All American Beef Taco

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I'm not a big taco fan. But the family liked it enough to put in in the book of do it again recipes. I did the recipe amounts the same But I have electric and adjusted the times.

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I can't believe all of the good reviews, unless I did something wrong. I have re-read the recipe several times and can't see where I might have gone wrong, but it was inedible. All I could taste was all of the spices in the potion. The spices overwhelmed everything else. Was I not supposed to add the entire potion? I can't find where it says different. Over a quarter cup of dry spices added to 1 pound of ground sirloin is ridiculous. I wasted all of the fixins on this one.

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I read the comments first and heeded the salt warnings. I put kosher salt into the potion but did not use anymore salt. This was soooo good, sooooo perfect! I cannot believe how good this tasted!

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If you make your own chili powder according to AB'S Recipe There is not a drop of salt in it.

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I almost have to believe that there is some kind of error in this recipe. I know the printed recipe matches the video, but it's entirely possible that video, from which the recipe was transcribed, is incorrect due to an editing error. A cooking show with the high production values of Good Eats undergoes a lot of editing and the scenes aren't necessarily shot in the order you see them. It's possible that there was a change in the recipe that wasn?t picked up in the final edit.

A basic rule of thumb is that a pound of ground beef requires approximately 1 teaspoon of salt, give or take a 1/4 teaspoon depending on the type of salt and taste. In addition to salt, the recipe also calls for chili powder. Depending on the brand you use, the chili powder can add a significant amount of salt. Generally speaking, the cheaper the powder, the more salt it contains. (Salt is cheaper than ground chilies. The same goes for the beef broth, home made or low sodium is the way to go.

The bottom line here is that the recipe calls for three times the traditional amount of salt. No wonder it?s salty!

I made the recipe using Mexene brand chili powder and low sodium broth. The total additional salt added by these two ingredients was approximately 1/4 teaspoon, which I figured was offset by the onions. As a result, I only added 1 teaspoon of kosher salt to the entire recipe, which to my taste was about perfect. Remember, the big variables here are the chili powder and broth. Depending on the brands you use, you may need even less salt.

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Pretty good, despite only having sweet paprika, so only used 1 teaspoon and added an extra half teaspoon of cayenne. Dawned on me after I added the extra cayenne I could have gone with ground chipotle powder instead.

I am confused by many people's comments about the salt levels. In the show, and the recipe, it says use low sodium beef broth. I buy Kitchen Basics and the sodium level in their no salt added version is 8% RDV per 1 C serving, compared to almost 5 times that for any normal broth and about 2.5 times that for other brand's reduced sodium versions.

I had used 1 teaspoon cracked sea salt from a grinder to turn the garlic into a paste, like I've seen a few different FN stars do.

I did the math adding the sodium levels from the chili powder, the two teaspoons of kosher salt in the Potion #19, the broth I used and the value I found for my sea salt grinder. Though I think the sea salt value was high because it should be more in line with kosher salt, not table salt, since the larger crystals means less salt per unit measure.

I came up with a value of roughly 4500 mg of sodium in the meat mixture. Divided into 12 portions that nets about 375 mg per serving and that's roughly 20% of the RDV.

So I'm left wondering, as a couple others have, if people aren't using low sodium broth or maybe putting in tablespoons, using table salt or using some other method for measuring.

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I agree with other reviewers that the blend of flavors is superb but there's too much salt in the recipe. I appreciate the information about how salt content differs in various brands of chili powder (I must be using something on the low end of quality. I'll definitely make it again, but only "salt to taste" at the end of cooking.

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I agree that its too salty. I suppose you could just not add the salt when cooking the beef... GREAT RECIPE. I added some homemade crema from the fish taco portion of the show (the recipe is on here too I will never make tacos the same way I used too. Plus hand made shells are great!!!!

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I would always use prepackaged taco seasoning until to my horror I realized that almost all of them contained MSG. I searched the internet to find a recipie that I liked and one night this episode aired. I do agree that its too salty so I cut it by half and doubled the cayenne. I love the flavor combinations and how the cornstarch makes it "saucy". This is a great HOMEMADE mix and can't wait to share with my friends!! Definately GOOD EATS!!!

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This didn't turn out salty at all, but it was a bit hot for my 80 year old father.

I used hot smoked paprika imported from Spain and freshly ground cayenne from Pendry's. It was *smokin'*!!

Very, very good though. I'll cut back on the paprika if my dad's gonna eat this with me next time.