Vaco Taco

Guess what? I made something worth posting about that was NOT from Cook's Illustrated! I bought a small bone-in chuck roast at last week's farmers' market, and decided I wanted to make shredded beef tacos. I sliced an onion with the mandoline (on the "II" setting, about 1/8"), and sautéed it in a little canola oil in a nonstick skillet until it was soft and starting to brown. Then I added some freshly-ground cumin and some chili powder and sautéed a little longer to bloom the spices. I also rubbed some of the spices all over the meat while the onion was cooking, along with a little salt and pepper. I scraped the onion into the crock pot, added a little more oil to the pan, and browned the roast well on all sides. Then I popped it into the crock pot on top of the onion and turned the temperature to high. I added about 1/2 C of water, too, but next time I won't--the tacos were a bit drippy.

After about 5 hours, I lifted out the meat and shredded it with two forks, discarding the bone pieces and the nasty gristly parts, returning the meat to the pot with the onion. We made our tacos with whole-wheat tortillas (thank you Don Pancho), grated medium cheddar, heirloom tomato, chopped baby romaine, diced avocado, fresh salsa, sour cream, chopped cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. Yum. If I were making it for a spicy-tolerant crowd, I would add some heat, either with cayenne or fresh chiles in the sauté.