Why are restaurant tortilla chips so much better than anything you can buy at the grocery store?
There is a secret—and service industry worker Keilah is spilling the (refried) beans about it on her TikTok account.
Keilah posted video evidence of the secret on Sept. 18. Now her story has over 1.2 million views and counting.
What’s Keilah’s secret?
The secret, as shown in Keilah’s video, is using fresh tortillas (preferably made in-house).
In the video, Keilah takes a stack of fresh tortillas and cuts them into quarters and eighths.
“My favorite part of working in a Mexican restaurant was cutting tortillas for chips,” the video’s audio states.
The tortillas are so fresh they practically stick together even after she halves and quarters them with a large kitchen knife.
She then “shuffles” the uncooked sliced tortillas, getting them ready to be deep-fried in oil shortly before they come out hot restaurant tortilla chips to waiting customers.
@keilah707 #satisfying #asmr ♬ original sound – Keilah
Just why are restaurant tortilla chips so good?
Fonda’s chef/owner, Roberto Santibañez, told Tasting Table that the great taste of restaurant tortilla chips comes down to great ingredients and technique.
Santibañez says the “high-quality tortillas” he sources for Fonda “are thinner than the average tortillas you’ll find at the grocery store or even a local tortilleria.”
“The thinner tortilla results in light, thin, ultra-crispy tortilla chips,” per Tasting Table. “He asserts that restaurant chips are so delicious because the kitchen staff has ‘the possibility of frying them fresh for every shift.’”
Can I make my own restaurant tortilla chips?
It may be impossible to duplicate the restaurant tortilla chip experience at home using store-bought brands. But that doesn’t mean you can’t recreate it with a little home cooking.
There are numerous online recipes available for homemade tortilla chips, such as this one published by Savory Experiments.
Almost all of the recipes only involve three ingredients: corn tortillas, salt, and some sort of cooking oil for frying.
Additionally, you can get a little fancy by attempting to make your own tortillas at home. The fresher the tortilla, the better the chip.
How did her viewers respond?
A few readers were shocked to find that they had been devouring several whole tortillas every time they emptied a basket of restaurant tortilla chips.
Cassandra (@xocass_) wrote, “No wonder the chips and salsa fill me up, I eat 100 tortillas in one sitting.”
“Now I’m embarrassed with how many tortillas I actually eat,” another viewer wrote.
Another person asked, “Now I don’t understand how I can eat like 2 full baskets of chips but if I were to eat the tortillas raw I could probably only eat like 2.”
“Why did everything in me hope she would keep cutting more slices so I’d feel better about how many I eat?” another added.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Keilah via TikTok comment and messenger for further statements.
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