Help making good corn tortillas?
Hey! I recently made carne asada for my partner -- they haven't had good mexican food like that before, and I spent a number of years in texas and grew up with a mother from texas so tex mex food is very near and dear to my heart, and everything came out great, except the home-made tortillas. They felt more like griddle cakes than the corn tortillas I'm used to, and I don't think i got the ratios wrong on water to masa harina? It's hard to say if it was actually an issue with the ratios, if it was something with the heat of the cook surface (We don't have a griddle yet so I had to use a stainless steel pan, not sure if those get hot enough/retain enough thermal mass), if it was something with the masa harina itself, or what. Do any of you have experience making corn tortillas and have any advice? Or should I just go to the carniceria i got the carne asada from and ask if they make fresh tortillas lmao
Internet Shaquille just put out a two part video series on exactly this. His videos are to the point and simple. Here's the first vid.
https://youtu.be/fKX7qHCpcw4
The embarassing thing is, I watched this video the other day (funnily enough, I'd been wanting to make this since even before this video came out, it was really well timed for me haha) but even having studied this, it still didn't quite come out well enough for all the reasons mentioned above
Love internet shaquille though, it's funny seeing him blow up because I stumbled across him when he only had a few hundred subscribers a few years ago, and it's dope seeing him be so successful now :)
He just appeared on my homepage the other day and I'm only sad I hadn't discovered him earlier. Smart, curious, and funny is the exact type of content that I crave.
Honestly, go watch some of his oldest stuff. The production quality isn't there but there's a vibe to him that had me positive he was gonna make it at some point -- fuck it up is an especially fun series and got me thinking a lot more creatively about the foods I had on hand, and also gave me some dope ideas. Cool channel :)
Have you tried the tortilla recipe that's just masa and water? Super simple and delicious!
Don't use any oil and cook them on a very hot, dry pan.
That's what I did, I think I just need to smash them much more aggressively. How thin do you typically make yours?
Do you have a press? It will help get them even and flat. Mine turn out cakey with just a rolling pin
yeah I use a press, it made the process go really fast but I still don't think I was getting them flat enough
Also letting the dough rest for a bit helps. Like 20-30 minutes. The recipe on the bags of Maseca don’t mention that step but I found it does make a difference in the consistency.
Adding a little salt to the mix is a good first step. I don't think it changes how they cook, but it makes them taste a lot better.
As for the pan, your stainless steel pan should be fine. If the tortillas are thin enough, you don't really need a lot of thermal retention (and your stainless probably has an aluminum core to hold and spread heat anyway). First step once they're in the pan is to almost immediately flip them. You seal off one side so too much moisture doesn't escape. Then cook as normal. Good luck!
I did use salt, just did the ratios specified on my masa bag, and yeah it did make them taste wonderful (the issue is they were cake-y and thick, not that they weren't tasty lmao)
So what I'm gathering is I probably made them too thick if they weren't able to drive off that much of the moisture hitting that ripping hot pan? How thick are yours typically? I think mine were like, maybe about the width of two or three pennies stacked on top of one another? About that thick, I don't know how else to explain it lol
Some are saying your pan is fine, but my all clad was always shit for tortillas. A cast iron or plancha is my recommendation. And do try for 2 pennies thick.