The Hollow Leg Diner: Gueros Can't Make Tortillas (Tortillas 101)

That's not how Mama makes it. Boy, do I hear a lot of that. I love Mexican food and I love my Mexican wife. Ever since we got married I have been trying to master Mexican cuisine, so I can cook her native food. Over the last six years I've learned quite a bit. I think I'm now a decent Mexican cook. I have learned a lot about the flavors and methods of preparation of Mexican food. I've also found that there is a tremendous variety in Mexican cuisine; with there probably being more regionally distinctive styles of cooking than we have here in the US. Herein lies the rub. Lupe had previously been exposed to primarily the style of cooking of her home state of Michoacan. When I started experimenting with Mexican cooking I looked at anything south of the border as Mexican cooking. I tried recipes that sounded good; regardless of their state of origin. Lupe's response to these experiments was often, "That's not how my Mom makes it." Often dishes with the same name are prepared in significantly different ways, depending on the region. It all tastes good to me, so I don't worry too much about the state or region of origin. Still; it was a little challenging for Lupe. I would tell her that I was making a dish that she had loved since her childhood. Her hopes were raised by childhood memories of specific flavors and textures; only to be disappointed by something that was not familiar at all. THAT'S NOT HOW MAMA MADE IT. I really heard a lot of that. The more new recipes I found the more often I got: TNHMMI! It was difficult for me to gauge the effectiveness of my cooking. Sometimes I didn't know if she was disappointed by the taste or by the unfamiliarity. The first couple of years were challenging as we both had to expand our palates. I addition to the new regional flavors, I created my own problems. I have tried to bring what I know of classical cooking technique to my attempts at Mexican cooking. This often put me at odds with Lupe's attempt to teach me her style of cooking. I went for quite some time stubbornly thinking that using classic cooking technique would allow me to 'improve' on her recipes. After many failures, I have realized that some of the flavors and textures of her home cooking cannot be replicated using classic technique. Classic, 'proper' cooking techniques often results in a dish that is good, but just doesn't have that authentic, rustic goodness that makes Mexican food so special. I am trying to strike a balance in my cooking; using more classical methods at times and defaulting to the escuela vieja way of doing things when appropriate.

Here is an example of TNHMMI. Not long after we got married, I had homemade carnitas for the first time. Being a pork lover and an OCD cook, I quickly became obsessed with learning how to make the perfect carnitas. After observing Lupe's mom and sister making carnitas, I thought I could improve on the process. After all; they just put salted pork in simmering lard and let it cook until a little crispy on the outside and falling apart tender. I seasoned my pork shoulder much more heavily; using various types of chili powder along with salt and pepper. The results were fantastic. I was ecstatic, as this was the first Mexican dish that I made where I could honestly say that I made it better than Mama. Even Lupe begrudgingly agreed.

With my ego fueled by the carnitas success, I moved on to chile verde. I roasted many a tomatillo in my quest for perfect chile verde, but I just couldn't make it as well as Lupe. I tried everything I could think of; no luck. The more I tried, the more I strayed from Lupe's old school methods. After one particularly Hurculean effort, Lupe dropped the bomb on me. I had fire-roasted over ten pounds of tomatillo, chile and tomatoes for 4 separate batches of chile verde. I tried different ingredients and techniques with each batch. After tasting each one, Lupe said, "Honey, why don't you just let me make the chile verde from now on." Ouch. I was devastated. Abject failure and a surrender ultimatum from SWMBO. I couldn't accept that, but there was nothing I could do. I had failed in a big way. So, I let her make the chile verde the next time. Of course, I annoyed her with my incessant kibitzing as she cooked. Even while being a pain in the ass, I watched what she was doing and I learned. I paid close attention and I analyzed what she was doing differently and why it worked. After a couple of times I began to get the idea. I was able to step back from what I thought was the 'correct' way of cooking and see where I had gone wrong. Evidently the ingredient that my chile verde was lacking was humility. Whooda thunk it? Rack one up for old school.

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We have tried homemade tortillas on several occasions and neither of us has had much success. Lupe knew the basics, but just didn't have much experience making tortillas by hand. Dough and breadmaking have got to be my weakest areas in cooking. Together, we managed to make a bunch of tasty little flour gorditas, but never a really good, light, fluffy tortilla. After too many failed efforts, Lupe and I pretty much gave up. We haven't even tried making tortillas in over a year. With my discovery of the local North Gate Market, we have not been wanting for good tortillas. BTW: Northgate market makes some kickass corn and flour tortillas.

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So, we were up in Long Beach on Sunday to visit the family. My wife and her sister Theresa made chile verde while I was out meeting with some friends. For the first time that I can remember, my mother-in-law, Emilia, made tortillas from scratch. With the size of familia Lopez, they usually just get the industrial-size bags of tortillas from Northgate. This time, we were in for a treat. Not just a treat; a FRIGGEN TORTILLA EPIPHANY.

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Emilia knocked out about thirty beautiful, perfectly round, light, fluffy flour tortillas. If you've never had homemade tortillas, you're missing out on one of life's great simple pleasures. As we were sitting there eating our chile verde with the tortillas, Lupe and I peppered her mom with questions about ingredients and technique. I think she was still holding something back, but we got the basics. We then went into the kitchen to practice on the remaining dough. There were a few failures, but we started turning out some pretty good ones. This weekend I'm going to whip up a batch of dough and we will see if we learned anything.