Quesadilla info pls

[jeral Profile]

How are these meant to be please? It's hard to tell from pictures. E.g. crunchy outer, gooey/oozy inner; or like a lightly toasted wrap; or more a clean and crisp thingy.

Are there particular combinations that work best? Veggie if poss but all welcome as a general food question.

I've never tried them in case I finish up with an oily disgusting mess but then, if I don't know what I'm aiming for how can I possibly get there?

Ta.

[herbidacious Profile]

I am sure someone will give you a better answer, but ... it depends on whether you want to be authentic or not. You can do them as you like...?!

I don't like them to be too crisp.

I cheat and do mine in the oven on one of those perforated pizza crisping trays. If I do them in a heavy pan, don't use oil. Thomasina Myers does. supposed to. I suppose you could argue mine are not really quesadillas...

re what goes inside, whatever you like, but not too much filling. I usually make them when I want something quick and light - they tend not to be planned, so some sort of tomato sauce/salsa, cheese, maybe finely chopped spring onions, some sort of spice, maybe a smear of chipotle paste, coiander... whatever I have in the cupboard and fridge. Cheese is a must.

This looks good, if a little chunky and not especially Mexican

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/broa ... p52x6qhsk3

The filling for these ones looks quite good. Not particularly imaginative but nevertheless good.

https://gran.luchito.com/recipes/vegetarian-quesadilla/

[Stokey Sue Profile]

here's a BBC article on quesadillas that karadekoolaid linked to once before - it has good pictures of them being made on the same heated flat top or griddle that you might cook the original tortilla on

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/2019052 ... quesadilla

From the detailed description the answer to "how cooked?" would seem to be "until a bit browned and the fold is set around the filling" but I'm sure karadekoolaid will have more info

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Felicity had a go last year.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/n ... ity-cloake

[Amyw Profile]

Funnily enough I had quesadillas tonight for tea . Mine were filled with jalapeños , cheddar and pickled red onions with salsa and mayo on the side . I use a drizzle of oil in the pan and sometimes weigh it down with a pan or something so they keep their shape and go nice and crisp . With how they’re cooked , it’s up to your personal preference .

I almost always use cheese in mine for a bit of gooiness and do like them crispy . I think they’re one of those things like omelettes which are a good vehicle for scraps of leftovers and odds and sods from the fridge

[Amber Profile]

I use small wraps and George Foreman. Maybe not authentic, but it works. I fancy some now, it’s been years since we last had them.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

A quesadilla is a double corn tortilla "sandwich", filled with cheese and cooked on a "comal", or flat iron plate. That´s the basics; "Queso" means "cheese". However, they´re not necessarily filled with just cheese; they´re a street snack, not a gourmet amuse bouche, so you can fill them with whatever you like. Cheese, or cheese+onion+jalapeño, or cheese+serrano+tomato+shrimp ( which I had last time I was in Mexico - awesome) or chicken, or pulled pork, or anything you like!
The best ones are made with corn tortillas, rather than wheat (burritos) tortillas. Place one tortilla in a hot pan/on the grill/on a comal; cover it with whatever you fancy, place another tortilla on top, squash it down a bit. Let it cook 2-3 minutes, turn it over and cook on the other side. Cut into 4 triangles and serve with abundant tequila/mezcal. ¡Orale!

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I can see that Felicity "had a go" at it - and to be honest, that´s where I´d file that. "Had a go".
Oaxaca cheese is really wierd. My son loves it (he lived in Mexico for 5 years), I found it like chewing rubber bands. Anyway, it melts. Halloumi, cheddar, Lancashire - sorry, nowhere even close. Probably the closest is mozzarella, and the industrial, rather than the proper version.
But as I said before, you can basically put what ever you like in it, because it´s street food. Try using sausage meat mixed with grilled onions and jalapeños - I tried that in CDMX in the Colonia Roma - awesome!

[ZeroCook Profile]

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Quesadillas are either large corn or flour (wheat) tortillas (aka 'wraps' in the uk)- two, pan or flat griddle toasted with cheese in between that melts as the tortillas heat up and crisp on the the outside while staying soft on the inside. Any cheese goes, any additions go, too. Usually cut into pizza- like wedges to serve, often with hot (chile) or other Mex type sauces. Eaten like pizza, off the plate, in the hand. Soul food.


