Ah, so it's a labor of love.... and they look delicious and worth every minute spent on their making! Thanks for sharing this!

They look good, but the only tacos I eat come from a truck parked by the side of a vegetable field, filled with migrant workers. Those are the best tacos!

I thought deep frying them was the most authentic preparation?

I'll bet they're super tasty - and guilt-inducing to boot = J

I just made a big batch of what I call 'taco meat' last night, with sweet peppers, onions, tomatoes, finely grated carrots, and corn. I am way too lazy to make proper tacos, though. We just eat it with tortilla chips.

I'm not sure -- this was before "Tex Mex" made it's way north and I think it was authentic but also I think Mexico is like the US -- different tacos for different areas? (Which may explain the peas). But I'm not an expert so . . .

Authentic Mexican tacos are never deep fried!! The tortillas (always corn) are placed on a skillet for a moment or two to heat them up and make them pliable, but that's it!! Deep fried or very crispy taco shells are an Americanization of the dish.

Making authentic tacos at home is not difficult at all and should be a pretty fast meal. Most of the time involved is in the preparation of the meat or fish that serves as the base and the prepping of the veggie garnish but otherwise it is just a matter of assembling. Two or three tortillas per serving (6" size or smaller) and it takes only seconds to fill..........voila!! Done!

Perhaps I was thinking of flautas?

Martha, we also fried the tacos in oil, after putting the meat filling in. We used tongs to hold the tops together, submerged the whole thing in hot oil and let them fry until crisp. Our were usually filled with venison, so definitely not authentic, but I never heard of adding peas. I never even had a taco until I was in high school and had never heard of a tortilla either, we used to make a kind of taco out of Indian Fry Bread before then.

Annie

Martha, those look good! The peas are probably because of the high availability of peas in the mid-20th C. ;)

Fried tacos aren't unheard of in Mexico, just not the most regular way of making them. Rolled tacos are more often fried than flat ones, and any of them are more likely shallow fried than deep. Sometimes it might come down to whether there's a pan of oil hot. Why waste it? After what it was there for is done, fry up some tacos. At least that's what one lady told me. :)

"Authentic", implying history, is most likely grilled on a comal over an open fire. That's where the really good tacos in Mexico come from, in my experience, though I'm sure Ricky's taco truck for the agricultural workers is darned good too. :)

Annie, do you make fry bread? I would love to learn how to do that even though I have no claim to Native heritage. :)

fawn

'the only tacos I like … filled with migrant workers'

migrant workers taste like chicken?

just caught my eye. had to chuckle.

Yes, carol, flautas and taquitos are both rolled and fried. Tacos not.....just softened :-)

Freshly made corn tortillas are only pliable for a day at most so I imagine the fried came about as one way to revitalize day old tortillas.

I make my own and freeze them immediately.

plllog, I do occasionally make fry bread, the grandkids love the stuff, it reminds them of the Elephant Ears at the county fair.

Great Grandma made them a lot, and used them in place of baked yeast type breads. They're easy, but not healthy. She fried hers in lard, of course, I suppose oil or shortening would work too.

Annie

Those do look delicious!
I don't know about on the Mexico mainland, (never been) but in Baja California, where we go 10-12 times a year, deep fried tacos or "Tacos Dorado" as they are called, are very popular! Fish and shrimp tacos are often prepared this way, and potato tacos, (tacos papas) are always deep fried, which if you've never had are to die for!! Shredded beef, (machaca) tacos are also excellent and quite common deep fried. One authentic key to all these dorado style tacos is the shredded Cotija cheese sprinkled on the still hot fried shells...mmmmmm!

True, at most roadside taquerias, the more commonly known "street tacos" are served on soft tortillas, (choice of corn or flour) just warmed on the griddle, usually with your choice of carnitas, pollo, or al pastor, (rotisserie seasoned pork) ...my favorite at the roadside stops :)
When I make deep fried tacos at home, we affectionately refer to them just as "greasy tacos" ;)

2many, we have something else in common, my great grandmother was Potawattomie. She was from Buckhorn, Canada, but still North American.

She lived by a river and ate a lot of fish, even for breakfast. I remember she'd take a plate full of leftover fish from supper, cover it with another plate and stick it on the back of her woodstove. In the morning she'd slap a piece of that fish on a piece of fry bread, fold it over and it was breakfast. When I was a kid I thought that was so weird, now I'm thinking it was just a fish taco, very fashionable and before her time!

Annie

Annie, I was afraid to try fish tacos for a long time. They just sounded tooo weird. When I finally tried them, I was hooked. Love them. Like them best with fried fish vs. baked or broiled. Soft tortilla, crispy fish.

The street tacos that I've eaten in Mexico have always been soft corn tortillas--two stacked corn tortillas per taco with filling.

When we were in Yuma, I noticed a lot of what they call 'Rolled tacos' that are deep fried. Didn't eat any but assume what they call rolled tacos is otherwise known as tacquitoes.

FWIW, I grew up occasionally having fish for breakfast - leftover fried fillets, or cold fishsticks, or even fresh caught & sauteed in butter. Maybe my Dad's family being from England had something to do w/ it...?