Buster’s Puffed Corn Tortillas
Contact confirmed. [Photo Credit: Alex Paternostro]
by Seth and Alex Paternostro
January 6, 2022
The family was enjoying “Earl’s Famous Turkey Chili” when Buster decided to improve his meal. As he hopped down, his chair wrote the path of yet another adventure on the floor, and his half-eaten serving threatened to escape. Ground and browned turkey eyed a final flight, but Buster balanced the beans and scurried to the stove. He flicked on the gas with a click and banged blue flames, just once, with a licked, heavy pan. His step-stool proudly announced “B-U-S-T-E-R” in removable multi-colored blocks, and smiled. This was to be a Buster Moment.
Buster poured a few big spoonfuls of peanut oil into the heated cast-iron and waited for the temp to rise. Mise-en-place aligned, beats banging, Buster shook his denims—one, two, three-and-a; one, two, three-and-a; (pause); “Swish swish [bleeperbleeper]”—to a thumping bass behind.
A flick of the wrist, and the first corn tortilla was in the air. It spun, it bent, and Buster imagined the applause as it flopped into his little hand.
“Hey, Buster. How hot’s that oil?” Scooter chimed in in his deep, tortoise tones.
“400 degrees,” Buster replied quickly.
“Cool.”
“400?” Earl stated flatly from the table, “Four hundred degrees. That oil is so hot, Buster, that you are liable to injure yourself. I heard someone on The YouTube say that, and he worked at a professional, Michelin-starred restaurant.”
Buster had watched that video, along with many others, after turning off the child-safety features that his father had set. Averting his eyes and muting the commands to buy slick-lipped women driving SUVs, he would skip along after ten seconds. Then, he would be free to learn of the world.
Buster would see strange and intriguing things on his phone’s screen. LEDs small and at his command would depict how people with jobs behind computers eat in expensive restaurants, where camera crews peek in search of kitchens’ tales. Past part-time actors and hidden doors, steel walls glisten with the reflections of unspeaking men. Above black shoes and white aprons are faces cooked to a hardened sheen by service. Despite their daily chants, their precision cuts, and the rapidity of moving veggies, the chef is always near, and he wants the stars.
“I believe that others respect not the ingredients of Mexico as I do,” the fast-talking chef says with his chest puffed and his title underlined.
“Nay,” with a shake of the head, “It is such with chocolate. Look to France, and you will see. To chocolate and its rich heritage, they do such disservice…Ignorant of its possibilities, unlike me.”
And one of the man’s thin, black eyebrows twitches as his eyes turn towards the camera, and his chin raises with truth.
“I succor chocolate rightly,” he declares, “I know it.”
The camera pans over a beautiful blond woman, who is particularly careful under her boss’s shifting gaze. With her hair tied like a bun, she fills cute molds with immaculate technique. On plates of zigzag, colored sauce, she tweezes a miniscule bonbon.
And Buster would finish the video, wondering what it all means.
He replied to Earl, “Well, maybe that guy is too cautious.”
“I wonder what those places are like,” Earl trailed off, looking to the side of a spoon in his hand, “Whoop.”
He asked something else, but Buster had stopped listening. He was paying the utmost and closest attention to his newest masterpiece.
“Nope,” he decided to say. You could never be too careful when a parent asks something, he thought. They may want you to do chores or explain yourself. Shrugging such run-of-the-mill notions aside, Buster puffed the tortillas one-by-one in the pan. He felt proud of himself, for he was getting awfully good behind the stove, so he wished to name his work and wanted the best name. Buster knew the answer in an instant. He liked “UFO Puffs.”
Buster imagined bringing them to Ms Pinewood’s classroom for the “Cultural Week - Potluck.” A spear in hand, he would don his finnesko and fox-fur cap then stride down the hallways, past three-foot tall lockers and endearing animal cartoons that ask Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?—with a platter of tortillas in his generous, outstretched palm.
Earl was making another go at the mother-pot. Buster passed him on the way to the table, climbed into his comfy seat, and spilled his chili. A splatter of lukewarm dinner soaked his legs. He wiped them as best he could with his napkin, but much remained. No matter, he had improved the meal and dug in, crunching his treasure with mouthfuls of joy.
Once he had savored the last of the tortillas, Buster looked up.
“Earl, can you turn the lights back on?”
Serves 6
Total time
15 minutes
Equipment:
cast-iron skillet, kitchen tongs, paper towels, serving dish with straight sides, digital thermometer
Tableware:
hands
Ingredients
12 corn tortillas
Peanut oil, as needed
Salt, as needed
Instructions
Set out all equipment, tableware, and ingredients. Line the serving dish with paper towels. Preheat the skillet over medium-high.
Pour ¾-inch of oil into the pan.
When the oil is shimmering, or about 400°F, carefully lower in a single tortilla, and immediately baste the center until puffed, set, and lightly golden.
Flip the tortilla over, and briefly baste the other side.
Remove the tortilla from the pan, lean it against the sides of the serving dish to drain, and sprinkle lightly with salt.
Repeat the process with the remaining corn tortillas.
Enjoy alongside “Earl’s Famous Turkey Chili.”
“Buster, why are the tortillas outside?” [Photo Credit: Alex Paternostro]
NUTRITION FACTS:
Calories 184 Total Fat 10.4g (13%) Saturated Fat 1.7g (9%) Cholesterol 0mg (0%) Sodium 22mg (1%) Total Carbohydrate 22.4g (8%) Dietary Fiber 3g (11%) Total Sugars 0.4g Protein 2.7g Vitamin D 0mcg (0%) Calcium 39mg (3%) Iron 1mg (3%) Potassium 89mg (2%) - Note: Please read our Nutrition Disclaimer.
Seth Paternostro is a writer and recipe developer based in Chicago. He is a co-founder of Our American Cuisine and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in East Asian Studies. You can learn more about him here.
Alex Paternostro is a writer and food photographer based in Chicago. He is a co-founder of Our American Cuisine and graduated with honors in English from Princeton University. You can learn more about him here.
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