Damn autocorrect. If the oven is already on…
FWIW, a flour tortilla cooked in a smear of oil is pretty tasty, too. When I’m feeding my picky kids, sloshing a little oil in the pan before adding the quesadilla makes it super fancy.
Works either way.
I am happy so many gringos are discovering that lightly cooked corn tortillas smell better than anything on Earth.
Son-wrekker says flour tortillas are paper. When we do tacos at his house he puts the tortillas on the griddle on his stove top with a spray of pam. Works good.
Dang, you guys. You know how when you were a teenager and you and your beloved first discover sex? And it was all you could do every minute you were together, and all you could think about every hour you were awake? Yeah, I don’t. I was a virgin 'til I was 21. But then, after THAT! Holy cow, it was Obsession City!
It’s the same thing with my beautiful corn tortillas! Ever since discovering the warm oily embrace of El Molinero and his tortillas de maiz “especial” para tacos y enchiladas, I haven’t been able to stop myself! Lunch. Snack. Snack #2. I simply can’t help myself.
It doesn’t help that my wife just cooked a crock pot of beautifully seasoned pinto beans yesterday and they’re in easy-to-access jars in my fridge right now. And I’ve got an open jar of sliced jalapenos. And some Oaxacan string cheese in the cheese drawer. And of course, the salsa. I don’t think the cast iron griddle has had time to fully cool off all day.
I’m telling you: I’ve made love with less passion than I’ve put into a few of these bites today. My wife actually said the words “Why don’t you make that noise with me?” Then I put a taco into her mouth, and a minute later, when she was through her refractory period, she said, “Oh, I see.”
Life. Changing.
Huh. I only like 'em that way if I get them crisp. My prefered way is cooked in meat drippings. I wish the local Mexican restaurants would do this.
A wonderful thing is to have una tortilleria close by the house. We used to live spitting distance to the tortilleria that supplied a number of San Diego’s Mexican restaurants. Just head in there before lunch and the tortillas are still warm and oh-so-foldable and rollable. The other tasty choice is the Old Town Mexican Cafe just up the road. They’d have two or three workers all the time hand forming and cooking corn tortillas; now that’s seriously fresh. I wonder if they do to-go orders…Hmmm.
Fun fact: Tortillera is very common Spanish slang for the word lesbian, but in Mexico it’s also what they sometimes call the women that make tortillas.
Thank you for this. I am the only corn tortilla eater in my household because I’m the only one who really cares about food. Their list doesn’t indicate it’s made it down to Medford yet, but I’m gonna swing by our Natural Grocer and see if they actually do have them or can get them. I’m heading up north next week though and you can bet I’m bringing some home.
The joys of living in SoCal. Our recent move took us further away from the tortilleria, but now I’m within a few blocks of 4 taquerias and a good-sized Mexican market. If we’re not eating fresh tortillas, it’s our fault.
Even at the grocery stores by my house, that’s how I choose which corn tortillas to buy: I touch the package to see if they’re still warm. Most of them are when I go shopping. I also happen to live about 1/4 miles from a tortilleria (the air smells like masa when the wind comes out of the southwest), but, oddly, those are not the tortillas I find at my store. The ones at my store that I usually buy come from a couple miles down the street. (Though I’m not really brand loyal; the freshness of the tortilla and the warmness of the package when I go in the store is what ends up making my decision for me.)
But the best ones are at a goat place (birreria) about a half mile up the street from me. They’re not sold at stores, but they’re hand made at the restaurant and they do sell them for takeout. Problem is, I’m usually too lazy to make the extra stop along the way when shopping, so I just get the decent stuff at the store.
Now that you have discovered how to soften up corn tortillas, you are ready for the Jimboy’s experience. Jimboy’s Tacos is a small local chain in northern California that has a somewhat unique method–and the outlet at Denio’s Farmer’s Market in Roseville is the epitome of the art form.
To do the taco Jimboy’s style, splash a bit of oil in a hot pan, put the tortilla down for just a couple seconds and flip it over. Place a goodly amount of shredded cheddar cheese all over it, then a nice blob of your taco meat. Fold it over, flatten it with a spatula to spread the meat and cheese out and flip it a couple times until the outside is a bit crispy. Remove to a plate, add lettuce, salsa and more cheese just because. Then eat and experience the greasy, tasty, drippy wonderfulness that is the Jimboy’s style taco. That’s as close as you can get to making the Jack in the Box sleaze tacos at home.
Huh. I always had the impression that Jack in the Box (the one that could never serve a milkshake for our 3am lunch break because that was when they were cleaning the machine) used premade taco shells rather than actual tortillas.
IIRC (and I’m probably not) JitB tacos come to the store frozen, with the meat/bean paste already in the shell. All the grill jockey has to do is drop them into the deep fryer for however long, then pull, stuff with lettuce and cheese slice and bag.
Yeah, that’s how Gag in the Bag makes them, but if you’re looking to make a taco that’s a close approximation to those sleazy things, the Jimboy’s style is going to put you closer than anything you’ll get this side of a Sysco delivery.
Isn’t that a quesadilla?
Nope, because a quesadilla is made with a flour tortilla and all you put in it is cheese. Add taco meat and lettuce and salsa and the like and you have a taco. Also, those gross crispy premade taco shells people buy are disgusting and if you learn the Jimboy’s technique you won’t go back. It’ll either be lightly steamed corn tortilla with just meat/cilantro/onions/salsa style “street tacos” or Jimboy style, guaranteed.
Most quesadillas I’ve had have had meat cooked in with the cheese, and other toppings added.
Yeah, but “queso” is cheese and a classic quesadilla doesn’t have anything else in it. Plus, flour tortilla, that’s a constant.
They can (and often are) absolutely made with corn tortillas, and with all sorts of fillings. For example.
There’s a place around my house that makes 20-inch long quesadillas with (corn) masa and all sorts of lovely ingredients. (I believe it’s modeled after a place in Mexico City that has huge quesadillas like that.) Around here, quesadillas are commonly served stuffed with things like flor de calabaza (squash flowers), huitlacoche (corn fungus), cactus, steak, chicken tinga, roast pork, etc.