To help us get inspired to try new cuisines from around the
world, Roger Mooking, host of Everyday Exotic, shares his delicious
adventures and notes from across the globe. We'll be rolling them
out every Wednesday, so be sure to check back to find out where
Roger's food adventures takes him to next.
This week, I'm with my boy, Aaron Sanchez (from
Chef vs City) as we roam around East LA
seeking out hot and spicy food. In our travels, we stumbled upon a
Mexican food market with all kinds of groceries, pastries, breads
and produce. The real gem of the market was in the back where they
make corn tortillas from scratch. I'm not just
talking about making the dough, but making the masa flour (corn
flour) from the ground up.
Above: Aaron and Roger, corn soaking in water
It all begins by soaking dried corn in water so it rehydrates
and puffs up. Then the hydrated kernels are drained and ground up
before being added to lard and beaten in a mixer to make the dough
for the tortillas. During their busiest season, this vendor makes
one hundred and thirty, 50lb bags of dried corn each day--that's a
lot of tortillas! The dough is then formed into a ball and pressed
in a tortilla press before being cooked on a flat top griddle to
make the most delicious tortillas we've ever tasted.
Above: corn flour, tortilla dough
It's definitely going to be very hard eating anything less than
fresh tortillas from here on in. Have you ever had fresh corn
tortillas made from scratch?
Be sure to check out more from Roger Mooking here.
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Posted:
Wed, Jul 06 2011 by
Guest Blogger