You're right. I was just thinking about that--the nixtamalizing--and came to correct my post. I was just so put out by the rancid masa that I jumped right to the end without thinking it through. Duh! Thanks for catching my mistake, and also for the plain corn recommendations!

1. Masa - dough ground from just-cooked posole, and masa literally means "dough," when applied to Mexican, Southwestern, and Native American cooking. It means dough made from slaked corn (the Alton Brown video does a great job explaining this). Here's a how-to: http://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/2009/01/how-to-make-your-own-home-made-fresh.html  So your option is to make masa from either fresh posole (I liked the Alton Brown link :-) or dried posole milled into flour - which needs to be milled in an impact, stone, or burr mill. Only wet cooked corn can be processed in a food processor. You can also purchase prepared, dried, hominy and mill it, OR you can soak and cook it and probably use the food processor process outlined in the Alton Brown video.

2. Masa harina is dried posole meal/flour.

3. To mill masa harina I have taken canned hominy and dehydrated the corn first and milled the dried hominy, and I have also used prepared dried hominy white corn posole I ordered from Rancho Gordo. The prepared dried hominy white corn posole I ordered from Rancho Gordo (very expensive stuff - $5.95/pound) inspired me to dehydrate canned hominy - due to the high cost. Both experiences led me to just purchase masa harina in small amounts and spend my time doing something else. I vacuum-seal masa harina (I generally purchase 24-oz. bags of Bob's Red Mill golden masa harina - or when I've milled the dried hominy) in a FoodSaver bag and freeze it since it's something I just don't have a big need for on a regular basis (it's an ingredient I use in my cornbread recipe, and that's my main use). I try to use it within 6-months of purchase of commercial masa harina, or home-milled.

4. I mill the dried posole/hominy into a fine flour, since masa harina flour is quite fine (one pass through my NutriMill).

Thanks so much, Grainlady!

This sentence was very telling, considering the number of things you do from scritchety-scratch scratch: Both experiences led me to just purchase masa harina in small amounts and spend my time doing something else.

The link to the homemade masa instructions was broken, but it was easy to find it from her recipe page. An excellent recommendation. Her instructions are very clear (and it's been decades since I've been anywhere near anyone doing it). That's something I'd potentially do for a feast if I were making tamales (though more likely, I'd do what everyone in SoCal does, and buy it ready to form from one of the restaurants with the good masa). I'm going to have fun, later, exploring Mely Martinez's blog. It looks fab! Thanks!

I never thought of it in terms of pozole. I think that's the answer since I really don't want to freeze grain/flour. I could use canned hominy for something undemanding like tamale pie, and the can would keep well in the pantry. Or, I could check my bag of masa harina as soon as I decided to use it. :) If I'd even just looked in the morning, I could have had a new one delivered if I weren't able to pop out for it. :)

Plllog--a couple of ways that I use masa harina is to thicken chili and chicken enchilada soup. Like the added flavor it brings to those dishes. Tried using some in cornbread but didn't especially like it in c'bread.

I want to get a tortilla press because the store-bought tortillas (that are available around here) are pretty awful. Taste like chemical laced cardboard. I keep looking at the presses on Amazon but seeing all the pictures in the reviews of broken presses stops me from ordering one. Wish I could find a vintage one but chances are pretty slim of that here in Wisconsin.

Yeah, I use it in chili too, and that's probably why I had it in the pantry to start with, but things have been so up in the air that I haven't made a lot of big pots of glop recently, hence the stale. :(

I can't offer any good advice on tortilla presses. I have a feeling that a lot of them were pretty crappy back in the day, too. Vintage isn't always better. :) All of them require brute strength. The granny way works fine: Sort of roll it out in parchment (rather than waxed paper), and then whack it well with a cast iron frying pan. :) Well more of a pressing motion, but using gravity as well. I haven't used one, but the TISA powder coated press is supposed to be good. I don't even know if they make them anymore, though.

I use (and by I, I mean hubby - it's one of the things he enjoys making, and who am I to argue....;-) an electric Revel Tortilla Maker, which flattens the dough ball AND cooks the tortilla.

They tested tortilla presses on America's Test Kitchen and found a large wooden press did the best job. It had a neat feature where it had a "stop" at the front to keep the press from closing completely and making the tortillas too thin or shredding the edges, which can be a problem with the Revel, until you get the "feel" of the pressing process. I'm sure I can make a "stop" for my Revel now that I've seen that little "trick", so I don't press so hard I over-press (shred/blow-out) the tortilla. Here's the tortilla press review from ATK: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/equipment_reviews/1410-tortilla-presses

I use leftover tortillas, or thick tortillas, for individual pizza crusts.

I was thinking an old used press had withstood the test of time; if it was going to break easily, it would have already done so.

I've tried using a Pyrex pie plate to press tortillas and it does work. It's just uncomfortable because standard counter height is too tall and my wrist (that I broke last winter) wasn't happy with the effort. Thanks for reminding me about using a CI skillet--had forgotten about that trick.

