taco seasoning, you could do a Middle Eastern take or an Asian take.
05:39So I think this is a really fun recipe to experiment with.
05:43And maybe you and the kids can get together and come up with your own signature version.
05:48And while I think the optimal temperature to enjoy this meat would be warm,
05:52these are also really, really good at room temp,
05:55which makes it perfect to bring to that party when you weren't sure what to bring.
05:58But you know you have to bring something.
06:01And with these, that thing might be the best thing.
06:04But no matter what temp you serve these at,
06:06or how you tweak things to your own taste,
06:09these taco beef lettuce cups are a fun, frugal, easy thing to make.
06:13And I really do hope you give them a try soon.
06:16So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
06:20a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual.
06:23And as always, enjoy.
06:28And as always, enjoy.
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