[coolJ]

At work, I have to make these little corn tortilla cups for salsa and sour cream. I use two ladles one slightly bigger than the other, to mold them during the deep frying. I was just wondering if there is some type of press or rack or any piece of equipment out there that would make the job go faster than having to do them one at a time.
Thanks in advance.

[chefboy2160]

coolj , the only thing I have found to make that job go faster is to get someone else to do it .Dude, I know it is so dam boring to stand there and fry all those little corn tortillas (and the big flour ones for taco salads) for your condiments and I wish I knew of an easier way than what I proposed. I hope someone out there has a better awnser as I would like to know if there is an easier way also . Later , Doug..............

[cape chef]

CoolJ,

I use mini muffin tins sprayed with a no stick spray, then I use a cookie cutter to form my shells and push them into the tins.Baked works as well as fried and you can do a dozen at a time.

[phatch]

Brad, if he'll let me call him that so familiarly, has a great idea. Some stainless steel bowls would work for the salad size.

I have seen special baskets for the deep fryer for the tortilla salad sized bowls, but its been a few years now. Seems you coud take some stainless steel hardware cloth (not galvanized) and form some up. Probably wouldn't meet the standards some jurisdictions set for commercial kitchen equipment though.

How about this, take two small strainers. Flatten the bottoms a bit. Nest dough between them, pinch them in your hand (or use a spring loaded woodworking clamp) and you have your own custom fryer. Probably want a wider rather than a fine mesh.

Phil

[dano1]

i've seen and used small presses for this, not sure where they came from though...One way to avoid the 2 ladle thing is to slap your tortilla round in the fryer for a few seconds-it'll float and loosen up. Plung your shaping ladle-2oz, 4oz whatever-into the middle and hold submerged for a couple of seconds until the cup starts to firm. Remove ladle and let cook until crsip, moving on to next "cup". Depending on size you should be able to get 5-6 going at once.
Of course these are round on the bottom and tend to roll on the plate .
hth, danny

[Mezzaluna]

Don't they sell wire basket press-type things? They are hinged at the top of the basket. I've seen them in catalogs like Williams-Sonoma or Sur la Table. They're sold to home cooks. I'm not sure that's going to hold up under heavy daily use.

[coolJ]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Mezzaluna, that's sort of what I'm thinking of, we have this rack for frying sandwiches and burritos and such, but it doesn't work for the corn shells.

[Chefkell]

Check out this LINK

[coolJ]

Cool !!, that is pretty much what I'm looking for.

[Pete]

Chefkell, those fryer baskets are great, but they are about 2 inches in diameter. They may be too big for what coolj needs them for, though they are perfect for doing potato baskets to fill with things or larger tortilla cups. As for the salad size molds, they make a plunger type mold that I use. You throw your 8, 10 or 12 inch flour tortilla into the fryer then push it down with the mold, leaving it there are about 2 minutes. Works great. For small ones (hors sized or for holding things like guacamole) I have always used the ladle method, but CC's muffin tin idea sounds good.