The mexican quesadillas
The word 'quesadilla' was made up by a combination of the word 'queso' which means cheese in spanish, with 'tortilla' which we know very well by now. In Mexico a quesadilla is basically
made out of a tortilla or corn masa filled with cheese and/or some other filling, and then folded in two. Some recipes start with ready-made tortillas while others require that you make your own masa from flour of corn (Maseca). What the americans
usually refer to as quesadilla and what they expect when they order it in US restaurants is actually
referred to by 'sincronizada' in Mexico. A sincronizada is sort of like a tortilla sandwich, with a flour tortilla at the bottom, some cheese-based filling in the middle and then another tortilla over it all.
For the needs of this site, I will not delve into this distinction between the
two expressions and use the word quesadilla throughout, for simplicity.
Quesadillas are very open to creation: they can be stuffed with an array of different ingredients and prepared or served in many different ways. You will find here the most frequently encountered recipes and seen classics from Mexico.
Mushroom Quesadillas