And to be honest, no doubt that wanting a press is appealing to my inner Gadget Freak. They are just sooo cool looking. Like I want one of those that has that big molded star in the lid!

Love those wooden presses, Grainlady. They're beautiful, so elementally appealing.

I don't subscribe to ATK so could not access the full review but found enough info thru some other sources to get the gist of it. Interesting that the IMUSA cast iron press was ATK's runner-up choice as it is one of the brands dinged in Amazon reviews with broken cast iron parts.

That's a neat tip to make a stop to prevent over-pressing. I suppose that I should just make a wooden press and have considered it. I have several laminated maple cutting boards that I could sacrifice one to make a press. Or, since rummage sale season is starting, just keep an eye out for more material since I hate cutting up the boards that I have and have already restored.

The electric maker just doesn't appeal to me--not earthy enuff--if that makes any sense! But of course, it's miles ahead of settling for crappy store-bought tortillas which is what I mostly do! Suppose that if I see one at a garage sale for a few $$ that I'll latch onto it, Earth Mother be damned!

Ci_lantro, the TISA Estrella tortilla press I mentioned above as being a good one (by reputation) is the one with the star! Check eBay. They do come up. :)

But old doesn't necessarily mean good. The good tortilla press is passed down or to the neighbor's kid. The junky one is sold at the garage sale. You score when the recipient doesn't want the good one. :)

Yup, I've seen them on eBay. The press is one of my recurring flirtations...keep looking at them but haven't taken the leap.

This all got started again because I'm reading The Milagro Beanfield War...the mentions of beans and enchiladas and green chiles.... Mid-week, I ducked into the dollar store looking for a cheap magnifying mirror which they didn't have but they did have some really fresh looking Brown's Best pintos. 1# pkgs for a dollar or 2# pkgs for a dollar. So I bought all the 2# pkgs they had, all 4 of them. Added a nice marrow-y ham bone from Easter, onion, celery, chile d' Arbol & garlic. Amazing creamy beans. (I love to heap warmed up leftover beans on eggs for breakfast.) Then you started talking about Tamale Pie and massa and the next thing I know, I have chicken fajitas marinating, more beans have cooked and, since DSI is coming for dinner, I'm also making home-made flour tortillas. Which I can't (or should not) eat. So I'll be eating my fajita without a tortilla or wrapped up in one of the crummy store-bought corn tortillas from the pantry. sigh...Luckily, I'm almost finished with the book. :)( By later in the week, I'll prolly be off onto some other cuisine.

LOL! What a wonderful story! You could stick with the beans theme, and go French country in your next book!

I've been trying to get more and more beans into the diet. Beans are a great sub for fatty things like cheese and mayonnaise. But I'm waiting until after Passover to make a big pot. Vegetarian, though, so yours with the bone has me salivating. :)

I have a Victoria tortilla press. It's pretty basic. Not much can go wrong except....I keep smooshing my fingers when I handle it. Should have gone with aluminum, even though it's supposedly too flexible.

Amazon just recommended this one to me. It's pretty, Ci_lantro. Maybe for your list?

I picked one up in Mexico 20yrs ago. It's ok. I have to pull a bench seat into the kitchen and use my knee over a potholder. Seems like the handle might break so i can do a hand/knee combo press and faster that way.

Like the wooden one. Might just have to make one.

For a purchased brand see if TortillaLand sells in your area. Very good. I keep them in the freezer for quick pizza. Not tried their corn ones as my grocery only stocks the flour.

Masa and arepa i buy small bags and keep it in the freezer. Or just buy a bag when i make tamales. (once a year)

Beautiful press, plllog. That one is too pretty to hide away when you're not using it!

Thanks for the recommendation, sleevendog. I checked online and WMT (supposedly) carries that brand. Here's hoping that they have corn tortillas. For some reason, corn tortillas are hard to find around here. There's a gazzillion different flour tortillas available but few corn offerings. I dunno if it's just Wisconsin but I remember a time when most tortillas were corn. (From the years that I lived in Oklahoma.) I even remember canned corn tortillas; I think they were Old El Paso brand. But that was prolly 30 years ago & tastes & trends change.

One would think that what with all the No Gluten crowd that corn tortillas would be easier to find.

Ratz. I doubled checked the Tortillaland site and it looks like WMT only has the flour tortillas. I'll check in the store anyway and pick up a pkg of the flour ones for when I'm too lazy to make them from scratch.

Costco had them a few years ago (one time thing) and of course a gi-normous pack of 60 and they were large ones. They are firm but un-cooked so have a shelf life and found in fridge section. Amazon has them now but no free shipping and kinda expensive...they have corn ones also. I forgot about them for a while then was reminded on a chowhound post about how good they are. Perfect for a DIY pizza party. I usually end up making homemade white corn for gluten-free folk so they don't end up looking like taco pizza.

Costco wholesale has them on-line. (or used to not long ago)

Oh, yeh...They are pricey from Amazon. Wouldn't take long to pay for a press at that rate!