Goodbye giant shell: Here’s a modern take on the taco salad

What do you picture when you hear “taco salad”? The first image might be a deep-fried taco shell bowl filled with lettuce and your standard Tex-Mex fare. I picture something from my college days, more akin to nachos than salad: an inverted lidded plate filled with tortilla chips, lettuce, the protein of my choice, shredded cheese, sour cream and whatever toppings I wanted at the time. And it was absolutely gigantic.

Regardless of what comes to mind, we have Fritos and Disneyland to thank for the taco salad.

The snack we now know as Fritos was invented by Gustavo Olguin, a native of Oaxaca who moved to San Antonio during the 1920s. As a side job, according to “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America” by Gustavo Arellano, Olguin sold bags of corn chips to local restaurants. “But for reasons lost to history, Olguin wanted to move back to Mexico and sold off his business, recipe, retail accounts, and equipment to [Charles Elmer] Doolin for a hundred dollars” in 1932.

Doolin was on a quest for national dominance. He opened plant after plant, “[b]ut he wanted more than to merely fill the households of America with bags of his stuff,” Arellano wrote. “Just months after Disneyland opened in 1955, Doolin convinced Walt Disney to let him open Casa de Fritos, a Mexican restaurant in Frontierland. The Mexican food was straightforward Tex-Mex — a combo plate, tamales, [chili], Frito pie, enchiladas, and the ‘Ta-cup,’ the standard fast-food taco about to colonize America but in a Fritos shell, the ancestor of the modern-day taco salad.”

The earliest reference to “taco salad” in The Washington Post was in a March 11, 1965, “Cooking for Crowds” column titled, “Add a Touch of Old Mexico”: “Looking for a hearty salad to serve with steaming bowls of soup for a church, club or school luncheon for 40 to 50 people? Try Taco Salad. It’s different and delicious.” The recipe included shredded lettuce, grated cheese, chopped onion, ground beef, taco sauce, tortilla chips and black olives — and made about 3 gallons.

Sixty years later, I’m here with a more modern version that swaps the ground beef for steak, and taco sauce for a tart and creamy avocado dressing. Skirt steak is seasoned with chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika, then cooked to your desired doneness. The avocado dressing is akin to a thinned-out guacamole, with loads of fresh lime juice and cilantro.

The heart of the taco salad is all the fixings. With this recipe, the avocado component is already covered, but the rest is up to you. For starters, you can add fresh or pickled jalapeños for a kick of spice, home-cooked or canned beans for earthiness, and corn kernels for pops of sweetness. Add lettuce and tortilla chips — or corn chips if you want a bigger crunch and an homage to the Disneyland predecessor — and you’ve got a delicious, satisfying and nostalgic meal on your hands.

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Steak Taco Salad

For the steak:

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon fine salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound skirt steak, patted dry

2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola or peanut

For the avocado dressing:

Flesh of 1 large ripe avocado

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

¼ cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes)

¼ cup water, plus more as needed

¼ teaspoon fine salt

For the salad:

2 romaine lettuce hearts (10 ounces total), chopped (about 8 cups)

2 cups tortilla chips (2 ounces), crushed

Cooked beans, corn kernels, pickled jalapeño slices, shredded or crumbled cheese, halved grape or cherry tomatoes, or other toppings of your choice, for serving

Cook the steak: In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the spice rub all over the steak. Heat a large (12-inch) cast-iron skillet over high heat until just starting to smoke, then reduce the heat to medium-high. Add the oil and steak, and, using tongs or a meat press (if you have one), press down on the meat to ensure as much of its surface as possible is making contact with the hot skillet. Cook until the steak is deeply browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side, or until it is done to your liking. (For medium, remove the steak when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers about 135°F.) Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. (The temperature of the steak will continue to increase.)

Make the avocado dressing: In a narrow container with tall sides and using an immersion blender, combine the avocado, cilantro, lime juice, water and salt, and puree until smooth, adding more water, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time as needed, until it has a consistency similar to loose yogurt. You should have about 1½ cups. (Alternatively, puree the ingredients in a small blender or mini food processor, or mash the avocado and whisk the ingredients together by hand.)

Assemble the salad: Slice the steak against the grain. Divide the lettuce among bowls; top each with the steak, tortilla chips and toppings of your choice; spoon some of the avocado dressing on top; and serve immediately.

Servings: 4

Substitutions: For skirt steak, use another thin cut of steak, such as bavette (flap) or flank steak. For steak, use chicken or mushrooms, with an adjustment to the cooking time. For romaine, use iceberg or butter lettuce. For tortilla chips, use corn chips or Doritos.

Nutritional information per serving: 482 calories, 67 g fat, 10 g saturated fat, 17 g carbohydrates, 544 mg sodium, 81 mg cholesterol, 23 g protein, 5 g fiber, 0 g sugar.

— Aaron Hutcherson