Irish Tacos
With tangy ground beef, potato hash, spicy coleslaw, and pickled onions!
Irish Tacos
Time: 2 hrs | Difficulty: 4/5 | Recommendation: Weeknight meal project!
These tacos are soooo yummy!! They’re loosely based on corned beef and cabbage, and inspired by a recipe by Sam Sifton—but here, I added potatoes and some pickled onions, and the meat isn’t corned beef, just “quick pickled” ground beef. Which means the recipe takes a couple hours, not a couple days. Plus, portions here are for one person. Also I’ve discovered pickling spice and wow it smells so good?? And flavors this ground beef SO nicely! Theres lots of elements here so I’ll clarify—optional: cheddar, pickled onions. NOT optional: beef, potatoes, slaw. Do NOT skimp on the slaw!! I’m not a fan of mayo (it freaks me out lol) but this may have changed my mind. FYI, I tried these with both hard shell and soft shell tacos (only the most thorough testing for you) and soft shell won by a MILE. Thinking these would make for a stellar St. Patrick’s Day platter… P.S. this recipe makes three small or two large tacos!
Ingredients/Tools:
For the beef:
1/4 lb ground beef
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp pickling spice
Water
A big bowl
For the potatoes:
2 small potatoes
Grater
Dish towel
For the slaw:
1/4 of a cabbage, thinly chopped
3 tbsp mayonnaise
Hot sauce
Mustard
Spices: Salt, pepper, mustard powder, coriander, paprika, chili flakes
A big bowl
For the onions:
1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced
Apple cider vinegar
Water
Pickling spice
Irish sharp cheddar, shredded
Butter
Soft taco shells/tortillas
Box grater
Dish towel
Method:
Marinate the beef: mix the apple cider vinegar, a good amount of water, and pickling spice. Add in the beef, making sure it’s all covered in the liquid. Cover and refrigerate while you prep the other ingredients. (Note—this is not an actual brining process like you would do for real corned beef! It’s more like a basic marinade, to get some flavor into the meat.)
Shred the two potatoes onto a dish towel with your box grater. Wrap them up and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Add a good amount of butter to a pan. When the butter is melted, add the potatoes in a single flat layer in the pan. Add salt and pepper on top, and a drizzle of olive oil.
When the bottom is crispy, carefully flip the potato! (It’s okay if it breaks—you just want to make sure you get two crispy, flat sides.) Salt and pepper the other side. Remove to a plate once fully cooked.
Chop the cabbage in thin strips and add to a big bowl.
In a smaller bowl, mix the mayonnaise, hot sauce, mustard, and spices. Taste to see if you need to add anything else. (It will ideally taste like a cross between an aioli and thousand island dressing!)
Add the mayo mixture to the cabbage, enough to get all the cabbage coated. Refrigerate until you plate.
Chop the onions and add them to a smaller mix of vinegar, water, and pickling spice (don’t use the same brine as for the ground beef. Raw meat ew!). Let them sit as you cook the beef.
Add some butter and olive oil to the same pan. Then remove the ground beef from the bowl and put it right into the pan. Don’t worry if you get some of the spices in there with it. Mush it up so it’s all in little bits, and cook it down on medium heat until all the liquid has evaporated. Add salt and pepper at the end as needed. Remove with a fork or slotted spoon.
Wipe out the pan, and quickly toast your soft shell tortillas!
Layer up! Chop up your potato slab into 6 rectangular sections. Add two to either side of a tortilla, then add some beef in the middle. Next, add the slaw, and be generous! Add shredded cheddar on top, and the onions on top of that.