We’re celebrating culinary mashups this week! And the emphasis is on dishes that make sense. That is, we’re focusing on mashups that demonstrate what classic mashups should be. Like today’s Smash Burger Taco…
A classic mashup is supposed to be a creative combination of two complementary dishes that don’t usually appear on the same menu, let alone on the same plate…
Just makes sense…
… That a proper mashup dish should combine culinary creations that have core ingredients or prep techniques in common. Thus it is that I’ve chosen the Smash Burger Taco as our reference model for the classic mashup.
As presented by recipe contributor Brooke Caison, the recipe seamless marries a smash burger patty into a traditional taco using minimal modification and maximum creativity.
What she did…
… Was simply use a smash burger parry in place of the ground beef scramble traditionally called for in a Tex-Mex Taco. Yes, simplicity also counts in the mashup game.
In place of the usual taco shredded cheese, she implemented the universal burger standard: a slice of American (processed) cheese. And added diced onions plus the Big Mac’s mandatory three pickle coins.
As an further homage to what may be the mot iconic burger of all time, she created a copycat ‘secret sauce’. And topped it all off with taco-style shredded lettuce.
Her final touch was to pay respect for the traditional deluxe burger bun with a sprinkle of sesame seeds…
My take
I was especially pleased to see Brooke give a major nod to the classic taco concept by using a warm (flexible) corn tortilla. And it’s entirely size-appropriate to a taco version of a burger!
Now that we’ve established the mashup concept as a logical, estimable and worthy way of culinary seeing… I hope you’ll join us every day this week for more tasty, new examples of classic mashups!
~ Maggie J.