At long last, I’ve finally come around to the West Coast IPA.
This may sound controversial, but when I was younger, I never favoured this style. Early experiences with old-school, Californian Westies – the ones that paired tongue-scraping bitterness with a headache-inducing dose of caramel malt – put me off from the style for years.
But as the West Coast IPA has evolved, so has my taste for it. Contemporary West Coast IPAs have largely lost the caramel malt and are now made not just with the traditional, grapefruit-and-pine-resin “C-hop” varieties, but also newer hops that add a dose of tropicality.
Burnt Mill’s Diamond Dust is just such an example, a perfect distillation of what the style can offer: bold aromatics, courtesy of Mosaic hops, in addition to the more trad Chinook and Centennial. Bitterness that’s present but held in check, enough to encourage the next sip. Above all, a perfectly refreshing sense of balance.
As I write this, I’ll soon be travelling to California to get married, so the Golden State is on my mind these days. In seeking an emblematically West Coast dish to pair with this West Coast IPA, my mind turned to taquitos (“little tacos”): Small tortillas rolled into tight cylinders around a meaty filling, then deep-fried or baked.
Taquitos are delicious, crunchy, versatile. I thought at first about going with a classic Cali-Mex filling – but then I recalled the LA taco trucks, including Roy Choi’s now-famous Kogi BBQ, that paired Mexican and Korean flavours to deliriously delicious effect. So I opted to make a simple Korean-style spiced pork filling, with kimchi added for good measure. As a cooling counterpoint, they’re served with a more Mexican-style avocado cream sauce, and garnished with fresh coriander leaves.
To the purists, neither these taquitos nor this IPA are totally traditional. But to my palate, both benefit from bringing in new flavours and stretching the possibilities of the forms.
Korean Pork and Kimchi Taquitos with Avocado Cream Sauce
Makes approx. 20-22 taquitos
For the taquitos:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 bunch spring onions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-sized piece ginger, minced
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
500g pork mince
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoons gochujang
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
½ tablespoon rice vinegar
250g kimchi, roughly chopped
400g firm/lower-moisture mozzarella, grated (I used Galbani Mozzarella Cucina)
20–22 6-inch tortillas (the highest-quality you can find)
1 egg white, beaten
Vegetable oil, for frying or baking
For the avocado cream sauce:
2 ripe avocados
200ml sour cream
Zest and juice of 2 limes
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Small handful coriander leaves, stems removed
1. Add the vegetable oil to a large frying pan and place over medium heat. Once hot, add the white parts of the spring onions. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes, or until softened.
2. Next, add the garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, for 1-2 minutes, or until they’ve lost their raw smell but have not yet browned.
3. Add the sesame oil to the pan, and then the pork mince, and season with the white pepper. Cook, using a wooden spoon to break up the meat into small pieces, for 5-6 minutes, or until it is cooked through and starting to brown.
4. Add the gochujang, soy sauce, brown sugar and rice vinegar through the pork, cooking for 1-2 minutes or until well-incorporated. Next, add the kimchi and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
5. Add the pork mixture to a nonreactive bowl, cover and transfer to the fridge. Chill until cold, 1-2 hours.
6. In the meantime, make the avocado cream dipping sauce. Halve and pit the avocados, and scoop into the bowl of a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients. Blend on high, pausing to scrape down the sides if needed, for roughly 1 minute, or until smoothly combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Cover and store in the fridge.
7. When ready to make your taquitos, ensure your tortillas are pliable enough that they won’t crack when rolled up – you may wish to wrap the stack in a paper towel and microwave briefly, or briefly warm them individually on a dry frying pan before using.
8. To make your taquitos, arrange a large pinch (between 1-2 tablespoons) of grated mozzarella in a horizontal line in the centre of your tortilla. Top it with roughly 2 tablespoons of the pork mixture, also arranged in a line (be careful not to overstuff the taquitos and leave a small margin at the edges).
9. To help the taquito stay together, brush the top edge of the tortilla lightly with the beaten egg white. Fold the bottom half of the tortilla over the filling and tuck it snugly; proceed to roll into a tight, thin cylinder, pressing gently to ensure the egg-white-coated edge of the tortilla forms a tight seal. If any filling comes out of the sides, use your index fingers to gently press it back in.
10. Repeat with the remaining taquitos (you may wish to arrange them on a large, baking-paper-lined baking sheet). If you plan to fry them, transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes to help them chill and firm up; otherwise, if you’ll be baking them, arrange roughly 1 inch apart, and preheat the oven to 180°C.
11. To fry the taquitos, fill a large pan with vegetable oil until it reaches roughly 3/4-inch up the sides. Preheat until the oil reaches 180°C. Add a couple taquitos – they will sizzle a lot, so avoid adding too many – and cook for 3-4 minutes, flipping regularly, until evenly golden brown. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain and repeat with the remaining batches. (If you don’t want to make the whole batch at once – taquitos are best cooked fresh – you can also store them in the freezer and cook from frozen.)
12. Alternatively, to bake the taquitos, brush the tops lightly with vegetable oil. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until golden-brown and the filling is sizzling. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes.
13. To serve, divide the taquitos between plates, and drizzle over the avocado cream sauce. Garnish with any additional coriander leaves and a hot sauce of your choice and serve.
Claire M Bullen is a professional food and travel writer, a beer hound and all-around lover of tasty things. You can follow her at @clairembullen. For more recipes like this, sign up to our HB&B All Killer No Filler beer subscription - you'll receive Claire's recipe and food pairings, plus expert tasting notes, with 10 world-class beers like this one every month.