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Making corn tortillas. Great to use with smoked pulled pork and beef

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Hank D Thoreau:
I just got a new tortilla press. While tortillas are not something you cook on a pellet smoker, they are great with pulled pork and beef. I am going to show how I made corn tortillas with my new press and my Blue Rhino Razor griddle. This is my third press. My original press was the same basic design as this one and was brought back to me from Central Mexico by a chef who ran a Mexican Restaurant. It was the type of press he used. It looked like it was made from scrap wood from an old fence. My second was the metal type that you commonly find in stores. It didn't work very well. I had to press and then use a rolling pin to expand it further. This one worked great. I made nine tortillas. By the end I was getting them pretty thin. Originally I was pressing in one orientation. I discovered that if I rotated a few of times and repressed that I would get a thinner tortilla. Thick and thin were both good.

Here are some pictures. the first picture shows the ball of masa between two pieces of plastic cut from a one gallon Glad bag. You use Glad bags, or equivalent because they are thicker.

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Hank D Thoreau:
The trick to avoid sticking when pressing is to get the right consistency. Follow the directions on the package of masa harina and add extra water slowly. I added a small about of extra water after my test press seemed a little dry. Also, use the thick plastic. Don't use Saran Wrap or press with nothing at all. You can see how easily the tortilla peeled off the press.

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Hank D Thoreau:
The next step is to put them on the griddle. I set up a hot side and a cooler side so I could move them around. This is my first time doing them on this griddle so I was not sure what temperature would be best. If you really know what you are doing, they will balloon up when you poke the middle as they near done. I got a bit of ballooning on this one.

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Hank D Thoreau:
And finally the finished product. I got nine large tortillas from two cups of masa harina. The recipe said 19 which means they were figuring the small tortillas that are used for street tacos.

I made some traditional American style hard shell tacos with the first batch. I smoked a chuck roast but could not get it done in time due to rain. I will be doing another soon. That will make good pulled beef for street style soft tacos.

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Kristin Meredith:
Looks great!  Nice tutorial.

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