quesadillas

[guajolote]

Do you prefer your quesadillas with flour tortillas, corn tortillas, or made with masa?

My favorite are the masa ones, though I've never seen these in the US. They're like empanadas, a little half moon stuffed with cheese and other ingredients and then fried in a comal. Has anyone ever made this type? I have a masa aversion because of its stickiness. Any tips?

My favorite stuffings are mushrooms (especially huitlicoche), rajas, browned onions, and flor de calabaza.

[torakris]

I am aflour tortilla gal, but I have to admit I have never eaten good corn or masa ones, so who knows...

I like it with beans, tomatoes and jalapenos! and guacamole on top!

[Jaymes]

I make damn fine salsa.

And my favorite thing to do for a quick lunch or snack is to put some good cheese into a flour tortilla, fold it once, zap it in the microwave just until the cheese melts, pour salsa over it, slice an avocado next to it, and eat right up.

Yum.

Other than greasing your hands when you're working with masa, I don't know what else to suggest regarding your "stickiness" tactile phobia.

Therapy?

[torakris]

And my favorite thing to do for a quick lunch or snack is to put some good cheese into a flour tortilla, fold it once, zap it in the microwave just until the cheese melts, pour salsa over it, slice an avocado next to it, and eat right up.

Yum.

Jaymes, these are what I refer to as instant lunches and recently I have been making them quite often, the kids love them too.

I have been doing them in a fry pan! I am going to try the microwave next time, no pan to clean-up!

[Jaymes]

And my favorite thing to do for a quick lunch or snack is to put some good cheese into a flour tortilla, fold it once, zap it in the microwave just until the cheese melts, pour salsa over it, slice an avocado next to it, and eat right up.

Yum.

Jaymes, these are what I refer to as instant lunches and recently I have been making them quite often, the kids love them too.

I have been doing them in a fry pan! I am going to try the microwave next time, no pan to clean-up!

I'll admit it - frypan is better.

But only marginally. And as you said, cleanup is no comparison.

For kids' lunches, I used to make these on a paper plate. Into the microwave, into the kids' tummies, into the trash, into the car, into the mall.

Much easier on mommy.

[Marlene]

flour tortilla girl here.

[Bux]

frypan

I think it's the heat thing. I just llike playing with fire and the way it browns things. I watched a woman scramble eggs in a microwave once in a diner in upstate NY. I think it killed the microwave as a tool for me. She had those eggs in and out of the oven, if a microwave oven can be called an oven, a dozen times, scrambling them each time before putting them back in. I never saw someone work so hard on a couple of scrambled eggs. I'm not sure if I've ever had scrambled eggs as badly done either.

[Jaymes]

frypan

I think it's the heat thing. I just llike playing with fire and the way it browns things.

Well - there's no question that the Mexicans agree with that. They never take a flour tortilla from the package and eat it without putting it on a grill for a few seconds per side. And frying quesadillas does produce a better product than heating them in the microwave.

It's the same reason why we brown flour when we make a roux, or thicken a gravy - to get rid of that raw flour taste.

Mi amiga Maria asks me all the time, "why do gringos like raw tortillas?"

But with three hungry kids - or now that I'm by myself and I'm running in the door just as my TV program is starting - I'll slice that cheese, flop that tortilla over, stick it in the microwave and a few seconds later, I'm eating. No cleanup at all.

But I will say that one reason this is so good is because I make VERY good salsa which covers up a LOT of mediocrity. It's not as good this way with inferior salsa. If that's all I've got - I make them in the frypan.

[Bux]

Mi amiga Maria asks me all the time, "why do gringos like raw tortillas?"

Because it beats untoasted Wonderbread, as evidenced by the fact that you'd never make a grilled cheese sandwich in a microwave.

[Hopleaf]

I'm very partial to the corn tortillas (El Milagro, in particular, and when the paper bags that they're packaged in are still warm...the best).

But now I'm confused. I thought masa was the spanish for corn. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but could someone explain the difference? Maybe masa are made with a rougher grade of corn flour?

And just to throw another corn question out there, I have a big can of hominy that I haven't a clue what to do with...any suggestions?

Hey guajolote, isn't a comal a griddle? and therefore you would fry "on" one?

[bigbear]

Flour... frying pan... ham and manchego... makes a good start.

[Jaymes]

But now I'm confused. I thought masa was the spanish for corn. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but could someone explain the difference? Maybe masa are made with a rougher grade of corn flour?

I speak a rather sketchy form of "Spanglish;" at best, one might call it "tourista Espanol." And so, I may well be mistaken - let's say that up front. Therefore, if an expert arrives and contradicts this, let's all go with what the expert says.

That said, I have always understood "masa" to simply mean "dough." It could be made from either corn or wheat flour, or something else.

Corn is maíz; flour is harina; wheat is trigo.

I think.

Edited April 22, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[guajolote]

Here's the comal I was talking about. Maybe it's really called something else.

Sorry about not explaining the masa/corn tortilla thing better.

