You obviously have never tried my salsa.

I guess we need to reattempt the salsa. Last time was 3 small jars for two hours of work.

I think for a sweet treat, you could apply a bit of butter, some cinnamon and sugar. My mom used to make pie cookies from the leftover pie dough this way – they were always a big hit.
I’ve also done the same with pitas.

You can cut the tortillas very efficiently by securing a large knife in a vertical position. Then grab a stack of tortillas with the right hand at the 3 o’clock position and left hand at the 9 o’clock position and push the stack into the blade to cut it in half. Repeat the process with the halves to get 1/4s.

As for salsa, my wife makes an incredible salsa with a bunch of beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro (among other things!)… If we split the bowl of salsa, calorically speaking it is essentially a meal. It’s reasonably nutritious with baked chips, but the sodium content is a little high.

“Some kind of food grade oil, … it doesn’t matter”

You, friend, need to try beef tallow or lard. Then it will start to matter. Mmmmmm.

As for the salsa making time, we were canning them. Skinning the tomatoes took more of the time.

To skin tomatoes fast, you put them in ice water for five minutes, then their skins fall right off in your hands.

Jacob – canning is a large production operation, so make nothing less than a half dozen quart jars at a time. Best salsa is always fresh rather than canned, so for small batches, it takes no more than 20 minutes.

Thanks for the great post (and the great comments on salsa). I’ll try this right now

Jacob, your salsa comment has disturbed me all weekend, but now I see you were canning and understand better. I always make fresh salsa, which you could probably also freeze . . .I also see no reason to remove the tomato skins, but have never canned tomatoes.

Two recipes easily made in the blender from some culinary espionage I did in Mexico:

Salsa boracha:
6-12 dried red peppers (the kind you find in the Mexican spice sections of the supermarket).
3-4 tomatoes cut in quarters
2 cloves garlic
Salt to taste
1/4 cup of chicken broth (or water . . )
Blend.

Avocado/Tomatillo salsa:
4 tomatillos cut into quarters (taste is better if you sear them in a pan but that’s optional)
1 avocado (obviously remove the pit and the skin)
juice of 1 lemon
a small bunch of cilantro if you want
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup chicken broth(or water)
Blend

Ok, I’m glad I’ve got that off my chest–the thought of you and DW eating store bought salsa was upsetting me.