Cachetada Taco
the slap taco of your dreams
Cachetada means “slap” in Spanish. These tacos slap in two ways-
by how good they are
by the way you need to make them
The slap comes from throwing the meat down on the cooking surface.
Well in all honesty it’s more of a “press” instead of a “slap” but that’s just what they are called. I don’t make the rules. Fight me if you want.
So what is a slap taco?
It starts with thin beef that you smash in the tortilla press.
Smashing the beef with the tortilla press
Additionally you could slice ribeye thinly. Maybe your butcher will do it and maybe they won’t. Doesn’t hurt to ask. Below I used some chuck from the Mexican grocer.
WTF is a Costra?
It’s this. This is a costra.
I know you’ve seen the crispy cheese layer somewhere online. We cook the tortilla, remove it and then chuck some asadero cheese down in a hot pan to crisp it up then placing the tortilla on top and removing the costra from the pan. You end up with this
The beef lays on top and all the garnishes just make every bite insane.
What other style of tacos did you you love making?
It all starts with a good tortilla. I talk about how to make good tortillas in previous recipes if you wanted to level up your game.
Read those articles to get the tricks. I will say this is the special masa Masienda just dropped it’s the Taqueria Masa. Worth every penny so you can get that nice soufflé.
I got this idea from reading through the Vitamina T cookbook by Masienda’s Jorge Gaviria and Fermin Nunez. One book I highly recommend to up your Mexican cuisine arsenal. They are good dudes too. Support them! Their recipe of Cachetada Taco inspired this bite.
Fermin Nunez is one of Austin TX’s most prized and exciting chefs focused on a classic yet modern approach on Mexican cuisine. His restaurants Suerte, Este and Bar Toti are staples in the community.
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