Tacos campechanos. When I think of the word campechano the first thing that comes to mind is that is a mix of different ingredients.
For today’s blog post and taco recipe, you will definitely not have room for any lettuce, I promise. The stars lined up and this taco came together because of the bits of leftovers I had from the week of cooking. The traditional “tacos campechanos” are filled with mix of carne asada or beef cecina, longaniza spicy sausage, nopalitos and crispy chicharrones. It could include any combination of the ingredients I listed, but could include other ingredients depending on your favorite taco stand. The salsa of choice would be a chile morita salsa and caramelized onions. With some lime on the side , of course. With the ingredients I already had prepared from previous cooking that week, these are my version of tacos campechanos: Carne asada, grilled pork steak, beef chorizo sausage, longaniza, crispy chicharrones, nopalitos, spicy tomatillo salsa and quick pickled onion/chile escabeche. At the end of the post, I will share with you the links of the recipes you could use to create your own version of Tacos Campechanos~#tacoseverday
Tacos Campechanos
Ingredients
- 12 oz longaniza sausage uncooked
- grapeseed oil
- 2 cups nopales previously diced and cooked
- 1/3 cup onion diced
- 1 serrano pepper minced
- 12-16 ounces beef milanesa or thin top round steak
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cups chicharron previously cooked and chopped small
- 12 corn tortillas small taqueria-style if possible
- lime wedges
- Salsa of your choice
- cilantro chopped
- 2 cups onion strips previously sauteed in oil until caramelized
Instructions
- Remove the casing from the sausage and transfer to a skillet preheating at medium. Using a wooden spoon, crumble the sausage as it cooks down. Cook for 8-10 minutes. Cover and set aside.
- In a separate skillet, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil and heat to medium, add the onion and serrano. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Saute for 3 minutes. Add the nopales and continue cooking for 6-7 minutes. Cover and set aside.
- For the beef, simply season with salt and pepper. Preheat a stove top grill pan or cast iron skillet to medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Once very hot, drizzle in some grapeseed or canola oil to lightly coat the bottom.
- Sear and brown the thin steaks for 2-3 minutes per side, turning as needed. Remove from pan and transfer to cutting board. Let sit for 5 minutes before chopping into small pieces.
- Gather all of your ingredients. If something needs to be warmed , you can pop it in the microwave for a minute or two. Warm the corn tortillas on a preheated comal or griddle and store in tortilla warmer until ready to assemble tacos.
Notes
A few weeks back, I was teaching a Mexican cooking class at the local kitchen store. On the menu were three variations of “Street-Style Tacos”. For me, the message I wanted everyone to leave with is how uncomplicated, simple and delicious authentic tacos should be. Typically in most carne asada tacos, you will garnish with a spicy salsa, fresh cilantro, onion and lime. There are many other ingredients you could add, but the tortillas are usually small and it may not be possible without wearing half the ingredients in you lap! In the case where you would get a taco with a double corn tortilla stack, then by all means you could make two tacos out of one. Besides salsa, cilantro, onion and lime, I offered a variety of crumbly and shredded Mexican cheese, fresh avocado and crema for the garnishes. Everything was getting prepped for the tasty tacos, when all the sudden my friend, at the class, asked, “What about the lettuce?” “Lettuce?”, I asked, ha, ha, ha… No room for shredded lettuce in traditional tacos! Save the room for the good stuff, the meat! Lol!
On this day I had leftover grilled pork steaks, crumbled beef chorizo and crispy chicharrones. Like I said no room for lettuce in this particular taco, Lol! These leftovers really could have been enough for four tacos. Longaniza pork sausage is readily available, but you can use the sausage of your choice.
RECIPE~Pickled Onion/Chile Escabeche-1 small white onion(diced), 2 to 3 chile peppers(I added orange serrano, yellow guero and green jalapeño), 1 full tablespoon cilantro, juice of 3 key lime, 2 tablespoons of white vinegar, drizzle of grapeseed oil, splash of cold water, pinch of Mexican oregano, salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Combine all ingredients, cover and let sit for 30 or more minutes.
To Prepare Tacos Campechanos: Preheat skillet to medium/high heat for 5 minutes. Add the sliced pork and saute for 2 minutes, stirring often. Fold in the chorizo and cook just until heated through. Divide fillings onto warm corn tortillas(double tortillas). Garnish with warm, crispy chicharrones, salsa and onion mixture. Squeeze on some fresh lime juice.
I was out of my salsa morita, so next best thing was the tomatillo/chile de arbol salsa that I love!
Grilled Beef Cecina
Click onto picture to see full recipe for beef cecina on site.
Grilled Pork Steaks
Click onto picture to see full recipe on site.
Crispy Chicharrones!
This was the last of my homemade pork belly from a few weeks back. I had less than 1/2 pound, so I chopped them small and cooked them in a skillet (med/low) until it rendered out it’s own fat. You simply let them cook until they get crispy and golden brown. It was very difficult not to want to eat this whole bowl! For the tacos, I chopped them fine while they were cold and heated as needed. Click onto picture to see full recipe on how to prepare the pork belly for chicharrones.
Spicy Tomatillo/Chile de Arbol Salsa
Click onto picture to see full recipe for salsa on site.
Chile Morita Salsa
Click onto picture to see full recipe for salsa.
Always a fun time!!
The chunky salsa verde below: 6 tomatillos , 2-3 serrano peppers and salt to taste. Poach the tomatillos and chiles for just 5 minutes in boiling water. Transfer to blender. Add salt to taste. Pulse to chop.
Reader Interactions
Trackbacks
Would Love to Hear From You
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
[…] 8. Campechano […]