I was born and have lived all of my life in Mèxico. I know tortillas and how and of what they are made. In my childhood I was sent hundreds of times to the tortillerìa in our neighborhood to purchase the tortillas we consumed that day with our meals. Generally between 1 or 2 kilos each time. I have no idea how many I have consumed in my lifetime but it is in the tens of thousands.
I used the words corn flour as an English description because this is an English language message board. Maybe that was a poor translation. But the fact is, the great majority of the tortillas produced freshly everyday are made using masa harina from one of the 2 companies I mentioned above. And the odds are it is Maseca that they are using. The founder of that company, Roberto González Barrera, was known as “el rey del maìz” because he basically had a monopoly on supplying masa harina to the commercial tortilla producers, large and small, in the country. He was one of the richest persons in this country.
For those of us not lucky enough to have access to any of the best ingredients, can anyone suggest a way to make corn tortillas at home with the second-best ingredients, available off the shelf?
Wow. I’ve run into him before, but I thought he was fairly sensible in my interaction. Guess not. I mean, we’re just talking tortillas here, not barbecue or chili or anything.
Easy… I just happen to be one of the few gringos who knows the difference. I happen to have a bag of Maseca masa harina in my pantry. More for chili than tortillas or tamales, but my wife does have a tortilla press and a comal from a study-abroad trip to Guadalajara, so one day we may actually make some of our own.
I suspect most of the posters in this thread know the difference. (Yes, it’s a self-selecting group, but for those who are interested in fresh corn tortillas and are talking about masa casually, I suspect they also know what masa harina is. I mean, the third post in this thread mentions masa harina.)
There’s a video demonstration here. Basically, you add water until it reaches the correct consistency, such that the dough comes together and is soft and pliable. (Yes, I’m skipping parts about kneading and letting it rest. Watch the video or click on the link below for more exact instructions.) That recipe doesn’t give any exact amounts, but it should be somewhere around 3/4 of a cup of water for every cup of masa harina. Here is another recipe with some ballpark measurements.
The tricky part is flattening it. Corn tortillas are not usually rolled out. (Flour tortillas are. I’m actually not sure what would happen if you tried rolling out a corn tortilla. Maybe everything would be fine–I’ve just never done it.) Normally, you use a tortilla press, as pictured in the link above, and squash it flat between two pieces of wax paper or plastic. When without a tortilla press, I’ve also had good luck with smashing down with a cast iron frying pan on a flat surface.
Then, fry in a dry pan until it starts to brown on each side.
Puly, I bet CBE is just annoyed because Chicago has better tortillas than most of the factory produced dreck in Mexico currently. This is due to our far better quality corn and lower commodity prices.
Something like 95% of the corn grown in the US is genetically modified yellow corn not meant for human consumption. And most of the white corn grown in the US is turned into corn flour (masa harina). In fact the Maseca brand corn flour sold in the US comes from US corn. Maseca is partner with ConAgra btw. So apparently the commercially produced tortillas are also “dreck”.
On the other hand there is still a thriving tortilla industry here in Mexico that make and use their own nixtamal. I’d like to see how easy it is to procure dried whole white corn in the US in order to prepare nixtamal.
Where I live, quite literally, yes. (You can even find whole dried black corn and other types of corn if you know where to look. My Yucatecan friend made some wonderful masa from black corn that he turned into very delicately topped sopes, allowing the black corn flavor to shine through.) In general in the US, it is more difficult. It really depends on where you live. Where I live there are, however, other Mexican ingredients that are much more difficult to procure. For example, I’ve never seen fresh nance here. Naranja agrias are also hard to source. Good conch (caracol) is generally a pain-in-the-ass to find, but I’m not near an ocean, so that’s to be expected. Fresh hoja santa and fresh huitlacoche you’ll need to find a good farmer’s market to find (or grow the hoja santa yourself, like one restaurant in my neighborhood does.)
All this talk of nixtamalized corn, along with the crappy drizzly weather, is really putting me in the mood for some pozole. Time to go to the store and pick up some ingredients. (But, no, I’m not going to nixtamalize my own corn. I’ll just buy some dried hominy. Now the question is: red, green, or white pozole?)
ETA: Dried white corn isn’t particularly difficult to find anywhere in the US. It isn’t considered an ingredient in Mexican cooking here. People use it to make cornmeal, and it’s grown all over the place. Any co-op carries the stuff, as do heath food stores.
I’ll just buy some dried hominy. Now the question is: red, green, or white pozole?)