[0 - 1] - Hi, I'm Saul Montiel.
[1 - 2] I'm a professional chef,
[2 - 5] and today, I'm gonna show you how to make the best tacos.
[5 - 6] It's so simple, so good.
[6 - 8] You can do this anytime of the day.
[8 - 10] It's layers and layers of love.
[10 - 13] This is tacos, uno and uno.
[14 - 17] What I'm looking for in the best taco is three things,
[17 - 18] the quality of the tortilla,
[18 - 20] the marinade and the way you cook the meat,
[20 - 22] and also the salsa.
[22 - 23] No matter what taco you are making,
[23 - 27] I'm gonna give you the best tips to make a really good taco.
[30 - 32] I'm gonna be teaching you how to make chicken tacos.
[32 - 35] I normally didn't grow up eating chicken tacos,
[35 - 38] but this is a taco that grow on me because of my kids.
[38 - 39] They love chicken tacos,
[39 - 43] and also, our customers at Cantina Rooftop.
[43 - 44] In front of me, I have chicken breasts.
[44 - 46] I'm just gonna do a butterfly cut.
[46 - 48] Basically, you split it in half,
[48 - 50] and it has the shape of a butterfly.
[50 - 52] So the chicken breast,
[52 - 53] before it was thicker here and thinner here.
[53 - 54] Now it's just evenly.
[54 - 56] You're gonna have a nice consistency
[56 - 58] through the entire breast.
[58 - 59] I'm gonna put it here.
[59 - 60] Now I'm gonna move into marinade.
[60 - 63] I think it's really good to use dry ingredients,
[63 - 65] 'cause with marinating meats,
[65 - 67] it kind of gets through the meat faster
[67 - 70] and also the cravings are deeper, stronger.
[70 - 72] I'm gonna add a little bit of lime,
[72 - 74] a little bit of salt,
[74 - 76] garlic powder, onion powder, pepper.
[77 - 80] You gotta make sure you spread it all over the breast.
[81 - 83] A little more lime, little bit of salt.
[83 - 87] Use enough salt to cover the chicken, onion powder.
[87 - 88] Same thing with the pepper.
[89 - 90] A little bit of oil.
[92 - 95] And we're gonna let this sit for like 10, 15 minutes,
[95 - 96] no more than an hour.
[96 - 99] While this is marinate, we're gonna go and make the salsa.
[102 - 105] Today I'm makin' a creamy avocado salsa for my tacos.
[105 - 108] You have two types of salsa, spicy one and the mild.
[108 - 111] Today, I'm just gonna be making the mild one
[111 - 114] because of the simplicity and how delicious it is.
[114 - 116] So I'm gonna use quarter of an onion.
[116 - 118] Now, what I love about this salsa
[118 - 121] is you can make it in three minutes.
[121 - 122] Now, the Serrano,
[122 - 124] it doesn't smell like anything,
[124 - 125] but if I do this,
[125 - 128] the flavors and the spiciness are waking up.
[129 - 131] Oh, so I'm just gonna do half.
[131 - 132] I'm gonna do lime.
[132 - 134] I always do this to my limes, it's a really good habit.
[134 - 136] So one lime for two avocados.
[136 - 138] If it needs more, I'll add more.
[138 - 141] The best way to choose an avocado is by the color.
[141 - 144] It needs to be dark brown with a little bit of greenish,
[144 - 147] not too green, not too dark, something in between.
[147 - 151] Now this here, the avocado stem, you remove it.
[151 - 154] If it's nice and yellow greenish, that means it's on point.
[154 - 157] If it's brown or too yellow, it's no good.
[157 - 158] When cutting avocado, you need to be very gentle.
[159 - 160] I can already tell it's beautiful
[160 - 163] by the color and the moment of truth,
[163 - 164] carumba bay, voila.
[164 - 166] Oh, you see this right here?
[166 - 168] This is somebody that was squeezing
[168 - 169] my avocados with their fingers.
[169 - 172] Stop doing that, you're doing this to my avocado.
[172 - 173] It's no bueno, man.
[173 - 175] Now, removing the seed, right.
[175 - 177] Use my thumbnail, push it, that's it.
[177 - 180] We're gonna scoop our avocado,
[180 - 181] Whole avocado, uno.
[181 - 183] I'm going to remove this dark bruised part
[183 - 186] that somebody did to my avocado.
[186 - 189] He's gonna see somebody in the market grabbing the avocado,
[189 - 191] I'm gonna give a lecture.
[191 - 193] For the cilantro, I'm using the entire stems and leaves,
[193 - 196] 'cause the stems have a lot of flavor.
[196 - 199] I'm gonna do a little bit of water, add some salt,
[199 - 201] and now I'm going to puree this until smooth.
[201 - 203] I'm gonna start slow.
[203 - 206] [food processor whirs]
[208 - 210] But look at the texture, this is what you want in your taco,
[210 - 212] a creamy, smooth sauce.
[216 - 218] [spoon bangs on floor] It's amazing.
[218 - 221] My salsa is ready to go, let's start cookin'.
[224 - 226] The reason why I'm using cast iron pan
[226 - 228] because it holds the heat really nice.
[228 - 230] Also, I'm gonna heat up the tortillas here,
[230 - 232] so I kinda want a wider pan,
[232 - 233] so I can cook the tortillas here
[233 - 236] to get the flavor of the chicken into the tortillas.
