Makes 24 6" tortillas

½ cup lard or shortening
4 cups sifted all purpose flour (or 3 2/3 cups unsifted)
2 tsp salt
1 cup hot water

• Using fingers, rub shortening well into flour.
• Dissolve salt into hot water and add to flour mixture. Knead dough well for about 3 minutes. Should be elastic. (Set aside covered for two hours. Do not refrigerate.) We only let it sit for half an hour and it was fine. Kookaburra’s recipe was similar to ALLONS'Y but said nothing about letting the pastry rest.
• Knead dough again for a minute or so, then take a piece and roll into a ball about 1 ½ inches diameter. (It’s easiest if you make all twenty four balls at once, then they tend to be the right size).
• Press ball out evenly on floured surface (we did not use floured surface, just a very clean plastic table cloth and it worked fine.) Roll into paper thin circle about 7" diameter (using a wine bottle if no rolling pin).
• Place tortilla on hot griddle – it it’s the right heat there’ll be a slight sizzling sound. Leave for about 20 seconds – with bubbles on surface and brown specks on the bottom. Turn and cook slightly shorter time on other side.
• Eat with whatever you fancy.

Original recipes from Diana Kennedy’s Cuisines of Mexico and Kookaburra’s galley.