tacos al pastor on fresh corn tortillas
Tacos.
Has there ever been a more complete and beautiful sentence??
When trying to decide how & what to post for my VERY FIRST POST of LiveBreatheFood, I did some research.
The researchers said, “The most important sentence in any article is the first one”.
So, there you go. Tacos. An important sentence indeed.
Soft shell, hard shell, old school beef tacos, street food tacos, breakfast tacos, Korean tacos. I pretty much love them all but traditional style tacos are IT for me. I dream of the toothy bite of warm corn tortillas, fatty spiced pork al pastor, the subtle sharpness of chopped white onion, citrusy cilantro and that squeeze of fressshhhh lime, a crucial ingredient. The hit of acidity that perfectly complements both the pork and corn is magical.
One time I came home from the Mexi Mart with all my taco fixings, ready to have a glorious taco sesh table for one, only to realize the cashier did not put my limes in the bag. You bet your sweet culo she charged me for them but they were not there, and I wanted to cry.
Beliefs about flour tortillas versus corn tortillas can spark heated debates, akin to pineapple on pizza: yes or no? (I say yes why not?) Ranch dressing: disgusting or delicious? (yes, and yes). Trump: never mind, we don't want to taco about that topic.
Let’s get back to it. Making taco shells at home is ridiculously easy, and fun! Even a kid can do it:
You need: Corn Flour, Maseca brand is what I use. They have it in the Ethnic/Hispanic section of most grocery stores or if you are lucky enough to have a good Mexican Market near you they will carry it. Here in Cleveland we are fortunate to have LaPlaza which is a dream for cooks and lovers of Hispanic food. You can of course get it on Amazon too, along with you know, everything else.
You need a tortilla press which is a nice affordable tool to have in your collection. I got mine years ago for around $20. The Victoria brand is common and works great. I’ve used the same one in commercial kitchens cranking out tons of homemade tortillas. They have very fancy expensive wooden block style presses as well but I don’t think it’s necessary.
Lay out two pieces of plastic to line each side of your press. This keeps the masa dough from sticking. I use a Ziploc freezer bag cut open but really any plastic will work.
Other than that you just need water. To add to the corn flour to make the dough, not to drink. To drink I would suggest a good marg, duh. A sweet husband who makes a killer margarita is a bonus accoutrement.
Let’s do this. This ratio will yield about 10-12 tortillas.
1 cup of corn flour
¾ cup of water
I add a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime too.
Add the water to the flour and mix with your hands or a fork if you are one of those people. It should be the texture of playdough.
Roll into balls the size of a…small golf ball? I honestly can’t think of something to represent the size it should be but here’s a pic:
You can roll all the dough out into balls first or roll as you go like I do.
Get a pan ready to go; you can use a sautee pan, griddle pan or comal. I have a center griddle pan and it works perfect. Spray lightly w/ cooking spray or give it a wipe with an oiled paper towel and get your burner on medium.
Open your press and put the dough ball in the middle.
Close the press and with firm but gentle pressure press the lever down. You don’t want to put all of your weight into it. You will get the feel about the right pressure after a few times.
The good thing is if you press too hard and get a very thin tortilla, you can just pull/scrape the dough off the plastic and re-roll it. No pressure! Ha..puns.
Pick up the plastic that the tortilla is on lay it in your other hand and carefully peel plastic off. Once you do this a few times it will make more sense.
Drop it flat into your pan. The tortilla will “release” and tell you when it’s ready to be turned, about 20 seconds. If you try to turn it and it is still stuck to the pan it’s not ready. Flip it using your hands if you too like to live dangerously. Or use a spatula but be careful and use a silicone spatula..these guys are tender and delicate. If you get tiny little cracks, you’ve gone a bit too far. Totally still edible but will result in a dryer tortilla.
Stack up all your torts, admire them, take a sip of your marg!
You can use them immediately, or cover them and then reheat in the same manner when you are ready for your fiesta. I prefer this as it seems the tortillas are better when they’ve had a chance to rest and hang out with each other.
As for fillings, that’s a whole ‘nother blog post. When I bought the masa for this round of tortillas, I bought some ready marinated al pastor meat from the meat section at our Mexi Mart (LaPlaza for locals). I threw it in a pan and cooked covered on medium low for about 20 mins, stirring occasionally. I chopped up some cilantro and white onion which I “de-flamed” (thanks Rick Bayless) by giving them a quick rinse after chopping. Add fresh limes for squeezing and Valentina hot sauce.
Taco Nirvana.
Inhale Tacos. Exhale Negativity.
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Thanks for reading!