Growing up I also helped my mom and my sisters make homemade tortillas. These tortillas often have a thicker and grainier texture to them, but they taste great and smell just as wonderful as the ones from the tortilla factory. The texture and the flavor of homemade tortillas can make a good meal taste great. A good homemade tortilla taste great all by itself.
My grandmother, my father’s mother, use to make the most wonderful refried bean tacos. She heated her homemade tortillas on the griddle and then in a pan melted about a teaspoon of lard. Once the lard was melted and hot she added several spoons of freshly made beans and bean juice. When the beans began to boil she mashed them until all were smashed and very smooth.
Next, she grabbed a warm tortilla in her hand and added one or two spoons of refried beans to the tortilla. She rolled up the tortilla with beans and then served them on a plate. Some of us would eat them with salsa and we all had a soda.
My grandmother never had much to feed anyone. She was dirt poor. So, most of her meals always consisted of simple recipes with simple foods like these, but I swear, I’m not sure if it was the love, the lard, her cooking skills or all three, but these were the best refried bean tacos I have ever had (will ever have).
Today, tired of bland crumbling store bought tortillas encased in plastic (plastic ruins the texture and taste), I plan on making homemade tortillas on my own. I have all the ingredients (water, salt and Maseca) I need in my pantry, but I’m short a griddle to heat them on.
The eco-friendly in me has taken an interest in the EarthPan Earth Pan II Eco-Friendly 11" Square Griddle in Espresso at the CSN Store. It has few reviews, but they are all 5 stars. I am particularly interested in the SandFlow™ nonstick coating it has. It is suppose to make for an eco-friendly heat up and easy clean up.
So, if my first batch of homemade tortillas is a complete disaster at least I wont have to worry about a difficult clean up. If it’s a success my whole family can have fresh warm homemade tortillas for the holidays with warm: chicken or beef soup, refried beans, fajitas, carnitas, scrambled eggs with salsa, mashed avocado with a pinch of salt… I could go on, but instead I’ll work on getting that griddle.
