Corn Tortillas

I'm a taco lover. Note I am not referring to the greasy heavy cheese smothered Tex Mex version although I do also enjoy those as well. I am referring to the original simple, light but satisfying tacos from Mexico that are also popular in food trucks around Canada and the U.S.

A simple enough concept: A fresh corn tortilla covered in perfectly seasoned and flavoured meat or fish, topped with fresh crunchy cabbage and a sauce to balance it all out.

Because the simplicity of the dish, it is essential to have good ingredients. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a consistent option for corn tortillas in Whitehorse. I'm tired of the stale and flavourless pre-frozen store bought ones so I'm making my own.

From my research, the secret to a good corn tortilla is to use just two ingredients: Warm water and masa harina. The ladder is a corn flour which has had calcium hydroxide and wood ash added during the processing which activates the glue-like component (but not gluten) in the corn allowing it to maintain some strength as a dough.

I'm stubborn and it was already stuck in my head to make these by hand so thats the route I took.

Sirloin beef tacos with cilantro chimichurri
and guacamole

Some experiments work out well the first time, others are crippling defeats. This one is somewhere in the middle. It passed the taste test but there was definitely some room for improvement. As you may note from the image to the left, these were probably closer to thin pancakes than they were to corn tortillas.


Ideas for improvement:

It is with great stubborn difficulty that I admit this but I think using a tortilla press would really help to solve the pancake issue until I get the hang of working the dough a bit more. My thought process here is that confining the dough to a press will allow it to be flattened much more without the outer portion of the dough being pushed out beyond its strength threshold.

-m