Masa: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple

This passionately thorough book explores the creation of a versatile, flavorful dough from stone-ground corn treated with an alkaline substance in the process known as nixtamalization. If you are the type of cook or reader who enjoys getting lost in the intersection between traditional foodways and modern understanding of ingredients, Masa will engage you fully.

Author Jorge Gaviria, founder of Masienda, a business which connects small-scale growers of specialty corn with restaurants and serious home cooks, travelled to Oaxaca, Mexico, as he began his search to understand what the best masa tasted like and how it could be created. In contrast to the mass-produced tortillas and tortilla mixes which had become ubiquitous in not only the US but in Mexico, he found growers and millers who had stuck to methods used centuries before.

Masa is a guide to understanding and using the superlative corn and meal provided by such people. It will teach you to nixtamalize your own corn, to grind it, mix it, and use it in everything from a simple tortilla to tamales, arepas, dumplings, empanadas, pupusas, and an array of other foods which take advantage of flavor and versatility of corn.

Impressive and worthwhile.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.