I was watching a Hank Green video in which he discussed the fact that whole wheat tortillas are only healthier than flour tortillas for him because he can eat and eat flour tortillas while he finds that whole wheat tortillas are inedible. I thought to myself that I prefer whole wheat. The only time I find flour tortillas good and whole wheat inedible is when I eat them cold.
It was then I realized Hank was always eating his tortillas cold. Warm those babies up, brother. Your taste buds will thank you.
It’s funny because to me it’s obvious. Then I remember that I’m part of a 100 generation unbroken chain of everyone doing it. I guess bread is most often eaten cold. Tortillas, on the other hand, are always warmed up. It just tastes better.
How 'bout y’all? Do you warm them up? If so, how? If not, why not?
I discovered warming tortillas from Mexican restaurants. I wondered why the corn tortillas there tasted so much better than those at home. And I realized it was because they were slightly warm.
Always. Sometimes microwave. Often over the gas burner on my stove. Sometimes on a skillet. Corn ones are generally the first or third method; flour ones I like the char of the second method.
Um… I guess if they’re small enough. Even then I’d think they’d collapse inside the slot and then you’d have to fish them out with a fork and if you don’t unplug the toaster people will see your skeleton when the fork hits the heating wires, unless that’s just a hoax perpetuated by cartoonists.
They’re also considerably more flexible when warm.
Typically corn tortillas are steamed to warm them up, if they’re not made fresh. That’s the sign of a top-notch Mexican place; they’ve got the tortilla ladies making them somewhere in sight. Skillets and microwaves work though. That little bit of extra moisture helps, so if you are microwaving them, wrap them in some damp paper towels first.
Flour tortillas… always warm them up, but it depends on the tortilla itself how you go about it. Even though the ones in the bread section are all fully cooked, the ones that have fairly dark brown spots are intended to just be nuked or possibly eaten cold. The ones with relatively light brown marks are usually for reheating in a skillet like @TriPolar describes. They’re not quite right if you just nuke them or eat them cold.
Never ever in a microwave. But otherwise I agree w your list.
The idea of eating unheated tortillas is just nuts. If somebody makes those cheese and cold cut rollups for a party, those can be eaten cold. But anything resembling Latin cooking? Hot. Not warm; hot.
I confess I prefer steaming in a microwave in a slightly damp towel for corn tortillas over skillet. After all, a microwave is an ideal steaming environment and I like the texture better. But I’ll sometimes do it in a pan, though it ends up drier that way. (Well, and it’s easier and quicker for me to just do a whole bunch at a time in the microwave. While I can dry fry them and then throw them in a tortilla warmer and that gets the steaming I need, I can only do about three or four at a time and I’m lazy.)
On a related note, it’s my pet theory that heated or at least baked tortilla chips are what brings the joy to any plate of nachos. The cheese and meat is colorful, but that hot crisp salty slightly oily chip CAN be the star of the show, or at least more than merely a slop shovel.
Small corn we fold in half. Larger flour we fold into quarters. We flip them occasionally. No issues with them getting stuck. This is our quick method for one or two. We typically use a cast iron pan for doing more since it is more efficient.
We often use flour tortillas to make wraps we take on our hikes. Even though we eat them cold, we still reheat the tortillas before making the wrap. The reheated tortilla that then cools is still noticeable better than one that has not been reheated. Night and day difference.
I deep fry both flour and corn tortillas to make chips. White corn work well, flour even better. They could be fried in a pan but it’s easier to make a lot at once in a deep fryer.