To make, use a cast iron pan on a medium heat. Add a tortilla, corn or wheat (please don't call them wraps por favor!) then sprinkle with grated cheese of choice ( hard to find mex cheese in the uk so Mozzarella type of cheese for gooey but any cheese at all), add bits of anything else you like - preferably cooked, like pepper strips, veg, chili for e.g. Omnivores like bits of chicken, carne asada, shrimp and that sort of thing. Again, anything goes. Personally, I like them plain. Just cheese. Place lid on pan to aid melting. When cheese begins to melt place second tortilla on top and flip the whole thing over. The first tortilla should be just crisped on the outside but not hard or dried out. The trick is having the pan hot enough but not too hot. When second tortilla achieves the right degree of crispness, slide the quesadilla out of the pan onto a plate and slice into wedges. Serve with Mex chili sauce or red or green cooked salsa and an ice cold bottle of beer or soft drink.

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[herbidacious Profile]

One used to be able to buy Oxaca here by mail order but they seem to have stopped during Covid.

I used to have a special very heavy (aluminium?) not non-stick frying pan that I used to make torrtillas, and then quesadillas in. Not seen it for a while (as not made tortillas for a very long time. No longer seems worth it.)


The bottom line is that it's very very straightforward.


You can make them in the oven, on a tray wiht holes in it, if you are feeling lazy... but you do need to keep an eye on them.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Interested to see that both Zerocook and KK, both of whom I believe have experience of the 'real' thing, make them in the way that I have seen them made by Hispanic friends in the US but the article says this is incorrect and that they should be made more in the style of a taco. Wondering who is right or if there are regional variations.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I have made “quesadillas” with Staffordshire oatcakes - not the same but the method can be applied to almost any wrap that is not too large to give a decent lunch if not an authentic Mexican experience

And talking of method, I find folding in half, as espoused by Felicity and as shown in all the BBC Mexico City photos is much easier both to cook and to eat than the 2 tortilla sandwich method

So Earthmaiden it looks as if the folded version is the gold standard in Mexico City but of course Mexico is a big area and there must be variations

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Yes, the article you posted was informative and interesting, Sue. I suspect that the 'sandwich' method is more of a Tex-Mex adaptation.

[ZeroCook Profile]

it looks as if the folded version is the gold standard in Mexico City but of course Mexico is a big area and there must be variations

Gold standard in quesadillas? (Or any food for that matter?) There are no absolutes in life let alone food! Cmon. Quesadillas are (like) sandwiches. There is no real authenticity (Mexico City included) only variations. And then some. How do you make a sandwich? Let me tell you the ways

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[WolfGirl Profile]

We tried quesadillas for the first time on holiday this year and really enjoyed them. They were served flat ie pizza shaped. I’ve had a few goes at home but I really struggle turning them over so it all stays in one piece. Any tips?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

That's why I made folded ones WoldfGirl, they are much easier t handle

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Well, ZC is right. You can make your quesadillas almost however you want, I suppose, because they´re street food. I make them on the grill, usually, cut them up as a pre-BBQ snack,hence the pizza-type format. I remembered this morning that this format of quesadilla (as opposed to the fold-over version) is called a "sincronizada" in Mexico City.
I did a bit of poking around - while almost all Mexican cooks think that a "quesadilla" should have cheese in it, there are some who think it doesn´t matter, even though "Queso" is Spanish for "Cheese". And while several prefer the wheat tortilla ( used for making burritos), I still believe the corn tortilla version is way superior.
The other VERY important thing about a quesadilla? Don´t overfill them. Just enough filling (including cheese!) to add flavour, not like something from Man vs Food!

[miss mouse Profile]

The other VERY important thing about a quesadilla? Don´t overfill them. Just enough filling (including cheese!) to add flavour,

And if you do it will probably fall out.

[jeral Profile]

Oops, I don't seem to have thanked you all for the comprehensive information, which is very much appreciated.

I was lucky today by finding some "sprouting corn" tortilla wraps in the health food store. They are frozen as a clump of 12, so that's breakfast dinner and tea sorted for a couple of days unless I can defrost, peel a couple off and refreeze which I'm doubtful about.

That said, as they're frozen it'll give me chance to plan multiple fillings, and work up a huge appetite

Thanks again.