I grew up as a picky eater. If it wasn’t chicken fingers, ramen soup, burnt Eggo waffles, or cheese and crackers, I wasn’t eating it (or should I say, I didn’t want to eat it but sometimes my parents made me). Sandwiches? Ew. Macaroni and cheese? No way! Steak? DISGUSTING. Or, at least that’s what I would have told you when I was a kid.
Now that I’m older, some of my favorite foods are ones that repulsed me when I was little. Young palates often can’t handle intense flavors, and instead prefer bland food, or food that is “fast and familiar”. However as we grow older, we also naturally grow to crave and appreciate more complex, bold flavors and textures.
This is not always the case, though. Not everyone will grow to enjoy every type of food, but they can especially be inhibited if they’re forced to eat things that they don’t like as a child. If you’re told as a child that you can’t leave the table until you eat something you can’t stand, it’s very likely that you will retain that aversion through your adulthood, according to researchers. (Thanks, Mom. Now I’ll never like broccoli!)
Whatever the reason is for us not liking a certain food, we sometimes do have the ability to force ourselves to start liking it. I’ve had decent success doing this with tomatoes, red wine, and steak. Yes, steak. I was struggling with that one until I had these Steak Tacos with Guacamole, Salsa, and Lime Crema.
Now you may not trust my judgment when I say these were ridiculously, out-of-this-world good, since I’ve never been a huge fan of steak. I get it, and my feelings aren’t hurt. If you can’t trust me on how amazing these are, trust the fact that my friend, Jackie, and my boyfriend, James, both serious carnivores, could not get enough of these Steak Tacos. Both of them must have said, “These are amazing!” at least fifteen times throughout our meal. The spice coating allowed for a crispier outside while the inside of the steak remained perfectly juicy. The guacamole, salsa, and lime crema perfectly complimented the steak’s flavors. The cabbage gave the tacos a refreshing crunch. I added a little cotija cheese to mine and it was just, well, amazing…
My mouth is watering as I type right now. Let me just give you the recipe before I start drooling.
- 3½ pounds skirt steak, cut against the grain into strips (a little smaller than your little finger)
- 20 flour tortillas (4 inch)
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1 large head Napa cabbage (also called Chinese), cleaned, cut into thin strips, and tossed with the juice of 2 limes
- 2 tsp chipotle chile powder
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 2 tbsp cumin
- 3 tsp kosher or coarse salt
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- 1 red onion, sliced ¼-inch thick
- 4 plum tomatoes
- 2 oz canola oil
- 1 tsp kosher or coarse salt
- ½ bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
- 3 fresh limes, juiced
- 6 ripe Haas avocados, halved, pits removed, flesh scooped out and placed in large bowl with the juice of 4 limes
- 4 plum tomatoes, small diced (about 2 cups)
- 1 red onion, minced, about 1 cup
- 1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
- 2 tsp kosher or coarse salt
- 2 cups sour cream
- 2 fresh limes
- Combine spice-mixture ingredients and toss with steak to coat. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Warm tortillas on cookie sheet in oven.
- Heat two large sauté pans to medium-high. When pans are hot, add oil to each pan followed by ½ the seasoned meat. Spread meat out evenly and cook without turning while you lay out warm tortillas on a clean work area to get ready for assembly. Cook meat for approximately 3 minutes, turn, and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally to achieve even coloring.
- After 3 minutes, turn off heat and allow meat to sit in the pan, becoming just cool enough for you to handle.
- Rub jalapeño, onion, and tomatoes lightly with oil and roast in large sauté pan on medium-high, turning frequently until lightly charred all over. Set aside to cool.
- When cooled, roughly chop and place in a food processor with salt, pulsing until almost smooth but still just a little chunky.
- Transfer to bowl, add cilantro and lime juice, cover, and refrigerate. (For a milder salsa, use only half the jalapeño.)
- Lightly crush avocados with fork until almost smooth but still a little chunky.
- Evenly mix in tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and salt; cover and refrigerate.
- Whisk 2 cups sour cream together with the juice of 2 fresh limes.
- Spread ½ tbsp guacamole on each warmed tortilla, followed by a large pinch of cabbage.
- Distribute meat evenly and fold tortillas up end to end.
- Serve immediately on a large platter with the salsa, crema, guacamole, and a bag of your favorite tortilla chips.
Omg, looks fantastic – I will def. have to try these out!
Let me know when you do, Whit!
Hello!
This is my first time on your blog, and I must say that this recipe looks delicious.
I must try it.
I do however have to disagree with you on making children eat something they don’t like.
I have two girls, and the rule was that they had to eat at least one bite of everything.
Whatever food was put on their plates by me if it was too much and they couldn’t finish it that was fine.
If they filled their own plates, and eyes to big for their stomachs, they had to eat all of it.
I encouraged small portions, they could go back for seconds and thirds if they needed to.
I started them on green vegetables instead of the sweet.
Today my girls (grown) have very wide and diverse palettes, will eat just about anything, and still love all green vegetables over the sweet.
If they didn’t like a vegetable…… I encouraged them every Spring to plant something they didn’t like but would be willing to try.
There aren’t very many vegetables they won’t eat today.
I think it is all in the way you go about it.
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
I agree with you there! I think every child should be exposed to new foods, and I completely understand what you’re saying about eating what you serve yourself. I’m just saying that the whole “you can’t leave the table until you finish every last bite” deal for foods that the child doesn’t like usually turns out to actually be counterproductive in the long run. If you know that a child doesn’t like brussel sprouts, and you tell them that they have to eat all of their brussel sprouts before they leave the table, and this is something that you go through regularly, kids develop a taste aversion. I don’t have kids, so I’m not claiming to have parental experience here… just writing to relay things I’ve read about and researched. But yes, I do hope that everyone regularly introduces (and reintroduces) their kids to new foods!
Morgan: I see what you mean.
I have a son-in-law that force feeds the kids if they don’t like something.
Makes for very unhappy children and tension all round.
One bite is one thing, force feeding another.
Charlie
Oh I do have to say that your comment about chicken fingers made me smile.
My youngest at about five decided she liked nothing but chicken.
I would make pork chops, steak, roast, you name it.
She would look at me a ask: Is this chicken?
I would look at her and say What do you think, you only like chicken?
She would then clean her plate and go for seconds. When she got up from the table she would say. Thank you for the chicken.
By the time she realized what was going on she was hooked on all kinds of meat.
LoL! They were so cute!
Haha that’s adorable! Kids are so funny sometimes!
Oh dear, it’s 9:51am, and I’m drooling over steak! This is on my must-make-immediately list. Thank you for the recipe!
-Cyndi
Great! Let me know how you like them when you do make them!