Crunchy ground beef tacos

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom pot, add the ground beef and a strong pinch of salt and crumble it thoroughly as it browns, cooking until the moisture has evaporated.

Add the small diced onions, the garlic and another strong pinch of salt and sweat into the meat three to four minutes, until the garlic is fragrant and the onion is about halfway cooked.

Add the chili powder, paprika, cumin, chili flakes and dried oregano and cook 20 to 30 seconds until fragrant.

Add the chicken stock, tomato sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and one more small pinch of salt.

Bring to a simmer and reduce over low heat 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened enough to leave a stiff trail behind a spatula.

Put the tomato sauce, softened chilies, water, sugar, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, onion powder, salt and apple cider vinegar in a blender.

Taco sauce: bring a small pot of water to a simmer, drop in the seeded and stemmed guajillos and kill the heat; soften 10 to 15 minutes.

Spin two to three minutes on high until as smooth as possible.

Finely shred the romaine and grate the pepper jack and cheddar on the largest holes of a box grater.

Fill a three quart sauce pan about 75 percent of the way with neutral oil and heat to 325F.

Snug a corn tortilla into taco frying tongs, lower it into the oil and fry about 90 seconds, until the bubbles have gotten small, lightly golden all over with no soft spots.

Flip the shell onto a sheet tray in a 185F oven to stay warm while the rest fry.

Alternative without a deep fryer: heat about an inch of oil in a 10 inch pan to 325F, fry one side of the tortilla 25 to 30 seconds until it starts to firm up, flip and hold the shell at a 50 to 60 degree angle with a second pair of tongs, fry about 60 seconds, then flip back and refry the first side 30 to 60 seconds.

Fill each shell with about a quarter cup of meat, a strong pinch of the cheese blend, a generous squiggle of taco sauce, shredded romaine and a little fresh tomato.