Best Review on IMUSA VICTORIA 85008 Tortilla Pre Cured 8 Inch
I love this tortilla press! It does all of the work for you. I use a gallon sized plastic storage bag, cut it around all edges to get two halves. Place one on the bottom of the press, place ball of tortilla dough on top, place the other half of the bag on top of that, close the top of the press, press down, and there you have your flattened tortilla ready to cook. It is that simple. When I say you "press down" you don't have to press and press to flatten it. The weight of the press is all you need. Clean up is so easy because I covered the press with the plastic so the dough does not stick to the press. I also tried wax paper and plastic wrap but the tortilla stuck to it, So definitely go with the plastic storage bags. I will never buy corn tortillas again. With this press, there is no excuse not to make your own and they taste so much better, in my opinion.
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My wife and I are very impressed with this tortilla press. My wife initially got a plastic press from a local store, and it was horrible. It wouldn't flatten out the tortillas at all because it would bend under pressure.
BalasHapusThen we tried the 6.5 inch aluminum press that is also sold here on amazon. It was much better than the plastic one, but we were still disappointed at the size of the tortillas.
This lead us to the 8 inch cast iron press. It's true that it's a little greasy out of the box, but after a quick washing with soap and water, it is good to go. After putting plastic wrap on both pressing surfaces we gave it a try. It presses our tortilla dough as thin as we want it, even too thin if we decide to push it that hard. The size of the tortillas is much better as well. I would recommend this press to anyone that is looking for a quality tortilla press.
The one I received had little grease on it, not that it would have bothered me much anyway.
BalasHapusIt also presses the tortillas paper thin. In fact, I had to be careful not to get them too thin at first.
Recommend lining each side with plastic when pressing. Then transfer pressed tortilla to a piece of wax paper then onto the grill. That's just the easiest way we found to tranfer them.
Served warm with some queso fresca - yum!
BalasHapusI started making my own corn tortillas, and at first used a glass pie pan (put dough inbetween two pieces of zip lock plastic, and then squash with the pie plate.) I would have to press hard, and rotate the round pie dish to get the dough to squish out to the right size/thickness. It worked well, but I was afraid I would break the glass dish and cut myself I had to use so much pressure. It was sort of a rocking swirling motion to get it to press out right. It worked, but I had to lean on the plate too much. I had used a skillet bottom, but you couldn't see how big/thin the tortilla was, so if you don't buy this, try a pyrex pie pan on two plastic sheets of ziplock material.
BalasHapusMy husband purchased this press for me, and it is so easy to use. I use two pieces of ziplock plastic, cut to fit the press, and my flour (Masa Harina) has a recipe on the back for 4, 8 and 12 torillas. These make balls about the size of a ping pong ball or golf ball. They squeeze out perfectly every time, and I use no pressure at all.
I have read that there are two types of presses: cast iron and aluminum. The aluminum is lighter, but requires more force. The cast iron is heavy, and comes with a "shiny paint job" that comes off with time, according to internet reveiws, but my dough does not touch the press with the plastic sheets, so this is simply cosmetic in my opinion. I did notice some grease on it, but I assumed it was to keep the product from rusting, being that it is iron....you put oil on your cast iron pans for this purpose. It was minimal oil.
To protect my granite counters, I put felt stick-on feet onto the bottom since it is heavy and iron. May not be needed, but it makes me feel better. I could not be more impressed with it, and I can whip out fresh tortillas in about 2 minutes. I had at first told my husband not to get me one, I'd continue with the pie plate, but now I am thrilled to have it. It is effortless. I hate to see that some people had theirs break, or not make thin tortillas, but I imagine it is just a problem with their particular unit. If my tortillas were any thinner, you couldn't get them off of the plastic sheet. If they were thicker, they wouldn't be "right." Hope that makes sense! I like the press, and hope that it lasts. I received it in November, and have used it almost daily, and it is now in January...I haven't seen any issues with the product in that amount of time.
6 MONTH UPDATE
Product is still working great after 6 months. I am going to try wax paper as was suggested by a fellow Amazon shopper, in lieu of the zip lock. I have slowed down making tortillas, so it is not getting "as much use" as it was, but this is merely for waist-line purposes! I'd make them all day, everyday if I could, without getting as big as an ox. It has held up well, and makes excellent tortillas with ease.
I have had good results with this product but would recommend a good Mexican cookbook (I have Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday) for instructions on how to make tortillas as the press comes with no recipes or instructions. The first few tortillas from the first batch tore or stuck to the griddle (my fault), but I had very good results with the remainder of the first batch and excellent results the second time around. You will require large freezer storage bags or other food grade plastic sheet to press the masa dough between to avoid sticking. Also, a large cast iron skillet or griddle (I got a very good 2 burner one from Target manufactured by Lodge Logic for about $40) will be required. Except for obvious defects in worksmanship, I do not know how anyone could have complaints with this product. All the press can do is mash a ball of masa to uniform thinness, and this product does exactly that. Producing good tortillas, like most cooking, is a matter of art - that being, in this case, finding just the right combination of heat, time, masa, salt, and water.
BalasHapusI did a lot of reading before purchasing this press. The consensus seemed to be that cast iron trumps aluminum and Imusa seemed to be the preferred brand. After trying it out with a batch of corn tortillas using the recipe from Rick Bayless's "Authentic Mexican", I am duly impressed. It worked just as it was supposed to, turning out perfectly evenly pressed (and delicious) tortillas. I used a Ziploc cut at the seams between the press and dough as recommended, and turned the tortilla 180 degrees after the first press and pressed again. I found it was also necessary to offset the dough ball towards the hinge side; if it's too close to the handle side, that side gets pressed too thin.
BalasHapus