Welcome to The Storied Recipe Podcast, a podcast about food, culture, and love.
This recipe for Hank Shaw's Deathbed Tacos came from his great friend, Mexican-American immigrant and serial restaurateur, Patricio Wise. Make sure you listen to Hank's episode "The Foremost Wild Food Authority and His Favorite Taco"while you make these delicious Venison Deathbed Tacos!
Why is this recipe named Deathbed Tacos? Because you can die happy after eating them.
As he shares in his latest book, Borderlands, these are Hank Shaw's favorite taco recipes, and for good reason.
This is not your quickest taco Tuesday recipe. These tacos are elevated and a bit more time consuming, but the payoff is absolutely worth the effort.
Looking for more incredible Mexican recipes? Check out this 30-minute Mole recipe or this Arroz Rojo (Mexican Red Rice) recipe, both recipes provided by my podcast guest Diana Silva (aka Mole Mama)!
Also check out this recipe for Venison Burgers with Mushrooms and Onions from my podcast guest Brian Reisinger.
Hank's Memories of Eating Deathbed Tacos
So you're dealing with a flour tortilla, which has fat in it, the cheese, which has fat in it, the ribeye, which has fat in it, bone marrow, which IS fat. It's fat on fat on fat on fat on fat.
And you're thinking to yourself, how am I going to eat even two of these?
But then he [Patricio Wise] topped it with lime-soaked onions, so you've got a crunch and a cutting edge there, and a little bit of cilantro.
And then he put out a little bowl of chili piquins. And chili piquins are a wild bullet-shaped chili, maybe the size of your pinky nail. And the idea is you eat one chili piquin for every bite of the taco. And they will light you up. But it's a heat that doesn't last super long.
-Hank Shaw, guest of The Storied Recipe Podcast
Top Tip
All the fat in the tortilla, cheese, ribeye, and marrow needs to be balanced with bracing acidity and heat.
So don't skimp on the lime, the onions, or the Monterrey Salsa.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Hank's Onions: White onion; salt; dried Mexican oregano; fresh lime juice
- Monterrey Salsa: Pequin chilies; salt; garlic; lime juice
- Deathbed Tacos: Marrow bones; salt; pepper; ribeye steak (beef or venison); shredded melty cheese (queso Chihuahua, asadero, or Mexican blend); cilantro; lime wedges
Instructions
- Crush the oregano, then mince the onion and mix with salt and lime juice. Let sit at least 15 minutes (or make up to a day ahead and refrigerate).
- Using a molcajete or mortar and pestle, grind the pequin chilies, salt, and garlic into a paste. Stir in lime juice.
- Heat oven to 450°F and place salted marrow bones marrow-side up on a foil-lined sheet. Roast about 20 minutes, until the marrow bubbles and turns liquid; set aside.
- Salt steaks and let come to room temperature. Grill to medium-rare, rest, then finish with black pepper.
- Warm tortillas and keep them covered until ready to use.
- Heat a griddle or pan to hot, add a small pile of cheese, and press a tortilla into it as it melts. Cook until browned and crisp, then repeat and keep warm.
- Chop the steak and season lightly with salt. Top the cheese side of each tortilla with meat, spoon over bone marrow, then finish with onions, Monterrey salsa, and cilantro.
Salsas and Pequin Chilies
Typically in the US, when you hear the word salsa usually brings to mind a red, tomato-based sauce made with onion, garlic, and jalapeños, or a milder salsa verde made with tomatillos. In Mexican cuisine, however, salsa is a much broader term, referring to a wide variety of sauces that complement a specific dish.
The Monterrey Salsa used in these Deathbed Tacos refers to a salsa common in Northern Mexico, specifically the Monterrey region, and is often associated with grilled meat (carne asada). The meat in these tacos is balanced with the spicy pequin peppers and citrus from the lime juice.
In case you have never used or bought pequin chilies before, Hank says they are super easy to find in a Mexican supermercado near you and they typically packaged in a plastic clam shell. Pequins are a wild chili that produces beautiful, small (about the size of a fingernail) red (or green if they aren't ripe) peppers that very spicy. Here are a few alternatives if you can't find pequins near you:
- Primo chili
- Bird's Eye Chili Pepper or Prik Kee Nok (พริกขี้หนูตานก)
- Serranos (I used these chilies)
What Meat to Use?
Hank Shaw's ethos centers on avoiding store bought meat in order to reduce his footprint when it comes to the industrialize food system.
Therefore, while this recipe calls for ribeye, when making these at home Hank typically uses venison that he has hunted himself.
Hank is an expert in preparing and cooking venison (as well as many other wild and seasonal foods) and has a number of resources and guidance on his website, Hunter, Angular, Gardener, Cook.
If you aren't a hunter or don't know a hunter who is selling venison, I would suggest sourcing beef from a local butcher near you. The choice is up to you though!
What are Costras?
Hank describes costras as grilled cheese on a taco. Need I say more?
Costra, translated in English to "scab" or "crust", is cheese that is melted on a grill and then has a tortilla placed on top to form a tortilla outside layer with the inside layer forming a crunchy, yet slightly soft cheese inside layer to your taco.
