Hands in the Masa
The food Costa Ricans actually cook at home — by your own two hands, in a real kitchen.
The moment
Fresh masa warm and alive under your palms as you press your first tortilla by hand — the way every tico kitchen begins.
01 / 05
You start where every tico kitchen starts — pressing fresh tortillas from masa by hand, the corn dough warm and alive under your palms. From there it's the food people here actually grew up on: gallo pinto done properly, a real casado, salsa from scratch, sweet plantains, whatever's good from the garden that morning.
Roger shows you how it's truly done — the feel of the dough, the timing, the small things no recipe ever tells you — with ingredients that mostly came from just outside the door. It's warm, a little messy, and a lot more fun than you expect.
And then you do the thing every good cooking day ends with: you sit down and eat the entire meal you just made, together, slowly. You leave with the recipes, the technique, and a new and lasting respect for a perfect tortilla.
What makes the day
- 01Tortillas pressed by hand from fresh masa
- 02The real home table — gallo pinto, a proper casado, salsa from scratch, sweet plantains
- 03Roger himself, and ingredients mostly from just outside the door
- 04The full meal you cooked, eaten together — and the recipes to take home
- 05Dietary needs adapted with prior notice
Best light · Late morning into lunch — cook, then sit and eat
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