How to eat a toast ? - The correct way

Traditional Latin American food is known for its fresh flavors, bright spices, and incredible combinations of textures. In one bite, you can enjoy sweet, sour, creamy, spicy, crunchy and juicy food all at once.

Tostadas is a Mexican dish that will delight your taste buds while also creating mild angst in the form of potentially messy and sloppy eating. The best way to get comfortable eating toast in front of an audience is to practice.

How do you eat toast correctly?

To eat toast without making a mess, use both hands to support the shell, take small bites, and eat on the plate. As for what to eat on and with toast, we have more tips to share in this article.

In this guide, we’ve offered suggestions on how to make top-notch toast, as well as a step-by-step guide on how to eat it mess-free.

Even with our careful instructions, practice makes perfect, so make toast as often as possible and enjoy every bite as you learn to eat it orderly.

What is a toast?

Tostadas are very popular Mexican dishes that start with a toasted tortilla and can be topped with a wide variety of toppings.

In Spanish, tostada translates to “toasted,” though often the tortilla base is fried rather than toasted.

They are traditionally used as a way to use ingredients that may be near the end of their useful life. Toasting or frying a tortilla that is starting to go stale is a great way to refresh its flavor.

They can be topped with just about anything you have on hand, making them a handy solution when you have a variety of small amounts of vegetables, sauces, cheeses, or protein. Put it all on a toast and enjoy.

Toast vs. Taco - What’s the difference?

Tacos and tostadas are very similar in terms of their ingredients, but the biggest difference is in the “shell”.

Tacos are either hard, folded corn shells or soft, folded wheat or corn tortillas. Either way, they’re folded, making it easy for ingredients to stay inside while your hands can easily and cleanly grip the outer sides of the taco.

A toast, on the other hand, is open. It’s almost the open sandwich version of a taco.

The fact that the shell is used as an edible plate for ingredients can make a very pretty display, but they can also be very messy to eat, prone to breaking and throwing ingredients everywhere.

How to make toast

It’s nearly impossible to get a tostada wrong, but to be on the safe side, we’re going to walk you through the process of making your own shell, as well as give you a long list of ideas for possible toppings.

How to make tostada shells

You can buy hard, flat corn tortilla shells already toasted at the grocery store, just like you can buy pre-made taco shells. However, they are surprisingly easy to make at home with fresh corn tortillas, and the flavor is second to none.

When preparing the tostadas shells, keep in mind that the larger the tortilla, the more difficult and messy it will be to eat. Try to find smaller tortillas if you plan to toast them for toast night.

Fry the Tostadas:

1. Spread out a few paper towels on your counter and place a cooling rack over them.
2. Heat ¼” oil in a skillet over medium heat.
3. Using kitchen tongs, carefully add a corn tortilla to the pan.
4. Fry until the tortilla starts to brown and then turn it over and repeat the operation.
5. It should take about 30 seconds per side.
6. Remove the toast from the pan and set it to cool on the cooling rack.
7. Repeat the operation until you have enough toasts for your meal.

Bake the toasts:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
   2. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat for easy cleanup.

1. Place wire rack inside baking sheet; this will allow heat and air to circulate under the tortillas, helping them crisp more quickly and evenly.
2. Spread the tortillas in a single layer on the wire rack.
3. Lightly spray all sides of tortillas with cooking oil.
4. Bake for 5 minutes on one side, then flip.
5. Check after 3 minutes, but let them toast until both sides are golden brown.

When you remove the tray from the oven, allow the toasts to cool before serving.

If you’re more into learning visually, here’s a great tutorial by Stephanie from Views on the Road on YouTube on making the perfect Mexican tostadas.

What to put on a toast

As we’ve already said, toast is a great way to use up bits of food you don’t know what else to do with. You can put almost anything on toast, and as long as you mix the flavors well, it will taste delicious.

Traditionally, the toasts are topped with beans, diced minced beef or chicken or pork, and fresh vegetables and sauce.

Seafood tostadas are also more common in coastal regions. A salty and crunchy tostada complements very well the ceviche, the prawns or the crab, or the tuna.

You can get creative with your toast at home, topping it with all your favorite grated or diced vegetables, proteins, and flavorful sauces. If you need further guidance, consider the following suggestions:

Proteins:

• Shredded chicken or pork
• Ground beef, stir-fried with taco seasoning or chili
• Shredded or fried tofu
• Shredded and Seasoned Pork Fruit
• baked beans
• Cheese, especially queso fresco or cotija
• Seafood:

Vegetables :

• shredded cabbage or lettuce
• diced tomatoes
• Peppers
• red onions
• Corn
• Avocado
• Pickled vegetables, such as hot peppers
• Roasted and diced vegetables, such as zucchini or eggplant

Sauces:

• • pico de gallo
  • Green sauce
  • Sour cream or fresh cream
  • guacamole

• Hummus or bean dip
• cheese sauce for nachos

How to eat toast without making a mess

The main reason most people avoid making or ordering toast is that they don’t know how to eat it without turning the entire dining area into a disaster zone.

Crispy tortillas are notorious for cracking, breaking, and crumbling. When that crispy tortilla is holding a mountain of ingredients, the result can be disappointing.

Eating a mixture of dish ingredients with a fork is not the same experience as eating it from a freshly toasted shell.

If you want our best tips on how to eat toast without making a mess, try the process below. Don’t be afraid to practice your skills often enough.

