The Art of Reheating Tortillas: A Guide to Saving Time and Sanity

In today's fast-paced world, it's easy to get caught up in the chaos of daily life. One of the most overwhelming aspects of this can be meal preparation and reheating. Specifically, when it comes to tortillas - a staple in many cuisines around the world. As we navigate through the sea of options available, it's essential to find ways to streamline our processes while still achieving that perfect balance of flavor and texture.

At the height of information overload, where I get to reveal that you don’t really even have to do that much analysis. You can do that microwave trick on any of the hypothetical tortillas I mentioned before. This simple technique allows for a basic understanding of how tortillas respond to different temperatures. It's all about finding that sweet spot - not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

The problem arises when we try to masterfully reheat these delicate disks. Even if you manage to achieve the perfect pliability, they will inevitably meet their demise at an alarming rate unless kept warm and steamy. The cheapest and easiest option is to wrap a cotton towel around your stack as you cook and eat. This simple step will buy you 15 minutes of flexibility without having to purchase anything new.

One step down in accessibility is a styrofoam tortilla holder. Styrofoam is an excellent insulator, so everything inside will stay warm for a long, long time, and they're usually only like 99 cents. However, I don't like them even if they are effective - A) They're ugly as sin, and B) in this house we hate styrofoam. What an awful material. Unsurprisingly, my favorite style is the kind made from stoneware.

These ceramic warmers are beautiful, a little pricey depending on where you get one, but the problem is that they're not porous, so you still have to line it with a cotton towel. Otherwise, condensation will build up all along the interior and soak things up over time. This simple step ensures that your tortillas remain at their best while minimizing waste.

Here's the wildcard option: an insulated fabric tortilla warmer. It's vented, so things don't get soaking wet inside, it's flexible so you can hang it on a wall or shove it into a drawer instead of needing precious cabinet space, and it's microwave safe, so you could just stuff a stack of tortillas in there, nuke 'em for a minute, and throw the whole vessel onto the dinner table to keep them warm for up to a full hour. Pretty neat.

This one's from boy howdy wouldn't you know it... Barkley! dinnerwithbarkley.com

Keep these instructions in your back pocket just in case you ever encounter someone who insists they hate corn tortillas. You wouldn’t spoon boxed cake mix into your mouth, you wouldn’t crunch through a cold packet of Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice, so why would you be making tacos with tortillas that are only mostly prepared? The answer is, you wouldn't. So promise me you won't.

Factor has paid to be mentioned at the end of this video. Factor delivers nutritious meals to your door that get reheated in your microwave, even more easily than a fussy stack of tortillas. You pick from a menu that gets updated with at least 35 meals every week, and you can add more, order less, or skip a whole week if you need to.

I like to think I'm a genius for timing this ad read with the recent arrival of my first son. Everybody knows "parents are busy," but Factor offers a way for me to have something to eat in two hands-off minutes that isn't some form of junk food loaded with preservatives and wacky macros. They even have smoothies and juices for when you truly have zero minutes to spare and just one free hand.

