Keeping tortillas warm

[JBethell]

For my daughters 2nd birthday I'm having a sort of taco bar. For fillings I'm making beef barbacoa, a pork chili verde, and maybe some chicken.

My question is, what's the best way to keep a large number of tortillas warm, without them going hard?

BTW, I'm using flour tortillas.

I know, the purists are going to scold me, but I don't care for corn tortillas, and neither do most of the people coming.

[normalheightsfoodie]

I like flour too.

You can warm a moist towel in the Micro and have the torts rapped in the hot towel.

If you live near a mexican market they will have tortilla warmers. Some have a disk that you warm in the oven and then place under the tortillas.

[hoosfoos]

I've tried a lot of tortilla warmers and the only one that really works well is La Tortilla Loco. I ordered a couple of them online and am very happy with them. They go in the microwave (the time for the number of tortillas, corn or flour, is printed on the outside) and they're inexpensive and cute. I know they hold at least a dozen and keep them warm for at least an hour. http://www.latortillaloca.com/

[NYCkaren]

I bought a tortilla warmer on eBay years ago. It works pretty well _ for either flour or corn tortillas.

[Bryan Pepperseed]

I wrap in a damp towel and put it in my 5Qt crockpot set on low.

[yannie]

I wrap corn tortillas in a damp cloth and then wrap that in foil and stick it in a low heat oven. Don't know if this would work for flour...might stick to the cloth?

[HillJ]

I place an electric heating pad on low inside a bath towel and place a platter of flour tortillas on the towel. Placed on the table, lightly covered in paper towel. The stay moist and warm for hours.

[alkapal]

great idea for the buffet, hill j!

[chowser]

Do you put warm tortillas on the towel or does the electric heating pad heat them up?

[HillJ]

I plug in the electric heating pad and wrap it top to bottom in a kitchen towel. The warmth of the pad comes through the towel. Then I place a large platter on the towel. I then place a dozen tortillas on the warm platter and cover with a paper towel. The tortillas remain moist & warm. I add tortillas as needed during the party. My setup is done on a large table that has an electrical outlet behind it. Typically, I set up a tex-mex bar that includes all the fixins for tacos.

[chowser]

Thanks, I love the idea. Are the tortillas warm to begin with?

[HillJ]

Room temp to start. Cold would take longer and I'm not always that ahead of schedule :)

[chowser]

This is great to know--thanks!

[HillJ]

chowser, I use the same warming method for brunch buffet. The warm towel is great for keeping premade waffles, french toast, toast, pancakes and fudge warm. Lots of uses, actually.

[alkapal]

a clean kitchen towel or napkin would do equally well to cover?

[HillJ]

Of course.

[alkapal]

i didn't know if you used the paper towel because it would hold less moisture in....

[HillJ]

No, my thought was the paper towel gets handled alot by guests.

[chowser]

Much better than a chafing dish where they can get damp from the steam. Clever!

[normalheightsfoodie]

I was inspired to try this out. I wrapped the corn tortillas in a damp tea towel and let them warm in the oven. they were in a corning type tart pan, they stayed warm for a moderate amount of time, but they did not get hot. The oven was set at 175.

[JBethell]

Many thanks to everyone for all the ideas, but due to a number of things that added a bit too much to my plate, I decided to scaled back the party to just snacks and cupcakes.

I appreciate all the responses though, and hey, if nothing else, I learned something!!!

[dmreed]

you have had many decent replies but I did not see anyone addressing corn tortillas appropriately. you say you don't care for corn tortillas. does this apply to crispy tacos as well as soft tacos?

if you like crispy tacos but do not care for soft tacos made with corn tortillas, you belong to a portion of the community who are sensitive to the taste of unfried corn tortillas.

frying the corn tortilla changes the taste significantly for many people (I suspect that it is genetic). deep frying is usually done for crispy tacos. for any other "plain" use, I simply spritz both sides of the corn tortilla lightly with oil and heat them slightly on a flat griddle (they will reduce slightly in size).

enchillada and other baked sauce covered corn tortilla dishes do ot seem to keep the unpleasant taste.

once griddle fried, the corn tortillas may be kept warm as described by the other replies.

[alkapal]

i love the white corn tortillas for making quesadillas.

[JBethell]

i do like hard tacos, and I also like tamales, gorditas(both of which i know are not exactly corn "tortillas"), and enchiladas. To me it's texture more than taste. When used for a soft taco, they're a bit dry, and even gritty sometimes, in my opinion.