What difference does it make

[xray]

I’ve really started enjoying Mexican cuisine the past few years. The ingredients have become easier to obtain due to a large Hispanic population nearby.

I’ve enjoyed making mostly tacos, enchiladas and burritos. The more I eat, the more picky I seem to become....For me, tacos need a fresh corn tortilla. I just can’t do a flour tortilla for a taco...For a burrito, yes!!

I buy the store bought corn tortillas, they’re good...But I really want to get a tortilla press and some masa!!!! It’s on my birthday list when the wife asks what I want. So hopefully soon I’ll be pressing my own fresh corn tortillas!!

Chile is our leading expert for Mexican cuisine here so he’s the go-to guy....but if I can offer one piece if simple advice....heat your corn tortillas before eating them. Don’t eat them right from the package.

 

[gmc2003]

Do you have a favorite Xray or anyone else?

I wonder if I could incorporate herring somehow and substitute lefse(potato flatbread) instead of a tortilla. Sort of a Norge-Mex.

Chris

 

[tallbm]

We don't have a strong Hispanic/Latino population here. Most of the newer immigrants are from the Asian regions South and East or from Africa.

Tallbm those directions seem simple enough. I'll have to look for harina tortilla flour mix.

Chris

Chris you can always order that stuff online if you can't find it anywhere locally. This should work. Nothing wrong with this brand. The poor reviews were either about shipping or the bag looking beat up from shipping. Add a little salt to the mix as needed and you should be fine on taste.

The other option that is very very close is Indian Naan. It's just a thicker tortilla. When I was in Australia I couldn't easily get my hands on anything Mexican or Tex-Mex food related so my taco fix was to order Indian food from a restaruant that gave you whole naan so it was basically a tortilla. I would order the lentils that were just like refried beans, beef or lamb vindaloo and tandoori chicken with veggies and use some of their "salsas" and "yogurt" and I had something very close to Mexican guisado tacos and grilled chicken tacos with salsa and sour cream (yogurt) hahahaha.

Naan is basically the same thing as a tortilla.

I hope this info helps! :)

tallbm
I keep masa harina on hand for various uses.
Chief among them my Savory Southwestern Waffles, cornmeal waffles with chiles/onions mixed in.
Makes good tamale masa too.

It has a different texture compared to our standard corn meal.
Of course like many Mexican ingredients there are at least a few variations sold each with a different grind, fine, medium and coarse.

Mmmmm sounds good. I like fried Mexican corn bread to eat with the Mexican cauldos (soups). My favorite is beef rib or oxtail cauldo with that fried corn bread!!!

 

[tallbm]

I’ve really started enjoying Mexican cuisine the past few years. The ingredients have become easier to obtain due to a large Hispanic population nearby.

I’ve enjoyed making mostly tacos, enchiladas and burritos. The more I eat, the more picky I seem to become....For me, tacos need a fresh corn tortilla. I just can’t do a flour tortilla for a taco...For a burrito, yes!!

I buy the store bought corn tortillas, they’re good...But I really want to get a tortilla press and some masa!!!! It’s on my birthday list when the wife asks what I want. So hopefully soon I’ll be pressing my own fresh corn tortillas!!

Chile is our leading expert for Mexican cuisine here so he’s the go-to guy....but if I can offer one piece if simple advice....heat your corn tortillas before eating them. Don’t eat them right from the package.

Fresh corn tortillas are amazing!!!! Go for it!

 

[chilerelleno]

Chris you can always order that stuff online if you can't find it anywhere locally. This should work. Nothing wrong with this brand. The poor reviews were either about shipping or the bag looking beat up from shipping. Add a little salt to the mix as needed and you should be fine on taste.

The other option that is very very close is Indian Naan. It's just a thicker tortilla. When I was in Australia I couldn't easily get my hands on anything Mexican or Tex-Mex food related so my taco fix was to order Indian food from a restaruant that gave you whole naan so it was basically a tortilla. I would order the lentils that were just like refried beans, beef or lamb vindaloo and tandoori chicken with veggies and use some of their "salsas" and "yogurt" and I had something very close to Mexican guisado tacos and grilled chicken tacos with salsa and sour cream (yogurt) hahahaha.

Naan is basically the same thing as a tortilla.

I hope this info helps! :)




Mmmmm sounds good. I like fried Mexican corn bread to eat with the Mexican cauldos (soups). My favorite is beef rib or oxtail cauldo with that fried corn bread!!!

Chris,
I've Mexican markets near me but I still order alot of stuff online.
Delivering today from Amazon are three types of bulk chile powder, ground annatto, Mexican oregano and Hawaiian red clay salt.
If I can't find it locally, I can find it online.

 

[Bearcarver]

I'm with Chris, except he knows a lot more than I do!!!

This Mexican Stuff is ALL Greek to me!!!
All we have around here is Taco Bell & Chilis, and was only ever in one once & I had a Cheeseburger & Fries. And that was during a Wrestling Tournament at Break time, before the finals, and I was with the team.

Bear

 

[b-one]

I need to see the Taco Chronicles before my wife kills the Netflix.