It's a nice little cherry on top that they claim to offset 100% of their delivery emissions. Head to Factor75.com or click the link below and use code NETSHAQ50 to get 50% off your first Factor box. Once again, that’s Factor75.com or code NETSHAQ50 after clicking the link in this video's description.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enImagine, if you will, you’re having a conversation with someone who insists they hate Top Ramen.  “It’s too crunchy”, the psycho insists… “and it's covered in this super salty powder”.  It seems unimaginable. And yet, there are people among us who do something very similar— buying a  certain foodstuff from a grocery store that’s 90% made for you, but not doing that final  10%, and then insisting “no I just don’t like corn tortillas… they’re too dry and taste like  cardboard”. I’ve been saying it for years now, the number one thing people overlook when working with  tortillas, is that fresh or stale, flour or corn, they must be steamed right before consumption.Reheating flour tortillas is easy, since they’re made with fat in the dough. Toss  em in a hot dry skillet for a couple of seconds on each side until the surface  looks toasted. The hard saturated fat inside will get soft and pliable,  and the flavor will improve from getting a little browned. Some people with gas stoves  like to toast their tortillas over the open flame...For this video,  I’m showing a plain ol’ dry carbon steel pan.Corn tortillas are trickier than flour because corn tortillas don’t have any fat in them. Thus,  your reheating strategy needs to become more aggressive depending  on how stale they are. Think of this like there’s a staleness scale from 1-5,  and then internalize this truth: The only time a corn tortilla is suitable for human  consumption is when it is a zero on that scale. I’ll show you how to get there.If you made fresh corn tortillas from scratch, even just a couple hours ago,  they’ll be a 1 on the dryness scale. They will have lost the essence of  makes them so spectacular. I know that sounds dramatic, but I also know you’ve experienced something similar  if you’ve ordered food delivery and the french fries were sitting in the box for  an hour before they arrived. Some foods are made to be enjoyed right away. Thankfully,  for these, it’s easy to fix. Warm them up in a hot dry pan, just like a flour tortilla,  but hit em with a light spritz of water on each side. That water will steam back into  the stale tortilla, replacing what steamed out as it cooled and dried.Now move up to a 2 on the dryness spectrum. You bought corn tortillas from a nice Mexican grocer. They  were made fresh at the time, but after sitting on the store shelf all day, they’re decidedly  older than the homemade ones from before. In this scenario, paint a little water onto its surface,  using a little brush or your fingers. This applies more water than a light mist, but like a dad in  a rainstorm, oh... we needed this! If your stack is more of a 3/5 dryness, go ahead and dunk  the whole thing in water for a half second.This dripping wet tortilla will hiss and squeal at you, but don’t worry, you’re  not hurting it. If you did it right, it’ll pass the crumple test. Something that once crumbled  under pressure is now flexible enough to hold its shape, even under aggressive crushing force.Here’s the worst-case scenario you’ll ever face: a pack of factory-made tortillas that  spent God knows how many weeks in a warehouse, then on the store shelves,  then on your countertop. These things have set the public perception of Mexican cuisine back  by at least fifty years. Not only are they 5/5 stale, but they’re also delicate. Old factory-made  tortillas love to crack and crumble any chance they get. So they need lots of extra water,  BUT they can’t handle being doused and flipped, lest they come apart at the machine-imprinted  seams. For a situation like this, you’ll wanna create a steamy environment they can just sit  and schvitz in undisturbed. Take a few sheets of paper towels (or a cotton kitchen towel),  and run it under the sink to absorb water. Wring it out so it’s still damp but not dripping wet.  Make sure all the tortillas are separated from one another, or you run the risk of  fusing them together. Wrap the stack in the wet towel and microwave everything at full  power for 30 to 60 seconds. The water in the towel will start to evaporate, and steam will  make its way into the tortillas. These willtaste worse than any other tortilla shown today,  but at least they won’t suck all the moisture out of your mouth upon first bite.So. Now you’re covered for anything on the spectrum of tortilla dryness. This is the part,  at the height of information overload, where I get to reveal that you don’t really even have to do  that much analysis. You can do that microwave trick on any of the hypothetical tortillas I  mentioned before. I just broke it down this way so you understand that dire dryness demands drastic…  de-dessication. The last thing that needs to be said is that even if you perfectly masterfully  reheat a tortilla to its full pliable potential, it will die a quick death just as rapidly as a  fresh one, unless you keep it warm and steamy. The cheapest and easiest option is to wrap a cotton  towel around your stack as you cook and eat. You won’t have to buy anything new, and it’ll buy  you like 15 minutes of flexibility. One step down in accessibility is a styrofoam tortilla holder.  Styrofoam is an excellent insulator, so everything inside will stay warm for a long long time,  and they’re usually only like 99 cents… but I don’t like em... even if they are effective, A)  They’re ugly as sin, and B) in this house we hate styrofoam. What an awful material. Unsurprisingly,  my favorite style is the kind made from stoneware. These ceramic warmers are beautiful,  a little pricey depending on where you get one, but the problem is that they’re not porous,  so you still have to line it with a cotton towel. Otherwise condensation will build up all  along the interior and sog things up over time. Here’s the wildcard option: an insulated fabric  tortilla warmer. It’s vented, so things don’t get soaking wet inside, it’s flexible so you can  hang it on a wall or shove it into a drawer instead of needing precious cabinet space,  and it’s microwave safe, so you could just stuff a stack of tortillas in there, nuke em for a minute,  and throw the whole vessel onto the dinner table to keep them warm for up to a full hour. Pretty  neat. This one’s from boy howdy wouldn’t you know it… Barkley! dinnerwithbarkley.comKeep these instructions in your back pocket just in case you ever encounter someone who insists  they hate corn tortillas. You wouldn’t spoon boxed cake mix into your mouth, you wouldn’t crunch  through a cold packet of Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice, so why would you be making tacos with tortillas  that are only mostly prepared? The answer is, you wouldn’t. So promise me you won’t. Buen provecho.Factor has paid to be mentioned at the end of this video. Factor delivers nutritious  meals to your door that get reheated in your microwave, even more easily than a fussy stack  of tortillas.You pick from a menu that gets updated with  at least 35 meals every week, and you can add more, order less, or skip a whole week if you  need to.I like to think  I’m a genius for timing this ad read with the recent arrival of my first son. Everybody  knows “parents are busy”, butFactor offers a way for me  to have something to eat in two hands-off minutes that isn’t some form of junk food  loaded with preservatives and wacky macros. They even have smoothies and juices for when  you truly have zero minutes to spare and just one free hand. It’s a nice little cherry on  top that they claim to offset 100% of their delivery emissions. Head to Factor75.com or  click the link below and use code NETSHAQ50 to get 50% off your first Factor box. Once again,  that’s Factor75.com or code NETSHAQ50 after clicking the link in this video’s description.\n"