On the Importance of Toasting Your Tortillas

Mariana taught me this. In addition to being the person who tipped me off to Pete's Market in Pilsen, she showed me the proper way to prep a corn tortilla. It does not involve a pan - just the open flame of your gas range. Sorry to ye of the electric stove.

For starters, it absolutely helps if you have great tortillas on hand. I don't get to Pilsen that often but found a great tortilla at Whole Foods:

Anyway, your basic corn tortilla out of the package looks like this:

I you get them fresh, they're delicious as it. But trust me, they're even better if you toast them - even the Pilsen ones. To toast, just set your burner to a medium flame a pop a tortilla directly on top:

Flip after a minute or two, or once the tortilla puckers a bit. Just stay close by and keep checking. You want them to char a bit, just so. The end result looks like this:


We pretty much always have corn tortillas in the fridge, using them alternately for breakfast (with eggs), lunch (with tuna) or at dinner carnitas, or for soft tacos). I'm not certain that they're completely gluten free, but they provide a nice respite from wheat. Also: yum.