 

[Fueling Around]

...
I wonder if I could incorporate herring somehow and substitute lefse (potato flatbread) instead of a tortilla. Sort of a Norge-Mex.

Chris

Fusion cuisine is very fun to explore.
Pickled herring? Eh, I don't think so. Not the same as ceviche.
If you have access to (relatively) fresh herring then fried for fish tacos is my take.

I have never tried lefse (lef-sa) as a substitute for a tortilla.
I do recall many rolling the lutefisk in lefse.

Friends of mine manage the family business lefse plant. They market as a flatbread wrap as well for Scandinavian palates.
https://www.mrsolsonslefse.com/

 

[forktender]

You will do fine with store bought tortillas. I personally cannot stand them as they taste like styrofoam to me BUT if you put a skillet on a burner and get it hot and then warm up/cook up your store bought tortillas on it to where they are getting a little toasty you can cook out a lot of that styrofoam flavor. It is a drastic improvement but there is a better alternative.

Look into buying harina/white flour tortilla mix. The stuff is super simple to use.
It's so simple that these two apartment neighbors of mine in college would get drunk and make them at night all the time. One guy worked at a plant that sold the stuff and his closet was filled up to 5ft high with giant 50 pound bags of the stuff he stole hahahahaha.
These guys had no issue making them and their used a corn can as with the label peeled off as their roller pin hahahaha.
These guys shared the same brain and the amazing thing was that they both had their head up their ass so for them to make damn good tortillas with stolen closet stored tortilla mix is a testament to how easy the stuff is to use and how well it comes out hahahahahha.

Here is a screenshot of the instructions from a random bag I found online:
View attachment 403055

You honestly wont find a better store bought tortilla than what you can make with one of these premix bags and you can make DOZENS for super cheap! I think this 8 pound bag cost $5.45 and makes 175+ fresh tortillas!

If more people knew about this they would have amazing flour tortilla tacos all the time :)

This X10!!!

I live in Norcal's little Mexico, we have more Mexican restaurants and Mexcian stores here then all other stores combined.

Make the tortillas yourself they are super easy and they taste so much better. Before I got a tortilla press as a gift I tried the rolling pin deal it worked but it was SLOW and a P.I.T.A so grabbed a dinner plate and pressed them under the plate between wax paper. The little raised 6'' ring on the bottom of our Fiesta Ware dinner plates press out perfect corn tortillas about 3/16 to a 1/4'' thick. (I think by design)

If I want super thick tortillas I would press them between the bottom of two plates. It works just as well as my wooden tortilla press. I use plastic tile spacers taped to the press to get the thickness that I'm looking for. Either way once you make them you will never buy them again, they are awesome.
Flour tortillas are pretty much for burritos or used to sop up sauces in my house. I could eat mexican food five nights a week.

If all you have had is taco bell you haven't have Mexican food.
Mexican food is so easy to make anyone can do it. Here is a good place to start Rick does a good job researching and cooking authentic Mexican cuisine. ( He's pretty strange) but I've cooked several of his recipes and they all turned out amazing. His chicken Mole recipe is out of this flipping world. People beg me to make it for pot lucks and it's super easy to make, you just have to go for it. Start with chicken recipes to see if you like them. (Chicken is cheap so if you don't care for it, it's not a big loss.)

https://www.rickbayless.com/recipes-from-chef-rick-bayless/

Good luck.
Dan

 

[gmc2003]

Fusion cuisine is very fun to explore.
Pickled herring? Eh, I don't think so. Not the same as ceviche.
If you have access to (relatively) fresh herring then fried for fish tacos is my take.

I have never tried lefse (lef-sa) as a substitute for a tortilla.
I do recall many rolling the lutefisk in lefse.

Friends of mine manage the family business lefse plant. They market as a flatbread wrap as well for Scandinavian palates.
https://www.mrsolsonslefse.com/

I don't think I can get fresh herring around here(maybe special order), but I believe I can score some mackerel and use that as a substitute.

Lutefisk I had it when I was really young. but since we moved to VT and away from my Dads relatives in NY city. I haven't had any of the Norwegian dishes. We didn't even eat allot of fish once we moved here, because dad was so sick of eating it growing up. Your friends family business looks really good. Unfortunately there isn't a large contingency of us squareheads living here. So exposure to Scandinavian dishes are a rarity.

Chris

 

[hoity toit]

I'm with Chris, except he knows a lot more than I do!!!

This Mexican Stuff is ALL Greek to me!!!
All we have around here is Taco Bell & Chilis, and was only ever in one once & I had a Cheeseburger & Fries. And that was during a Wrestling Tournament at Break time, before the finals, and I was with the team.

Bear

Then you need to come to San Antonio and eat at some authentic Mexican restaurants... I know many of them, all are good., especially El Jarro de Arturo . https://eljarro.com/

HT

 

[Bearcarver]

Then you need to come to San Antonio and eat at some authentic Mexican restaurants... I know many of them, all are good., especially El Jarro de Arturo . https://eljarro.com/

HT

LOL---Yeah, I wish!!
Thanks for the invite, though.

Bear