Recipe: Soft Tacos With Roasted Meat

Shredded meats, slow-cooked or roasted, warmed in their juices, make perfect fillings for soft tacos. I usually eat these at the stove, one-by-one as they come out of the pan. This is less a recipe than a rough method, distilled from several trips to Mexico.

Shredded meats, slow-cooked or roasted, warmed in their juices make perfect fillings for soft tacos, for a satisfying and quick meal, snack, or breakfast. I usually eat these at the stove, one by one as they come out of the pan. If I have a guest, I'll fire up two skillets so that two tacos will be ready at the same time. This is less a recipe than a rough method, distilled from several trips to Mexico, that can be made with whatever you have on hand.

Corn Tortillas

Leftover slow-cooked or roasted meat, such as pot roast, roast pork, or chicken, shredded and with their juices (figure about a quarter to a third of a cup meat per tortilla). Shredded meats can also be warmed with some prepared mole sauce, mixed with a little water, or broth.

• sour cream
    • avocado slices
    • cilantro sprigs, rinsed, and dried
    • chopped red onion or sliced chives
    • lime slices

In a small saucepan, heat the shredded meat in some of their juices, covered, over moderate heat until warmed through.

Heat one or two cast iron skillets or a griddle over moderate heat. Throw in a corn tortilla or two, flip it when it begins to get spotty, then put it on a plate. Spoon some warmed meat down the center, topped with sour cream, avocado, cilantro, and onions. Squeeze some lime over all, roll up the taco, and eat.

Sally Schneider writes The Improvised Life, a lifestyle blog about improvising as a daily practice. Her cookbook The Improvisational Cook is now out in paperback.