[236 - 239] Anytime we cookin' chicken, pork, or fish,
[239 - 240] you're wanting to sear,
[240 - 242] you wanna give color to whatever you're cooking.
[242 - 246] So the level of heat right here needs to be really hot,
[246 - 247] but without burning.
[247 - 248] And I'm using canola
[248 - 250] because canola can hold heat really high.
[250 - 253] So how do you know your oil is ready?
[253 - 254] You move it around,
[254 - 258] and if it travels faster, that means it's really hot. Very important.
[258 - 260] You're dealing with fire and wet,
[260 - 263] so shut it off and now add it.
[264 - 267] So now, you turn it back on, let it sit there.
[268 - 271] You're gonna put some pressure, so it cooks evenly.
[271 - 273] Now, all these flavor that comes out of the chicken,
[273 - 276] we're going to use it to heat up our tortillas.
[276 - 278] When cooking chicken or any kind of meat,
[278 - 281] if you wanna nice sear, you leave it alone.
[281 - 283] You don't wanna nice sear, keep playing.
[284 - 285] There's no playing in the kitchen,
[285 - 287] not in my kitchen.
[287 - 290] Well, it depends if my kids are around, we play,
[290 - 291] 'cause we have to make it fun.
[291 - 293] I can see the edges getting nice and gold,
[294 - 296] so now we're just gonna flip it
[297 - 299] and look at that beauty, so simple.
[299 - 303] I will say this will probably take eight to 10 minutes,
[303 - 305] four to five minutes on each side,
[305 - 307] but it all depends on how thick your chicken breast is.
[307 - 310] The thinner, the faster, the thicker, the longer.
[310 - 313] The reason why I'm removing the chicken from the heat is
[313 - 316] because I want all the moist to stay in the chicken.
[316 - 318] If I cut it right away,
[318 - 319] all the juices are gonna come out.
[319 - 322] So you're gonna let it rest this for like four minutes,
[322 - 323] and then we'll cut it.
[323 - 325] And all these oils, it's love.
[325 - 326] We not going to throw 'em away,
[326 - 329] that's what we're gonna heat up our tortillas.
[331 - 333] I'm going to remove these burn bits,
[333 - 336] just putting oil all over the cast iron pan.
[336 - 337] You're gonna go low heat.
[337 - 339] I'm gonna get some corn tortillas.
[339 - 340] I like to stack them together,
[340 - 345] so they're kind of oily and steamy at the same time. Keep turning
[345 - 348] and look how we're removing the fat out of this.
[348 - 351] We have to make sure they're nice and greasy and steamy
[351 - 353] without being too oily.
[353 - 355] This is why I'm moving all these tortillas around.
[355 - 357] So we're just gonna keep turning this until
[358 - 360] they're all nice and wet.
[360 - 362] Now we're gonna keep them all together,
[363 - 365] like that, so they stay warm.
[365 - 369] You're gonna put it on a towel, let it sit there.
[369 - 371] Let's move into assembling the tacos.
[374 - 377] We just let our chicken rest for the past five minutes,
[377 - 377] and it's ready.
[378 - 379] Now we're gonna do small dices.
[379 - 382] We're gonna make sure we keep it at the same size,
[382 - 385] so every bite of your taco is very important.
[385 - 388] You have the same amount of chicken on every bite.
[388 - 391] So have a nice sear, it looks moist.
[391 - 394] Now, let's grab our tortillas
[394 - 395] and load it with a little bit of chicken
[395 - 397] and we're gonna do the sauce.
[397 - 400] We have to make sure the sauce is all over the taco.
[400 - 402] I'm gonna do a little bit of cheese.
[402 - 404] So the reason why I'm using shredded lettuce
[404 - 407] is because I want to add freshness to this dish.
[407 - 408] Same thing with the tomatoes.
[408 - 409] They're nice and small,
[409 - 413] so every bite has the same amount of love.
[413 - 415] Now, I'm gonna do the crema,
[415 - 417] which is a Mexican sour cream.
[417 - 418] I'm gonna go a little bit,
[418 - 419] and this is how I cook for my kids.
[419 - 420] There's nothing wrong with these tacos.
[420 - 422] A lotta people mom, you wanna be like,
[422 - 424] "Oh, you're making American tacos."
[424 - 425] This is not American taco,
[425 - 427] this is a chicken taco, and everybody loves it.
[427 - 431] And now I love it because my kids are crazy about this.
[431 - 435] We're going to finish it with a little bit of queso fresco.
[435 - 438] It's a cow's milk cheese and a salty dry crumbly cheese.
[438 - 439] Why did I use two cheeses?
[439 - 442] One is more for like flavor,
[442 - 444] and the other one is kind of like a seasoning
[444 - 445] and also garnish.
[445 - 448] Whatever you put on top, it's all up to you.
[448 - 451] And this is the best way to make tacos.
[451 - 454] My tacos are getting cold, and they're ready to be tasted.
[456 - 459] Every bite has the same amount of love.
[459 - 461] The avocado sauce, the sour cream,
[461 - 462] the chicken is still moist,
[462 - 464] and everything is just perfect.
[464 - 467] So this taco, it's very simple to do it.
[467 - 469] Even though I make a chicken taco,
[469 - 472] I want you to use the tips that I just give you
[472 - 474] about the tortilla, about the protein, about the salsa,
[474 - 475] to make any taco that you want.
[475 - 479] Three things, tortilla, filling, and sauce.