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  • Services
    • Wedding Catering
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  • Mexican and Tex-Mex
    • Loaded Nachos
    • The Staples of Mexican Food
    • Cheese Enchilada
    • Turkey Empanadas
    • Empanadas with Cheese and Spinach
    • Breakfast Quesadilla
    • The Art of the Tortilla
    • Cuban Mojo Chicken
    • Shredded Chicken Tacos
  • Cocktails and Drinks
    • The Punch Bowl
    • How Much Alcohol You'll Need For Your Party
    • Port Wine
    • Bloody Mary and Spicy Pepper Margarita
    • Blood Orange Margarita (with Habanero)
    • Eggnog Cocktails
    • Strawberry Mojito and Strawberry Daiquiri
    • Airplane Daiquiri
    • French and German Wines
    • Mango Mai Tai
    • Mexican Coffee
  • Desserts and Sweets
    • Layer Cakes
    • Chocolate Nut Gateau
    • Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
    • Molten Chocolate Cake
    • Chocolate Pudding Squares
    • Peanut Butter Pie
    • Tips for Buttercream Frosting
    • How to Bake Macarons
    • Chocolate Fudge
    • Making Chocolate Pie
    • Red Velvet Bundt Cake
    • Types of Pies
    • Red Velvet Cheesecake and Pumpkin Cheesecake
    • Oreo Cheesecake
    • Pumpkin Crumble Pie
    • How to Make Cinnamon Rolls
    • Dessert Flavors
    • Cappuccino Brownies
    • Meringue Cookies
    • Baking Cheesecake
    • Skillet Super Cookie
    • Turtle Cheesecake
    • How to Bake Chocolate Cake
    • Tips For Baking Cookies
    • No-Egg Cookie Dough
    • How To Bake Cupcakes
    • Pineapple Coconut Chess Pie
    • Homemade Snickers Bar
    • Apple Empanadas
    • Nutella Cheesecake
  • Burgers
    • Black Bean Burger
    • Barbecue Ranch Burger
    • Bacon Burger
    • Blue Cheese Burgers
    • Sloppy Joes
    • Swiss Onion and Mushroom Burger
  • Meat and Fish
    • Beef Pot Roast
    • Benefits of Slow Cooking
    • Chicken Liver Mousse
    • Poached Chicken à la Crème
    • Beef Tenderloin and Squash Soup
    • How to Butter Baste Meat
    • Herb Roasted Chicken
    • Making Chicken with Orange Liqueur
    • How to Cook Chicken
    • How to Cook Salmon
    • Paleo Salmon Cakes
    • Chicken Meatballs
    • Spiced Beef
    • Thanksgiving with Whoopi Goldberg
    • 11 Ways to Cook
    • What is Slow Food?
    • Basics of Soup
  • Bread and Starches
    • Pasta with Cajun Chicken
    • Bread-Making Terminology
    • How to Cook Pasta
    • How to Cook Grits
    • Baking Bread
    • Cheesy Chicken Pasta Casserole
  • Eggs and Cheese
    • Poutine
    • Blue Cheese Spaghetti Sauce
    • Soufflé
    • How to Make the Croque Monsieur
    • Baked Mac and Cheese
    • Avocado Grilled Cheese
    • Big Grilled Cheese
    • Deviled Eggs Recipe
    • Ham and Cheese Omelet
    • How to Scramble Eggs
    • How to Cook Eggs
    • Fondue Ideas
  • Asian
    • The Tradition of Bibimbap
    • Chicken Satay
    • Sweet Coconut Balls
    • Making Dumplings
    • Fried Wontons
    • Chicken Kababs
    • Chicken Triangle Appetizers
    • Flavored Yogurts
    • Spiced Roast Lamb
    • Shrimp Dumplings
  • African
    • Moroccan Chicken Bastilla
    • Kefta Briouat
  • Middle Eastern Dishes
    • Chicken Shawarma
    • Turkish Cigarette Pastries
    • How to Make Falafel
    • Turkish Coffee
  • Entertaining and Catering
    • Catering Venues
    • How to Be a Host
    • Easy Entertaining Ideas
    • Summer Party Ideas
    • French Service
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    • The Catering Customer's Needs
    • Ambience in Entertaining
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The Art of the Tortilla

Here is a great discussion of the important of the tortilla in Mexican cuisine, and all the work that goes into making them fresh. Below is an excerpt from the book about the fascinating history of the tortilla.

Title: "Mexico: The Cookbook"
Author: Margarita Carrillo Arronte
Excerpt:
Stack of tortillas

The Ancient Art of the Tortilla

Mexico has long been fuelled by corn tortillas. It is not known exactly when the first of these flatbreads were made, but archaeological evidence showing nixtamalisation (see Corn, page 19) practiced at 1500-1200 BC points to the fact that it is undoubtedly an ancient art.
 
Traditionally there were many stages in the cooking process to get to the simple end result of a thin, round, flexible bread. Making tortillas took up a large part of a woman's day - and in some areas, it still does.
 
First the dried corn kernels were nixtamalised, a relatively easy process where the corn was boiled briefly in water mixed with powdered lime, or calcium hydroxide, called cal in Mexico - then left to cool and soak overnight. Then the corn was rinsed and the skins of the kernels, loosened by the lime, were rubbed off.
 
Grinding the kernels was the next and most laborious part of making tortillas, done with a metate - a large stone base with a shallow depression in it - and a mano - a cylinder of stone for grinding, like a horizontal mortar and pestle (The more traditional-shaped mortar and pestle is also used in Mexican cooking and is called a molcajete).
 
Once the corn was ground, water was added to make the mixture into dough, and small portions were deftly patted out to thin discs in the hands. The tortillas were cooked on a comal over an open fire.
 
In the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, the tortilla-making process was industrialised. Electric corn grinding machines were invented from the 1920s through to the 1950s, thousands of mills (molinos) opened in neighbourhoods and villages. Women would take their pre-soaked and washed corn to the mill, have it ground, and then return home to make their tortillas. In the 1960s, Mexico's tortillerias (shops to buy tortillas, for those who preferred not to make them at home) started using machines to roll out and cook tortillas. And then instant masa flour - nixtamalised and ground corn, returned to a dry flour state - hit the market in the 1970s, for people who still wanted to make tortillas but wanted a shortcut. In a century the art of the tortilla had been altered completely. As a result, there is a big difference in the quality of tortillas available today, but many people still favour the taste of those made from freshly ground nixtamalised corn and are versatile enough to be used in everything from tacos to tostadas (see glossary, page 686).

Chiles

Chile is celebrated in so many parts of world, from blow-your-head-off green papaya salads on street sides in Thailand, to chicken stir-fries laden with astounding amounts of dried chiles in Sichaun province, China, to the harissa pastes of north Africa that fire up meat, vegetables or couscous. But nowhere celebrates the nuances of chile like Mexico, its homeland.

- from "Mexico: The Cookbook," by
Margarita Carrillo Arronte
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