Taco Bell held their first ever Friendsgiving event, where they invited a small group of their social media friends (see awkward family photo) plus me to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with a Taco Bell twist.
So what does a Taco Bell Thanksgiving meal look like? And, more importantly, was there even turkey?
Here's the full menu:
First up was "Seasoned Beef Queso Fundido with Pico de Gallo and a Blend of Three Cheeses." It looks like lumpy nacho cheese but it was a tasty blend of warm nacho cheese and Taco Bell's seasoned ground beef. I think they ended up leaving the pico de gallo out though because it was pure beefy cheesiness.
The "Salad of Romaine Lettuce and Baby Greens, Black Beans, Pico de Gallo, Dried Cranberries, Sliced Tart Apples and Candied Pecans, all tossed in a Creamy Avocado Dressing" draws some ingredients from the Cantina Bowl to make a fairly standard, but good, cranberry pecan salad. The black beans seemed to be MIA in my serving. The strongest flavors came from the cranberries, pecans, and apples.
The "Roasted Corn and Pepper Corn Bread" was a small round of corn bread with some bite here and there from bits of jalapenos.
Another side was "A Blend of Yukon Gold Potatoes and Potato Bites with Sauteed Fajita Vegetables." This one was like Taco Bell's Crispy Potato Bites, but infused with bell pepper and onions.
The "Smokey Chipotle and Adobo Chalupa Shell and Tortilla Stuffing with Celery, Onions, and Garlic" was pretty interesting. Like a fairly traditional stuffing but with a slight hint of sweetness and that dense, tortilla texture rather than spongy, moist bread.
To answer my initial question, "Yes, there was turkey and it was glorious!" The dark meat was used in the "Ranchito Shreddeer Cilantro Rice" which was like smoky turkey carnitas on cilantro rice. I take the "Shreddeer" to be a play on words for Christmas but it could just be a typo. The cilantro rice was like the same stuff you find in the Cantina Bowl but infused with turkey or chicken broth.
The Taco Bell culinary team made "Citrus and Herb Roasted Turkey Breast with a Chili Spiced Cranberry Gastrique and Turkey Jus" with the white meat portion of the bird. The turkey goes with a bit of the same flavor as the Cantina grilled chicken and went great with the turkey jus (like un-thickened turkey gravy). A lot of people raved about the Cranberry Gastrique, which was basically a reduction of caramelized sugar, vinegar, and cranberries with just a hint of heat.
Finally for dessert, there was "Cinnabon Delights Bread Pudding." It felt somewhat like a custard with a moist egginess and healthy dose of cinnamon sugar from the pieces of Cinnabon Delights thrown in. To top it off, there was a caramelized syrup with rum.
So there you go, a full-on Thanksgiving meal with a Taco Bell flair. Some of the items might sound a little weird (or awesome depending on who you ask) but they all turned out pretty well.
Archive
-
▼
2013
(
1210
)
-
▼
Nov 2013
(
103
)
- Review: M&M's White Chocolate Peppermint Candies
- News: Del Taco - Cyber Monday Extra Gift Card Bonus
- Frozen Friday: Ben & Jerry's - Truffle Trifecta
- Reference: 2013 Holiday Gift Card Bonuses
- News: Caribou Coffee - 2013 Holiday Menu
- Review: Popeyes - Cajun Turkey
- Review: Starbucks - Pecan Tart
- News: Dunkin' Donuts - 2013 Holiday Deals
- News: Chick-fil-A - Peppermint Shake is Back for H...
- Review: 7-Eleven - Pepperoni Pizza
- News: Auntie Anne's Brings Back Snowball Pretzel N...
- News: KFC Festive Feast is Back
- News: Applebee's - Spirited Cuisine Menu Returns
- Review: Sonic - Southwest Chipotle Breakfast Burrito
- Taco Bell Friendsgiving Recipes
- News: Papa John's - New Chipotle Chicken & Bacon P...
- News: Jamba Juice - Eggnog Jubilee Smoothie Return...
- Review: Canadian Butter Tarts
- News: Starbucks Offers "Free Daily Espresso" Tumbl...
- Around the World: KFC Japan Tries Out Japanese-Sty...
- Review: Trader Joe's - Pumpkin Spice Granola Cereal
- Review: Trader Joe's - Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake
- News: Wienerschnitzel - 61 Cent Corn Dogs on Black...
- Recipe: White Castle Wants You to Stuff Your Turke...
- Frozen Friday: Lyfe Kitchen - Chicken Chili Verde
- Around the World: McDonald's Arabia Offers Grilled...
- Around the World: Burger King Japan Offers Turkey ...
- Review: Starbucks - Eggnog Frappuccino
- News: Sonic - Half-Price Cheeseburger on November 26
- News: Red Robin - New Smoke & Pepper Signature Burger
- News: Bojangles Offers Seasoned Fried Turkey for T...
- Review: Taco Bell - Chipotle Ranch Chicken Loaded ...
- News: Arby's Hawaiian Roast Beef Sandwiches Return...
- News: Panda Express - New Sriracha Shrimp
- Review: Sonic - Island Fire Chicken Sandwich
- News: Sonic - New Natural-Cut Fries
- News: McDonald's Adding Second Drive-Thru Pick Up ...
- News: Panera Bread Branches Into Single Serve K-Cu...
- Review: Carl's Jr. - Maple Sausage, Egg, and Chees...