Step-by-step instructions for eating toast politely:

1. Start with a piece of toast big enough to fit all your ingredients, but not a giant plate that you can’t hold together. In this case, bigger is not better. You will have much more success with small toasts.
2. Hold your toast with both hands, one on each side. Use your thumbs to hold the center as much as possible, but remember to be gentle. If you push inward, you may cause it to crack or split the center.
3. If the ingredients are too tall to fit in your mouth in one bite, use your teeth to steal some of the ingredients before taking a bite of the shell. This will make it easier to bite into the shell without losing the ingredients all over the place.
4. Accept the fact that some toppings will fall off, and always lean forward to eat directly from the plate.
5. When you’re ready to bite into the skin, take small bites. They will create less damage overall and reduce your chances of the entire shell collapsing.
6. After the first bite, keep taking small bites on either side of the first. Go back and forth so that the bites are relatively even.
7. Continue taking these small bites until the toast is finished.
8. Clean up any ingredients you’ve lost in the process with a fork and knife.
9. Repeat the operation with a new toast until you are full to bursting.

You don’t have to stick out your pinky or anything, but these tips are sure to help you keep your cool on that first date.

Now that you have the basic procedure for eating toast in hand, here are a few more tips and tricks to make your meal as tidy and enjoyable as possible.

Additional tips for eating toast:

• Always have napkins or paper towels nearby. You’re bound to get the sauce on your face and hands at some point, so have something ready to help you clean up quickly.
• Experiment with different shell thicknesses to see what works best for your personal eating style.
• Try that all the ingredients are crumbled or cut into small pieces. If you have to bite into a large piece of vegetable or protein in addition to the skin, you increase the chances of making a mess.
• Adjust your grip as needed, leaving the toast on the plate as long as necessary to better handle the food.
• You can eat toast with a knife and fork if you are very self-conscious, but the shell will fall apart and it will be more of a toast salad than toast.

How to eat a toast salad

A tostada salad, or taco salad, is essentially a large tortilla that has been fried or baked into a shell shape. It is then filled with all the ingredients that you can enjoy in a taco.

To eat a salad on toast, in most cases you will use a fork to eat the filling first.

As the bowl empties, you can break off portions of the shell to add crunch to your meal. You can eat the shell as if it were a potato chip, or you can put some of the filling in the piece of shell and eat it as if it were a bite-sized piece of toast.

As a general rule, it’s fine to eat the shell with your hands, but use a fork or even a spoon to manipulate the filling.

With what to accompany the toasts

Traditionally, toast is often served as a side to a stew or seafood bake, but it can also be the main course of your dinner. They go well with a large number of Latin American dishes.

Think about the menu at the last Mexican restaurant you visited. If you can recreate any of the dishes they served, you’ll have a great selection of sides to serve with your toasties.

Some of our favorite pairings are

• Lots of fresh salsa - A good salsa can be served with almost anything, as well as used as one of the toppings on your toast.
• Bean Salad - Serving cold black beans tossed with corn giblets, lots of fresh herbs, and a little vinegar dressing is a perfect complement to toast.
• Mexican Rice - Mexican rice combines the sweet and savory flavor of tomatoes with the freshness of herbs like cilantro, parsley, and lots of garlic. Of course, you can’t forget the spiciness of jalapeños or other hot chili peppers and the acidic balance of a good splash of lime juice.
• Fruit Salad - Fruit salad made with beautiful tropical flavors like mango, pineapple, kiwi, dragon fruit, strawberries, and fresh herbs like basil or mint are a great addition to any Mexican meal plan.
• Grilled Fruit – Grilled slices of pineapple, mango, pear, bananas, or other fruit also complement toast, especially when drizzled with a rich balsamic glaze.
• Refried Beans - No Mexican dinner is complete without refried beans, either to use as a topping on your tostadas or to enjoy as a side dish.
• Corn on the Cob – You can boil the corn like you would for any other summer meal, but it will really elevate your meal if you grill the corn on the barbecue and sprinkle it with some fresh chili powder.
• Grilled Vegetables - Throw some zucchini slices, bell pepper halves, and any other vegetables you like to grill on the barbecue or under your grill to serve with your toast.

Related questions

What is a breakfast toast?

We’ve already mentioned that it’s nearly impossible to make toast wrong, and breakfast toast is a delicious way to bring a traditional meal into the early hours of the day.

You can top your toast with any number of conventional breakfast ingredients. Consider some of the combinations below, but don’t be afraid to experiment with your own imagination.

• Scrambled eggs, ham cubes, tomato cubes and grated cheddar cheese
• Tofu scramble with lots of vegetables and spices
• Diced potato crowns, crumbled bacon, a fried egg and some sauce
• Refried beans, corn, chopped green chiles, and fresh salsa
• Guacamole, chopped red onion and fried mushrooms

Other similar breakfasts are migas and chilaquiles.

Are the toasties gluten free?

The tostadas shells are traditionally made with corn tortillas, which are naturally gluten-free, but not necessarily completely gluten-free, depending on where and how they were produced.

Some manufacturers dust their tortillas with flour, and others may accidentally cause cross-contamination if the wheat is also processed in the same facility.

If you buy ready-made tostada shells, look for the gluten-free certification. If you order toast at a restaurant, there are several potential sources of gluten to be aware of.

Make it clear that you need your food to be gluten-free and the cook should be able to tell you whether or not it’s possible to accommodate.

Can you make toast with flour tortillas?

You can make tostadas with flour tortillas, but they won’t work as well. Flour tortillas are not as crispy as corn tostadas, and they are also flimsier.

If you’re not embarrassed about making a mess and you’re craving tostadas and flour tortillas are your only option, fry or bake the shells as crispy as you can.

Just understand that you’d probably be better off making tacos with flour tortillas instead.

However, if you’re not the traditional type and are still worried about making a mess, you can make a regular tostada and place it on top of a fried flour tortilla for added stability in case the corn husk breaks.