The quesadillas I like are made from raw masa (limed corn which has been ground into dough). The thickness of the corn layer is about twice as thick as a tortilla.

Here's a picture of them (on the blue plate), from Japan:huh:

You can also make quesadillas from corn tortillas

[snowangel]

In the summer, my kids live on them, ala Jaymes. Microwave if it's really hot out. Frypan if it's not.

Diana was making these, all by herself (I'd pre-grate cheese in 1/4 lb. quantities), in the microwave when she was four. She taught Peter when he was about 4.

Diana learned to love salsa (with lots of peppers) when she was about 4, too. By the time she was just over 5, she could handle the frypan (with supervision), but she was responsible young. I'm of the "if you teach them early, it's really easy on mommy" school of thought.

[Hopleaf]

guajalote et al, thanks for the answers.

Is that your kitchen dude? exposed brick, cool. and those hand-crafted bowls, nice!

And that comal is pretty wild. Quite the tube-steak party you had going that night!

[tissue]

I like shrimp in them.

[stellabella]

masa harina is NOT corn meal--the corn is soaked in lime then dried and then ground--most recipes [for tamales, etc] call for masa harina, not just corn meal--that is, if you can get it. the difference in flavor is obvious. that said--i'm no "expert" but have eaten a lot of food in mexico. there's no comparison between the tortillas on your grocer's shelf and a hand-patted fresh tortilla taken from a cloth-lined basket, thrown on the comal for a few seconds and sprinkled with a little mined salt.

i prefer corn tortillas. i eat lots of them, being a taco freak and also often in-a-hurry. there've been evenings when i've turned the heat on under my cast iron [i keep three skillets stacked on the stove and i use them for almost EVERYTHING] and stood at the stove heating tortillas til the cheese inside melts, stuffing them in my mouth til i'm too full to eat any more. i always sprinkle them generously with some rock salt or fleur de sel. the salt really makes the tortilla.

jaymes and snowangel--i wish my mom had fed me quesadillas. i think the wonder bread/grilled cheese=flour tortilla quesadilla "analogy" is silly and irrelevant.

[helenas]

Wow, such a great picture, guajalote.

Could you tell where one can get such bowls: i keep looking for them since Ming Tsai's mexican show: he had those beautiful bowls in all sizes imaginable. I have couple of cazuelas bought in Williams-Sonoma, but i'm afraid of using them on stovetop.

[Jaymes]

Could you tell where one can get such bowls...

Come to Austin, Dear Girl. I'll stick you in the car and take you away to the land of unlimited clay bowls.

[guajolote]

Not my pictures or kitchen

Those earthenware pots are available all over Mexico. They are dirt cheap, and each town has it's own pattern. At a museum in Uruapan (in Michoacan) we had a guy take us through a pottery musuem and he described the patterns and how they developed in various towns. Some of the patterns were over 1000 years old, some were influenced by African slaves, etc. My favorite pattern is from Tzintzuntzan which is close to Patzcuaro. I'll take a picture of my pottery some day.

There's an interesting thing about corn meal and Masa in the McGee book. When corn was first grown in Europe many people died because the corn didn't contain the right kind of amino acids. However, when lime (the chemical, not the fruit) is added to corn these amino acids are produced in the chemical reaction.

Hopleaf - make posole with that hominy. I think there's a recipe in the Egra that looked good.

[stellabella]

My favorite pattern is from Tzintzuntzan which is close to Patzcuaro.

why haven't we talked?! patzcuaro is my favorite mexican town. don't you love how there's that little local pottery market behind the main zocalo--you'd never know about it unless you stumbled onto it.

the pottery is low-temp fired and therefore very fragile, some of it anyway. and the glaze can be uneven and i'm sure some might suspect problems with lead. i have mine on the walls. some lovely artisanal work.

[jogoode]

My favorite are the masa ones, though I've never seen these in the US. They're like empanadas, a little half moon stuffed with cheese and other ingredients and then fried in a comal. Has anyone ever made this type?

You can find these half-moon quesadillas in a tiny restaurants in Poughkeepsie, NY. They are served with a choice of three fillings -- flor de calabaza, cesos ("veal brains"), or cuitlacoche.

[sparrowgrass]

Hopleaf, pan fry some pork chops/steaks. When they are done, take them out of the pan, and dump the hominy into the pan drippings and warm it up. Yum.

Posole is good too.

I sometimes put hominy in my beef veggie soup.

I love hominy.

[Sweet Willie]

Do you prefer your quesadillas with flour tortillas, corn tortillas, or made with masa?

flour here, I have repeatedly tried corn but it just does not do it for me.

Have not had the masa, but it sounds gooood.

[kel]

Mmmm, flour tortillas for me. I eat quesadillas all the time, maybe more than any other fast meal. I like mine with black beans, fresh pico de gallo, and mushrooms. Of course, most of the time I end up with plain ol' cheese, but that's just fine too. I like to cook them on my little electric grill (I live in an apartment - not allowed to have the real thing) - it gives them a nice bit of color, and its really fast.

Man, that sounds so good!