Well, I haven’t so much been *eating *them wrong; I put them into my mouth, chew and swallow like the best of them. Rather, it’s that I’ve not been *preparing *them right.
My family (wife, kids) hate corn tortillas, however I have always asked for them when my wife goes shopping, with something of a grimace on my face. They seem more authentic than the white flour ones, and they typically have less saturated fat. Plus, I love corn tortillas in restaurants. But at home, they just never tasted as good as restaurants and they always fell apart when I folded them around my fillings. So I would softly cry into my corn-tortilla tacos, while watching my happy family consume their stupid-ass flour tortillas with no rips or tears and smiles on their stupid faces.
Then tonight, I don’t know what got into me, but before I sat down to our taco feast, I tossed a couple of my corn tortillas into the cast iron skillet with some oil and warmed them up a bit.
Holy guacamole, this is how you do it! Why didn’t you knuckleheads tell me about this?! Tonight, for the first time in my home, my tacos didn’t fall apart, plus the tortillas tasted better…wait, “better” isn’t the right word-- they tasted like fried manna from heaven. I don’t know how I didn’t realize the importance of frying these suckers. I’m an idiot! I’ve been eating raw corn tortillas for years and wondering why they tore like tissue paper and tasted kinda, sorta, pretty much terrible.
Corn lacks gluten, the protein which gives wheat-based products the elasticity and crispness they get by baking. Without gluten, you need lipids (oils) to give other grain products some consistency, hence why cornbread has a lot of butter or lard to make it stick together and also draw out flavor.
You’re welcome. Now let me tell you why most canned soups taste terrible…
I take it you dont live near or know a Hispanic family …no one I know would even think of eating a corn tortilla unfried…or even a unwarmed flour tortilla…
This is why you see people standing around a taco vendor on the street eating the fare right there on the spot. The taco is meant to be eaten right off the grill, while the tortilla is warm and pliable.
You can also put corn tortillas in a plastic bag, sprinkle some water in, and micro-wave them. (That’s the modern way to steam them, which is how they’re usually served in restaurants, though they don’t use a microwave.)
Well, I’m glad you discovered the proper way to eat corn tortillas, but you do realize that buying corn tortillas because they’re healthier and then frying them in oil sort of defeats the purpose, right?
Depends on what aspect of healthiness he’s concerned about. Oil is not inherently unhealthy, nor are carbs, nor is gluten, nor is nearly anything else we eat.
I also prefer corn tortillas. We make our own and stack them up as we cook them in a plate and cover with another plate so they steam themselves. They are good that way when fresh. The next day you have to steam or put them in the cast iron again.
I wrap them in a damp towel and nuke them for a few seconds. If the other end is already on I’ll wrap them in foil and stick themail in a few minutes before we eat
Then they’ll break instead of bend, and the OP will have to endure the pitying looks of his family as he cries into his taco salad that he eats with a fork. Have you no empathy?!
