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NOTE 22. Tortillas: The Promise and the Tragedy

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Tortillas, The Promise and The Tragedy

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Every evening was a magic evening in the household of Mrs. Reddy, who lived across the street

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and made fresh flour tortillas for dinner every day in her kitchen that smelled of cumin

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and peppers, and in which hung a captivating Aztec calendar that enticed me with pagan

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charms.

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There was no rolling pin anywhere in sight.

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She would mix up the ingredients and let them rest in a bowl in the shape of balls.

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As dinner-hour approached, she would flatten them with her hands in some special way and

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put them on an iron griddle one by one and place them each in a plate with another plate

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on top.

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They were always there, flat, fresh, slightly toasted but always moist, in the middle of

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for the table, free for the taking and stuffing, by anyone, anytime, and they were always perfect.

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Can you imagine how many of us have attempted to make tortillas?

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Many, many.

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But we don't have the mastery that is necessary.

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You can spend an hour and come up with a decent result, but at great expense of time and energy.

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And why do it when there are so many wonderful and seemingly authentic brands of tortillas

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on sale at the store.

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But now, let us face the tragedy.

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As good as these store-bought tortillas look in the package, they never quite make it to

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the table in a form that seems right.

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You can turn them into enchiladas, of course, but that's no great thrill.

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What you really want are burritos, a clean package that forms around the insides in a

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The way that conforms to the ideal of the ready's house are a great Mexican restaurant.

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But here's what happens.

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You try to wrap stuff in them, and they begin to sort of crack in strange places.

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Yes, you can roll them like a carpet, but that's sort of silly.

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Don't get me started on so-called wraps and roll-ups.

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There's the option of placing them in the microwave, but that just creates a warm version

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of the same problem.

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You can place them on a griddle, but that just creates a hard exterior and can even

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make the cracking problem worse.

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Turns out that there is a way around this problem, and forgive me if you already know

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this.

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Maybe I'm the last person on earth to discover this, but just in case, I'm going to lay it

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all out here.

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My discovery began with a visit to one of those fast Mexican food stops, the kind where

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you stand behind the counter and order the ingredients of your choice.

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I ordered the steak burrito.

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They took out a tortilla and put it into some magic steam machine for a few seconds, which

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made it pliable, stretchy, and cooked.

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Then they added ingredients and packed them in tight.

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They snapped it closed to create a neat and clean packet of joy.

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Ah, so steam is the secret.

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But how can you do this at home?

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I lost sleep one night thinking this through, and finally, it hit me.

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The next morning, it was breakfast burrito time, using a new technique.

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I pulled out a large pot and filled it one third full of water, hot water to save time.

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I set it to boil hard.

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On top of the pot, I set a pie cooling rack.

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Really anything will work, a pizza pan with holes, a cookie cooling rack, anything that

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will hold something solid and let steam through them.

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Once the eggs, salsa and cheese were completed in the pan next to the pot, I set my first

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store-bought tortilla on top of the rack and let the steam rise.

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Wow, it works!

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I left it there for about 15 seconds, flipped it over and did the same and took it off.

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What I had here was a tortilla transformed.

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Now I added the egg-cheese mixture, turned the sides in and rolled it up.

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The folding action at the end was a snap.

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It adhered together on all sides like it was meant to be shaped that way.

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The whole package cooled in a matter of minutes and it was ready to eat.

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No crumbs, no folds, no tears, no leaks.

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It was perfect!

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Oh, Mama Reddy, have mercy on me for not making my own.

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I would never presume to attempt to recreate your nightly wonders, but with the aid of

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commerce and a bit of kitchen ingenuity, we may finally have a system that comes close

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to replicating that ideal you created for all of us who had the pleasure of watching

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your hands at work.

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The Tortilla, from Promise to Tragedy, and back again.