Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Making taco shells and getting them to hold their shape?

What I'd like to do is make some hard taco shells using corn tortillas, instead of just buying the "ready-made" El Paso taco shells.



But how exactly is this done?



How do you get them to bend and stay into that shape? Do they sell molds for this or something? Are you supposed to drape them over the vacuum cleaner or something?



I assume you cook the corn tortillas in vegetable oil for some while, but then how do you get them to hold that shape? And how hot should the vegetable oil be, etc?



Again, I don't want to make the tortillas FROM SCRATCH; I'd like to start with floppy corn tortillas, already made.

Making taco shells and getting them to hold their shape?
I don't know about classic taco shape, but I make my own taco salad bowls all the time. Large tortilla shell, Rub both sides lightly with oil. Place centered in a ceramic "cereal" bowl. Press the tortilla in until it makes a bowl shape. Put the bowls on a cookie sheet (easier to take out of the over) And bake them at 350 start for about 10 mins. Then keep checking until they reach desired crispness.



Be careful not to use to much oil, or they will be soggy. Just a little bit is all you need.



Plus this is much healthier than deep frying them.



If you wanted you could probably make a 'mold' from foil to bake classic shaped shells in the oven too. I have not tried it, but I would use small shells, coat each side lightly with oil, place the first one over the mold, and seperate each of the others with a little foil. THen bake them the same as the bowls.
Reply:I cook them all the time. Use a pair of tongs to hold it in shape in the hot oil, them flip and hold. Only have to hold it for about 20 seconds each side, then it will hold its classical taco shape while it cooks the rest of the way. Actualy its holding half a side down in the oil, then the other half side

rene

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