Pollo Asado tacos con salsa mocajete with homemade tortillas

The Cen-Tex Smoker

We have been on a homemade tortilla, salsa, and guacamole kick since TFJ got her mothers day gift from Masienda. Several heirloom corn masa from Mexico, and new molcajete. I have kind of taken over the molcajete and I’m (not at all) sorry. Tonight we grilled up some chicken thigh in my Sinaloa roadside chicken achiote citrus marinade. We made fresh 50/50 masa/flour tortillas, 2 fresh salsas and guac in the molcajete. So good! 

The salsas:

The tortillas:

The Yardbird:

The tacos:

The Kit:

SGH

Fine looking grub from where I’m sitting 👍

dmourati

Pro status.

lkapigian

Bombdiggity!!

lousubcap

Taking it to a new level.  Great eats across the board.  Great post!

Botch

Yeah!  
I just got my order from Masienda, a bag of yellow corn masa and one of red.  Amazon offers their Blue Corn, but nothing else; I paid thru the nose for my two bags (didn't meet the $75 free shipping limit).  
I see you got puffage on your tortillas.  By chance do you remember your masa/water ratio?  I've burned thru nearly an entire bag of "Maseca" masa, varying the ratio, the thickness, the CI surface temp, taking notes, and got JUST ONE tortilla to puff!  I've watched all the corn tortilla making videos on EweTube, they're all slightly different and they ALL get puffage, but I CAN'T.  I'm so frustrated about it, and even got a "keep practicing" message from Rick Bayless himself, but it just never works for me (BotchLuck™).
Hoping this new masa works for me.  

Canugghead

Looks killer, Raichlen worthy!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Botch said:

Yeah!  
I just got my order from Masienda, a bag of yellow corn masa and one of red.  Amazon offers their Blue Corn, but nothing else; I paid thru the nose for my two bags (didn't meet the $75 free shipping limit).  
I see you got puffage on your tortillas.  By chance do you remember your masa/water ratio?  I've burned thru nearly an entire bag of "Maseca" masa, varying the ratio, the thickness, the CI surface temp, taking notes, and got JUST ONE tortilla to puff!  I've watched all the corn tortilla making videos on EweTube, they're all slightly different and they ALL get puffage, but I CAN'T.  I'm so frustrated about it, and even got a "keep practicing" message from Rick Bayless himself, but it just never works for me (BotchLuck™).
Hoping this new masa works for me.  

wifey made these but she does always get the puff. These are half flour/half masa so they are even puffier than just masa. I'll see if she will give me the deets tomorrow and I'll share with you.

caliking

great googly moogly. I don't even know where to start about the awesomeness on display here. 

bluebird66

Fantastic cook!

dbCooper

Beautiful cook!

NDG

unreal, everything looks top level, so good !!

Just curious what kind of cheese ?? 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

NDG said:

unreal, everything looks top level, so good !!

Just curious what kind of cheese ?? 

Boars head Wisconsin cheddar. Always. 

johnmitchell

Fantastic!! Great post and pics😋

Corv

Sure did a nice job showing us the details and the finish, thanks.

dmourati

Ran to the butcher this morning for spare ribs then to Whole Foods for apple juice to baste. Imagine my surprise when I spotted a bag of white corn Masienda. Insta-buy!

Foghorn

Wow!  I just had the privilege of waking up the the Centex ranch and having some of these tortillas and salsa as part of our breakfast tacos.  

Best. Taco. Ever. 

Great way to accentuate the first weekend of my wife’s “birthmas” - which includes hitting 5 Texas Hill Country wineries over 2 days. 

GregW

@The Cen-Tex Smoker
Nice looking food. I like the molcajete- I bought mine from a jackleg Mexican supplier https://www.hernanmexico.com/  I bought two of them- both leaked and could not be sealed with grinding dry rice in them.

Masienda- did you take a look at their Molinito masa mills? I have had my eye on them for several years, freshly ground masa is really great, provided you have a place in the kitchen for the machine.
https://masienda.com/products/molinito

Legume

Forum Masa Project.  Maybe @alaskanassasin can plant a few rows of heirloom corn. Sounds cheaper than fancy hogs.

pgprescott

world class work! 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Foghorn said:

Wow!  I just had the privilege of waking up the the Centex ranch and having some of these tortillas and salsa as part of our breakfast tacos.  

Best. Taco. Ever. 

Great way to accentuate the first weekend of my wife’s “birthmas” - which includes hitting 5 Texas Hill Country wineries over 2 days. 

Was an awesome weekend. Centex needs a nap. But he’s drinking wine again ha ha. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

GregW said:

@The Cen-Tex Smoker
Nice looking food. I like the molcajete- I bought mine from a jackleg Mexican supplier https://www.hernanmexico.com/  I bought two of them- both leaked and could not be sealed with grinding dry rice in them.

Masienda- did you take a look at their Molinito masa mills? I have had my eye on them for several years, freshly ground masa is really great, provided you have a place in the kitchen for the machine.
https://masienda.com/products/molinito

You are not going to trap me on that one. I. Do. Not. Need. That. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Legume said:

Forum Masa Project.  Maybe @alaskanassasin can plant a few rows of heirloom corn. Sounds cheaper than fancy hogs.

Can confirm. Pretty sure everything on earth is cheaper than fancy hogs. But I guess it all depends on who is driving the bus @20stone

Foghorn

It turns out a weekend of wine tasting with your wife for her birthday can add up to the "owning fancy hogs" level, even when the lodging and breakfast are free.  

Must.  Stop.  Buying.  Wine.

Good thing I'm going to Napa/Sonoma in August...

Getting back on topic, I won't have a breakfast as good as these tacos out there.

caliking

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Legume said:

Forum Masa Project.  Maybe @alaskanassasin can plant a few rows of heirloom corn. Sounds cheaper than fancy hogs.

Can confirm. Pretty sure everything on earth is cheaper than fancy hogs. But I guess it all depends on who is driving the bus @20stone

100%. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Foghorn said:

It turns out a weekend of wine tasting with your wife for her birthday can add up to the "owning fancy hogs" level, even when the lodging and breakfast are free.  

Must.  Stop.  Buying.  Wine.

Good thing I'm going to Napa/Sonoma in August...

Getting back on topic, I won't have a breakfast as good as these tacos out there.

That was not cheap but it was fun. Wallet bruised, wine fridge filled, sleep needed, would do it all again next weekend if you wanted to ha ha. 

dmourati

I had my first run at making homemade corn tortillas today. I was getting hungry so I dug out the Masienda package of white corn masa and went to work. I started small, 1/4 cup of the masa and 1/4 cup of hot water plus a dash of salt. I added a bit more water and then kneaded them up. Divided into 4 with my bench scraper. I already had a tortilla press. Turned these into a few quesadillas for lunch. I can really taste the corn. Mine puffed up a little bit. I like these and it was really easy to make the corn tortillas from scratch. Give it a go.

Botch

dmourati said:

I had my first run at making homemade corn tortillas today. I was getting hungry so I dug out the Masienda package of white corn masa and went to work. I started small, 1/4 cup of the masa and 1/4 cup of hot water plus a dash of salt. I added a bit more water and then kneaded them up. Divided into 4 with my bench scraper. I already had a tortilla press. Turned these into a few quesadillas for lunch. I can really taste the corn. Mine puffed up a little bit. I like these and it was really easy to make the corn tortillas from scratch. Give it a go.

That may have been my issue all along, I never went with that much hydration.  In Rick Bayless's recent video (just a couple days ago) he mentioned that, if your pressed tortilla had cracking anywhere along the edge, it was too dry (and I'm pretty sure mine always did).  
When I finish up the MD leftover babybacks/home-made potato salad, I'll give these yet another try.  

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Botch said:

dmourati said:

I had my first run at making homemade corn tortillas today. I was getting hungry so I dug out the Masienda package of white corn masa and went to work. I started small, 1/4 cup of the masa and 1/4 cup of hot water plus a dash of salt. I added a bit more water and then kneaded them up. Divided into 4 with my bench scraper. I already had a tortilla press. Turned these into a few quesadillas for lunch. I can really taste the corn. Mine puffed up a little bit. I like these and it was really easy to make the corn tortillas from scratch. Give it a go.

That may have been my issue all along, I never went with that much hydration.  In Rick Bayless's recent video (just a couple days ago) he mentioned that, if your pressed tortilla had cracking anywhere along the edge, it was too dry (and I'm pretty sure mine always did).  
When I finish up the MD leftover babybacks/home-made potato salad, I'll give these yet another try.  

The Masienda folks say you should be able to crumple a corn tortilla in your hand without it breaking and it should expand back to its normal shape when you release it. 

YukonRon

Dude, that is the money shots of my month, and you just flat nailed it in a single blow. Such a beautiful cook, as always, and thank you for sharing.