I always start with a 28 oz. Can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes and season it up. It’s cheaper than buying pre-jared sauce and it’s a whole lot tastier.

It’s amazing how inexpensively one can make a really good meal. One of the reasons I always include the price per person in my posts is to encourage people to cook more and spend less. This is a $14 minimum at any restaurant and it’s not going to have nearly as much meat.

If you’re cooking things like tube meats and these things they are going to start pooling massive amounts of fat. The ability to remove the entire inside and put it in your sink is going to be vital to keeping it clean and no matter how easy it is to use a tray there is going to be fat that ends up in the bottom of the device. And those toaster oven format ones don’t always come with removable bottoms. And then there’s that glass window that’s also going to be a cleaning nightmare.

I really wanted the toaster oven format for large batches. But I just could not justify it after looking at all the details.

I can’t recommend any specific model or company. I can recommend getting the largest basket size you can but avoiding anything in a toaster oven format. I looked at dozens of the toaster oven style and every single one failed basic design considerations. And was either wasting heat or creating a fire hazard. Basket design all the way.

As for appliances in general: bare bones bass models only. The more features something has, the more features there are to break and the way things are designed these days if one feature breaks, the entire thing is useless.

I used to compost but then I got chickens. They eat all compost fodder and give eggs.

I hate kitchen appliances. They break. They take up space. They are difficult to properly clean. But someone gave us an air fryer. It was life changing. They put a perfect skin on any tube meat. They make potatoes crispy.

You gotta work in small batches but even then it can take less time than an oven, even a convection oven, because of that very close heat source.

Get yourself an air fryer. Throw out your toaster if you don’t have room. You can toast in a frying pan if you need to.

Last summer the price of potatoes almost doubled in my area. I was very deeply concerned because that was going to impact my life. Fortunately things went back to normal. I wasn’t going to make it if potatoes were $4.60 for a 5 pound bag.

You can do breakfast for dinner any time.

It’s way cheaper to make than buy. The initial startup cost hits hard but it quickly pays for itself batch after batch.

But you gotta go to an ethnic market for supplies. If you are buying 2 oz of turmeric at a grocery store you will go bankrupt.

One thing I can’t stand is when people say potatoes don’t have enough protein to be a super food. They completely ignore that potatoes accounted for almost all the protein in Ireland at one point. If you can live off it then it’s a freaking super food.

Yup. It’s counter intuitive. For a runny egg you gotta hit it hard and fast with the heat.

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This desperately needs a chart representing the relative strength of different magnet materials so that we can see where this is on the spectrum.

I mean as far as texture and stretch.

It’s a bit from The Princess Bride movie. If I find actual mutton I will try it. But it’s been 38 years and I’m starting to lose hope.

I know this sauce. It’s the exception. Add only what is needed. It’s Mexican. Not Italian…

Two ways: 1) A ) when making your own tortillas work in the lard, bacon grease, shortening, oil or whatever with your fingers before adding water. Work it. Work it some more. It should all be a consistent texture. B ) Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes after working the water in. Plastic wrap or lint free towel. Your choice. Refrigerator or counter. Your choice. But it’s got to fully hydrate that flour. C) roll from the center of the ball out when shaping the tortilla. This gets all the gluten going in the same relative direction.

2. just buy really good quality tortillas. I found these in the Walmart clearance bread rake. Half a dozen 12 inch / 30 cm tortillas for $1.66. Ingredients: flour, water, oil, salt yeast. Sure it’s palm oil. Sure it’s yeast instead of baking powder. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that is 5 ingredients. No fillers. No stabilizers. No preservatives. Just a good old fashioned tortilla. These things are stretchy. Probably built up a bit of gluten during the yeast rest phase.

You don’t even have to heat them to bend them. Fur Walmart’s Marketside brand they are very high quality. They remind me of the tortillas you’d find at every Robertos taco shop in San Diego. The perfect stretch and chew. No tortilla with 6 or more ingredients can match them. And on sale at 27¢ each for 12 inch tortillas can’t really compete by making them myself.

See if there is a tortilla shop near you. Even my town got one recently. Spend a few years making them by hand until you get it perfect. Do whatever it takes. But it’s not just about them not breaking. It’s about that perfect texture.

Better than a MLT? Where the mutton is nice and lean?

I am from the internet. I’m here to help.