- News: Chick-fil-A - Chicken Tortilla Soup is Back
- Taco Bell Test Kitchen Fun - Cantina Sushi
- News: Charleys Philly Cheesesteaks Adds Asiago Chi...
- Review: Planters - Pumpkin Spice Almonds
- News: IHOP - 2013 Holiday Menu
- News - Einstein Bros. - 2013 Holiday Menu
- Review: Frito Lay's - Milk Chocolate-Dipped Wavy L...
- News: McDonald's Testing Build-Your-Own-Burger Con...
- Around the World: McDonald's Italy's Latest Burger...
- Frozen Friday: Ben & Jerry's - Pistachio Pistachio...
- Feature: Taco Bell Friendsgiving Feast
- News: The Cheesecake Factory Cheesecakes Now Deliv...
- News: Jamba Juice Giving Away 1 Million Smoothies ...
- Review: Pizza Hut - 3-Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza
- News: McDonald's - 2013 Holiday Line-Up
- News: Dunkin' Donuts - 2013 Holiday Menu
- Review: Starbucks - Gingerbread Frappuccino
- News: Starbucks Testing Chestnut Praline Latte and...
- News: Sonic Testing Zero-Calorie Flavored Water
- News: Carl's Jr. and Hardee's Add Fresh-Baked Buns
- Review: Burger King - Big King
- News: Starbucks - Holiday Drinks BOGO, November 13...
- News: Starbucks - 2013 Holiday Menu
- News: Arby's - Improved French Dip & Swiss Sandwich
- News: Taco Bell - Cinnabon Delights Now Available ...
- Review: Taco Bell - Chili Cheese Fries Loaded Griller
- Review: Pringles Pecan Pie Flavor
- News: Domino's - $5.99 Carryout Large, 2-Topping P...
- Review: Trader Joe's - Petite Mixed Berry Tart
- News: Dunkin' Donuts - New Spicy Smoked Sausage Br...
- News: Denny's Hobbit-Inspired 2013 Holiday Menu
- Review: The Coffee Bean - Chocolate Hazelnut Ice B...
- News: Del Taco Testing Turkey Taco
- News: Lay's - New Chocolate-Covered Chips at Targe...
- News: Cinnabon - New Bite-Sized CinnaSweeties
- Frozen Friday - Safeway Select - Beef Tamale
- 2013 Veterans Day Food Freebies
- Around the World: McDonald's Singapore - New Black...
- News: Tropical Smoothie Cafe - 2013 Holiday Menu
- News: Popeyes - Cajun Turkeys Now Available
- Review: McDonald's - BBQ Ranch Burger
- News: Wendy's - Bacon Portabella Melt Returns with...
- News: Taco Bell - Triple Steak Stack Returns
- News: Baskin-Robbins - November 2013 Flavor of the...
- Review: Burger King - BBQ Rib Sandwich
- News: Sonic - New Spicy Menu
- News: Dairy Queen - November 2013 Blizzard of the ...
- News: Taco Bell Testing Loaded Chili Cheese Fries ...
- Review: McDonald's Buffalo Ranch McChicken
- News: Burger King Offers New BBQ Rib Sandwich for $1
- News: McDonald's Testing Jalapeno Kicker Sandwiches
- News: Burger King - Big King is Back for Good
- Taste Test: Del Taco - New Epic Burritos
- News: McDonald's - Dollar Menu Expands to Dollar M...
- News: McDonald's McRib Makes Its Annual Return
- Review: Noosa Yogurt
- News: Red Robin - New Seasoned Steak Fries to Make...
- News: Subway Introduces Sriracha to the Menu with ...
- Review: Kellogg's - Chocolate Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts
- News: Subway - November 2013 Featured $5 Footlong
- News: Arby's Offers Bottled Horsey and Arby's Sauce
-
▼
Nov 2013
(
103
)
Nov 15, 2013
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I could really care less about the cherry jubilee drink but I adore chestnut anything so I really hope it makes out of testing... It sounds absolutely delicious but unfortunately, no where near me... T_T
ReplyDeleteSo jelly..
ReplyDeleteJust trying it...delish! :)
ReplyDeleteAre you in the photo? I'm trying to guess which one you might be.
ReplyDeleteThey had the shipping option before. I think the partnership is new and will probably cost the customer more for this partnership.
ReplyDeleteI'm the bear :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, you used to be able to get them shipped directly from The Cheesecake Factory, but they just abruptly stopped doing it earlier this year. I never could figure out why.
ReplyDeleteTheir old store was definitely a lot better than this new one. You had a choice of almost all of their cheesecakes, and I believe the shipping was a bit cheaper. You could also use Cheesecake Factory gift cards, which you can't do with this new store. I'd only use this as a last resort if you don't have an actual store anywhere near you.
Ah, that sucks.
ReplyDeleteSounds like it must have been a lot of fun (and interesting twists on food). Good of Taco Bell to arrange this!
ReplyDeleteHoly cow. $45-$55 for the cheesecake, plus $10 fee, PLUS shipping. There is no cheesecake on the planet worth that much.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply. I feel old now looking at that group.
ReplyDeleteFollow up question:
Does everyone in the picture have a food blog?
Haha, I meant I'm the bear literally.
ReplyDeleteAnd, no. Only a couple of food bloggers. Mostly people popular are social media I think.
important to mention, chestnut praline is replacing eggnog in some stores! it smells (and tastes) like lucky charms...! which is nice but doesn't seem very holiday-y. i wish we got the mocha cherry jubilee. how lovely!
ReplyDelete