Jack-in-the Box drive thrus had the fried tacos with meat. Very greasy, but addictive. Yours look wonderful!

They do look great! I’m confused though, is the raw meat mixture put into the shell and then the whole thing deep fried together?

The best tacos I ever ate were from a little stand in Puerto Rico on the road to the airport from San Juan - the cook was a big German named Otto. Yes, Otto's Tacos. The tortilla dough was filled with chicken, beef or fish, a few vegetables maybe, sealed like a empanada and deep fried in very hot grease that dripped down your arm when you took a bite. That was 50 years ago and I can still taste them in my mind.

foodonastump -- no, I cook the meat (but it can be done ahead as the frying will reheat the meat) and then add the cooked meat to the shells before I deep fry.

Those look really good, and unbelievably, I think I have everything to make them. I know what's for dinner tonight. Thanks!

sushi pup -- that's interesting. We don't have many Jack in the Box's here in the midwest and if we do, they're not on our radar when we're in one of the big cities. But I may have to try them out!

Cooper8828 -- I use a pound of hamburger and a can of peas (those all those years ago had peas in them--yep!). I boil the hamburger, add a tablespoon of cumin and a teaspoon of salt and then the drained peas. You can do this head of time because the meat will heat up when you fry the shells.

Street vendors often make that kind of fried taco. Or, they used to. I haven't actually gone there since I was young. It is a real taco. Grilled is fine, but real tacos should either be pan fried or deep fried. What I hate is the current trend where they don't even cook the tortillas. Sometimes, the tortillas are grilled or fried and then stuffed, and those are okay. Easier to make quickly. But tacos are just supposed to be greasy. :)

Martha, yours look yummy!

It reminds me of Jack-in-the-Box tacos too. Not at all authentic but yummy none the less. I used to do the same thing when I was in college — fill the corn tortilla with meat and fry the whole thing. I really loved those. I’ve seen recipes where the taco filling included mashed potatoes. I always thought that would give the special texture of the Jack-in-the-Box tacos. I bet the can of peas adds a similar texture. Thanks for sharing, Martha.

I never had a taco until I was in high school, Northern Michigan wasn't exactly an exotic food mecca, LOL. I remember there was a little place called The Donut Hole owned by a Mexican man and his wife, Rudy and Rosa. Rosa would make tacos for lunch, soon they sold more tacos than donuts and the Donut Hole became the Taco House. Anyway, they deep fried their tacos, already filled. I promptly went to the library, no internet then, and got a Mexican cookbook of sorts, made some tortillas with cornmeal (yeah, I know) and made venison tacos, fried in about an inch of oil in a skillet. They were still good, in spite of the cornmeal and chili powder, LOL.

So, yeah, deep fried tacos were the very first ones I ever had, courtesy of Rosa and her lunch counter.

Martha, I do like peas and I think peas are kind of like refried beans. Kind of...

Annie

We lived in Albuquerque, NM, when I was a kid. As Pillog noted, street vendors in Old Town served up tacos fried with a spicy meat sauce inside. When we learned how to make tacos at home, we always fried up just the corn tortillas. They had to be just right, fry too long and they would break apart when you added fillings at the table. I cooked tacos like this for my kids, and this is how they make them today. They do tend to break tradition occasionally by grilling the corn tortillas over a gas cooktop!

The peas are unusual, but why not? I've been inspired to put peas in my chicken enchiladas.

Lone Jack -- we'll try it next time we get to the city -- and we'll try the tamales -- one of my favorites -- I even like the canned -- LOL!