# What can I do to keep my enchilada firm?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-keep-my-enchilada-firm/274875>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 15, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-keep-my-enchilada-firm/274875 "2004-11-15T16:28:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-keep-my-enchilada-firm/274875/21 "2004-11-21T02:38:29Z")

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> [@Fear Itself](#):
>
> Every time I make chicken enchiladas, the tortillas get very soft and they fall apart when I dish them up out of the baking pan.
> 
> I precook the corn tortillas briefly in hot oil, drain them, dip them in a little enchilada sauce, fill them with cooked chicken and cheese, roll 'em up and put them in a shallow baking dish. Then I cover them with canned enchilada sauce, and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
> 
> Any ideas?

Have all of your ingredients hot and bake them for less time or place them under the broiler for a few minutes.

Many Mexican homes don’t even have ovens or broilers. Enchiladas are made without them.

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**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-keep-my-enchilada-firm/274875/22 "2004-11-21T10:32:18Z")

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Well,

Here is the way it was done when I worked at Monroes and Gardunos in New Mexico.

Cook the beef, chicken or whatever filing you want.

Take the torts and put them in hot oil for a couple seconds, until they are soft. Roll the torts with the filling and put them on an oven safe plate. Cover with sauce (preferably Hatch green chile sauce…MMMMMM Hatch Green Chile) and cheese. You can put cooked refried beans on the plate with cheese as well. I don’t remeber what the temp on the oven should be. Probably about 275 I think. Put the plate in the oven until the cheese melts. Remove and garnish.

Slee

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**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-keep-my-enchilada-firm/274875/23 "2004-11-21T15:20:47Z")

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> [@silenus](#):
>
> Everybody beat me to the best jokes, so my suggestion is to cut out the “dip in sauce” step. I never do that. Just fry briefly, fill, roll, sauce and bake.

That’s what I do too.

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