Costras were created in Mexico City at a food stall, aptly named, Las Costras. Most costras will typically use a white Oaxacan-style cheese because it is melts to the tortilla really nicely, but other soft cheese that are used are queso Chihuahua, asadero, or a Mexican blend.
source: Afar
Equipment
- Mortar and pestle OR molcajete
- Comal OR griddle OR non-stick pan
- Baking sheet
- Aluminium foil
- Grill with mesquite wood or charcoal
- Tortilla warmer OR clean kitchen towel
Storage
Best eaten fresh!
Food Safety
- Make sure that the internal temperature of the venison reaches at least 165°F/73.88°C to make sure any harmful bacteria are killed.
- To ensure your meat has reached the right temperature, use an instant-read thermometer or regular meat thermometer.
source: Minnesota Department of Agriculture
More Recipes from Mexico and Central/South America
Connect with Hank Shaw
- Read more about Hank on his website Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
- Order Hank's new cookbook Borderlands
- Listen to Hank's podcast episode with Chef Patricio Wise as they talk all about Mexican Cuisine.
Listen to Hank's Episode
PrintRecipe
Hank Shaw's Favorite Tacos
Description
Hank Shaw's rich, indulgent Deathbed Tacos made with grilled ribeye, bubbling bone marrow, crispy cheese costras, bright lime onions, and fiery Monterrey salsa.
Ingredients
Hank's Onions
- 1 large white onion
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of dried Mexican oregano
- ⅓ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Hank's Monterrey Salsa
- 6 to 12 pequin chilies, stems removed *See Note 1
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large garlic clove
- At least ½ cup of lime juice
Deathbed Tacos
- 2 marrow bones, canoe cut (4 halves)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 or 2 ribeye steaks (beef or venison)
- 1 pound shredded melty cheese (queso Chihuahua, asadero, or a Mexican blend)
- Cilantro, chopped (to serve)
- Lime wedges (to serve)
Instructions
Cue Episode!
Make sure you listen to Hank's episode of The Storied Recipe Podcast, "The Foremost Wild Food Authority and His Favorite Taco" while you make his amazing Deathbed Tacos.
Make the Recipe
Make Hank's Onions
- The day before or an hour before making your tacos, make the onions. You can keep the onion in the refrigerators for 1-2 days.
- Crush the Mexican oregano into a powder with your hands.
- Mince the onions and mix with the salt, crushed Mexican oregano, and lime juice.
- Let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Make the Monterrey Salsa
- In order to prepare this salsa correctly, forget the food processor and take out your mortar and pestle because this salsa needs to be pounded, not chopped.
- Put the pequins, salt, and garlic in a molcajete or mortar. Grind ingredients into a paste (this can take awhile! It took both me and my husband 15 minutes to make this paste) then stir in the lime juice.
- A little of this salsa goes a long way.
Prepare the Marrow Bones
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set the marrow bones marrow side up.
- Sprinkle with salt, and place them in the oven for 20 minutes.
- At 15 minutes, check on them. You will know they are done when the marrow starts to bubble and becomes liquid. Take them out of the oven and set aside.
Prepare the Meat
- While the marrow bones are baking, prepare the steaks by salting both sides and allowing the meat to come to room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Prepare your grill with mesquite wood or charcoal, and once ready, grill the steaks until they are medium-rare.
- Take the steaks off of the grill, and while the steaks rest, grind black pepper over them.
Prepare the Tortillas
- Option 1: If you have a tortilla warmer, warm the tortillas and then place them inside the warmer.
- Option 2: Warm the tortillas, wrap them in a kitchen towel to keep them warm and pliable.
Make the Costras (crispy outer cheese layer)
- On a griddle, comal, or non-stick pan, heat it up to at least 350°F on your stovetop.
- Once hot, place about 2 tablespoons of cheese down on the surface and as it starts to melt, take a tortilla and press it onto the cheese until the cheese reaches the edge of the tortilla.
- Let the cheese/tortilla brown for a couple of minutes. If you have a well seasoned griddle or comal, the cheese will easily release from the pan. If not, a metal spatula will help get the cheese off the surface of the pan.
- Repeat this process with the remaining tortillas.
- Keep the tortillas warm by placing them in the turned-off oven, as well as the bone marrow, to keep everything warm.
Assemble the Tacos
- Chop the meat into your desired size, Hank says about the size of your thumbnail, and sprinkle once more with salt.
- Take the tortillas (costras) and bone marrow out of the oven, scoop some of the ribeye onto the cheese side (costra side) of the tortilla, then fill the taco by spooning some of the bone marrow on top. Add the onions, Moneterrey salsa, and finish with some cilantro.
Notes
Note 1: Pequins are a wild chili that produces beautiful, small (about the size of a fingernail) red peppers that very spicy. Here are a few alternatives if you can't find pequins near you: 1) Primo chili 2) Bird's Eye Chili Pepper or Prik Kee Nok (พริกขี้หนูตานก) 3) Serranos.
Would love to hear from you!