Does this taco look especially good to anyone else?

February 27, 2015 11:07 AM

I usually eat tacos on soft corn tortillas or flat corn tostadas. There is this McCormick commercial that always makes me crave taco shells. So I get some Old El Paso shells but it doesn't look like the kind in the commercial. In the commercial the shell looks thinner and bigger and crisper/crispier. Is it just the angle or is this a special made? Where can I get some like that? Please help this taco shell is haunting me. Can I recreate it at home?
posted by mokeydraws to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

It looks like a bog standard supermarket taco shell to me, but, are you frying up the corn tortillas first? Fry 'em.
posted by kmennie at 11:10 AM on February 27, 2015

The Old El Paso shells are thicker to stand up to cooking and shipping.

I'd sample store bought corn tortilass and learn to fry the thin ones in the taco shape.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 11:11 AM on February 27, 2015

You should be able to pick up a tortilla deep-frying mold for under $10. They look like a pair of tongs with wire tacos where the ends would be.
From there, try frying some fresh corn tortillas from the supermarket, and maybe try making your own with a press (should be under $20) if you can't find any that're thin enough.
posted by Kreiger at 11:14 AM on February 27, 2015

You need jbickers's method of making hand-fried hard taco shells.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:26 AM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

That looks like a standard mediocre store-bought corn tortilla to me.

If you *really* want corn tortilla goodness, make your own. It's cheap and easy, and you don't *really* need a tortilla press... you can squish them with anything flat, so long as you put plastic wrap between. And OMG the yummy-ness... and drat, now I'm hungry.

SO worth the little bit of extra work!
posted by stormyteal at 11:54 AM on February 27, 2015

If you have a deep fryer, there is nothing like the deep fried ones, starting with the thinnest flat corn tortillas you can find, using the tortilla mold/press mentioned above, here's an example. So thin and crispy. Frying them up was part of our taco ritual growing up, I was *horrified* the first time I tasted store bought shells.
posted by snowymorninblues at 1:01 PM on February 27, 2015

Look in the refrigerator section of your grocery store for uncooked corn tortillas. Use plastic wrap and a rolling pin to roll each one even thinner, then fry in hot oil. I've made my own corn tortillas from scratch before, and they didn't taste any better than these.
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck at 2:20 PM on February 27, 2015

That taco shell looks like Ortega or whatever mainstream generic brand they sell in the grocery store in a box. And never once have I bitten into one of those like the kid did and the whole thing didn't instantly break in half or fall apart. That commercial is a fantasy, my friend. Reality, it is not.
posted by AppleTurnover at 7:35 PM on February 27, 2015

The taco in the ad don't look great to me, actually. I feel bad for that kid with the taco flying everywhere.

But crispy hard taco shells are delicious and easy. You don't need special equipment to give it a try.
posted by zennie at 5:41 AM on March 6, 2015