[someday]

Try this to use up those leftover stale corn tortillas...migas.

mimi

Now I'm really getting homesick...

 

[chefbuba]

@Aaron Pankonin Thanks for the tips on corn tortillas. I make them pretty well now, but I will add in your recommended techniques and see how it goes.

@phatch and @kuan You both touched on the reason behind my new found love for corn tortillas. Freshness. I have found that they are they best right off the griddle. Once they are 1/2 hour to an hour old, I prefer flour again. I still like them, but it's not the same. I would compare it to a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie straight out of the oven vs a bag of Chips Ahoy. The chips ahoy are ok, but no comparison to a fresh one.

I like both for different applications, but a freshly made corn tortilla can't be beat.
The small town that I used to live in had two taco trucks, one had great carne asada, carnitas, lengua, etc but used commercial tortillas.
The other made great fresh tortillas to order, corn and flour but their meats were lacking, just ok. It was always a hard decision as to where to go.

 

[pete]

Be careful making masa biscuits. ... Corn-based hockey pucks.

I'm not saying don't do it. ... I'm just saying be careful.

I've done it many times before. The key is using just enough masa to give some flavor. I have had good experience substituting 1/4-1/3 of the flour with masa. I also tend to do this with recipes that contain baking powder or baking soda to help with the leavening.

 

[redbeerd cantu]

I grew up eating corn and flour tortillas. My favorite was flour. Now it's corn. BUT...
The Texas based grocery giant has made a tortilla that it calls mixla (pronounced mishla). It's a part corn and part wheat flour tortilla. I think it's the tortilla of my dreams...

 

[teamfat]

Maybe I should have another go at arepas ....

mjb.

 

[pete]

Maybe I should have another go at arepas ....

mjb.

I prefer pupusas to arepas, but I wouldn't turn down either of them.

 

[midlife]

I get a kick out of watching diners stuff them full of skirt steak and beans and rice and guac and cheese and sour cream and pico and salsa.

Isn't that just a burrito?

 

[midlife]

I get a kick out of watching diners stuff them full of skirt steak and beans and rice and guac and cheese and sour cream and pico and salsa.

Isn't that just a burrito? Or is that only here in SoCal?

 

[chicavenezolana]

Hola Foodlovers! I'm new to the forum so please have mercy if I'm saying /acting a little stupid haha

I grew up in Venezuela and naturally we ate arepas most of the time, but thanks to my parents who visited México a couple of time and brought the recipe for both tips of tortillas from their, I also had the luck to eat them quite often when I were a child. I prefer maíz over harina (venezuelan genes haha)

 

[french fries]

I prefer maíz over harina (venezuelan genes haha)

What's the difference? Is maiz just corn flour?

 

[chicavenezolana]

What's the difference? Is maiz just corn flour?

Yes

 

[french fries]

Yes

Thanks. Interesting! I can't get masa marina here in France so I just assumed that I couldn't make corn tortillas... so what's your recipe, just maiz and water or is there more to it? I'll have to try!!

 

[chicavenezolana]

Well we usually make the tortillas using half wheat flour half maíz (for elasticidad, can't remember the English word haha ) , and then just ad warm water and a little bit of salt. Nead it well and put the tortillas on the hot budare (venezuelan versión of comal ) y listo!

 

[pete]

Actually, the flour (or harina) used in tortilla and a number of other "corn" based doughs is not just cornflour. That would imply that it is just dried corn, ground to a flour. The flour in tortilla and many other, but not all, corn doughs used in Latin American cuisines is masa harina. For this, the corn is first put through a process called nixtamalization. The corn is cooked with lime (chemical lime not the fruit), or other alkaline solution (sometimes wood ash). The husk is removed from the kernel then it is dried before being ground. It actually makes the corn more nutritious, but in the process changes the flavor significantly, so they are not, technically the same, and won't give you the same end product.

 

[french fries]

Actually, the flour (or harina) used in tortilla and a number of other "corn" based doughs is not just cornflour.

I know. Hence my previous question regarding "maíz".

Here in France corn tortillas are made with a mix of wheat flour and corn flour. No masa harina. They taste very different from corn tortillas found in the U.S. stores.

 

[chicavenezolana]

I know. Hence my previous question regarding "maíz". Here in France corn tortillas are made with a mix of wheat flour and corn flour. No masa harina. They taste very different from corn tortillas found in the U.S. stores.

I know. Hence my previous question regarding "maíz". Here in France corn tortillas are made with a mix of wheat flour and corn flour. No masa harina. They taste very different from corn tortillas found in the U.S. stores.

I know. Hence my previous question regarding "maíz". Here in France corn tortillas are made with a mix of wheat flour and corn flour. No masa harina. They taste very different from corn tortillas found in the U.S. stores.

Sorry for evaluating this

 

[chicavenezolana]

Actually, the flour (or harina) used in tortilla and a number of other "corn" based doughs is not just cornflour. That would imply that it is just dried corn, ground to a flour. The flour in tortilla and many other, but not all, corn doughs used in Latin American cuisines is masa harina. For this, the corn is first put through a process called nixtamalization. The corn is cooked with lime (chemical lime not the fruit), or other alkaline solution (sometimes wood ash). The husk is removed from the kernel then it is dried before being ground. It actually makes the corn more nutritious, but in the process changes the flavor significantly, so they are not, technically the same, and won't give you the same end product.

Sorry for not evaluating this. I thought you already know, frenchfries. Maíz is the spanish word for corn, so harina de maíz is nixtamalised corn flour

 

[french fries]

Sorry for not evaluating this. I thought you already know, frenchfries. Maíz is the spanish word for corn, so harina de maíz is nixtamalised corn flour

Ah ok. I thought perhaps there was a difference between masa harina and 'maíz' but apparently it's the same thing. Thank you for the precision!

 

[pete]

Sorry, but I'm going to confuse this discussion even more. A lot depends on which Latin American country you are in. Some countries use the nixtamalized corn to make their flour, often called masa harina, while other countries use a soaked (and cooked?) corn for their corn flour, but this corn does not go through the nixtamalization process. In both processes the corn is soaked (and cooked?) but for masa an alkaline is added to the water and for the other it is not. This creates a flour with 2 very distinct flavors. If you were to taste the harina de maiz that is used for Arepas, it tastes very different from the masa harina that is used to make tortillas, tamales, etc. in Mexico or Pupusas in other countries.

 

[chicavenezolana]

Exactly pete!