Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Tater Tot Tutorial

3/23/2015

2 Comments

 
    My hubby Tom went to the Sunday breakfast at his church. 
    He gave kudos to the sausage, omelettes, and blueberry pancakes served up to the congregation, but lamented that the tater tots  were hard and unenticing.
    I can't say that Tom's critique on the state of those tots surprised me.  Because it's hard to make a really good tater tot.  Generally pre-frozen tater tots come out of the oven either mushy or, as in the case of Tom's church breakfast, hard.

​    Do you remember the scene in "Napoleon Dynamite" when Napoleon pulls from his pocket a tot left over from lunch and when he bites into it we hear this  tantalizing "crunch" sound?
Picture
    That crunch, the sound of a crispy outer layer giving way to a soft interior is the gold standard for the tater tot  - and not often achieved*. 
    Unless you know the secret of how it's done.  Which I do.  And which I'm going to share with you here and now.
 
    Gold Standard Tater Tots
     Ingredients:
     1 bag of frozen tater tots
      Olive oil spray
      Salt
Picture
      It doesn't matter which brand or size of tots you buy  (I used a 32-ounce bag of Meijer's Tater Bites).  Just don't follow the instructions on the bag.  Follow mine.
       Method:
       1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
       2. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with olive oil. 
    ​
Picture
3. Spread the tater tots on the sprayed foil-covered pan and spray the tots with olive oil and season with salt.
Picture
     4. Place the tots in the pre-heated oven and bake for 18 minutes. (If your oven is cool, maybe for 20 minutes).
       5.  Turn the oven to broil and place the tots on the the broiler rack.  Broil for 1 minute. 
Picture
      6.  After 1 minute check, and if the tots aren't a perfect golden brown, put them back under the broiler for another 15 seconds then check again.  Keep checking every 15 seconds until the tots look like this:
Picture
    Then you'll know you've got the perfect tater tot.
    However, after I pulled my tray of tots from the oven and they'd cooled for a few minutes I had my nephew Randy taste-test them just to be sure:

Picture
Picture
    As he bit into the tot there was that distinctive "crunch" sound, perfectly audible from where I stood several feet away.
    It was the gold standard.

*For that scene in the movie a "crunch" sound-effect was used to achieve the illusion of the perfect tater tot.
2 Comments
Randy
3/23/2015 12:42:07 pm

I love making cameos in the blog! And those tater tots were darn good!

Reply
Patti
3/23/2015 01:20:45 pm

Thanks, Randy! Thank you for helping with the tots! And your presence is always a welcome addition!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact