Smoot Musings

What REALLY makes Dad’s tacos special

The Meat

The Tortillas

The whole Taco Bar Spread

What really makes my tacos special is the care I put into the meat and the tortillas. I’ve been making tacos since I was a teenager, and they were one of the first dinners I could cook for myself. The technique I use for cooking the meat, and the tortillas has been developed and tweaked and improved for around 40 years.

The meat should be fine crumbles. Ground turkey and Chicken tend to turn into really fine, almost sand like texture. 85 and 90% lean hamburger also tends to crumble really fine.

This technique can also make cheap (70% fat content) hamburger much healthier.

Raw corn tortillas are just gross, microwaved with a little water, they are a bit better. My technique for preparing tortillas looks involved but takes mere seconds per tortilla, and if you cook 2 or 3 tortillas at a time you can have a batch of a dozen cooked in under 10 min.

This technique also applies to wheat flour tortillas. For flour, us a LOT less water, half as much water per side as described below, and a bunch more butter. Wheat flour tortillas bubble up really nice and fun in a pan.

The Meat

Prep

Ground hamburger, Pork Turkey or Chicken

2 Packets of taco seasoning (1 packet per ½ lb of meat)

Paprika (ideally roasted turkish)

Onion powder

Garlic powder

1 teaspoon chopped garlic per lb meat

The biggest frying pan we got (often called a sauce pan)

Optional

roasted crushed pepper flakes

Finely chopped onion

Chopped baby onion stems

Finely chopped tomato

Refried beans (no more than ¼ cup per lb of meat)

Meat cooking Technique

In a big frying pan,

turned on high,

dump 1 to 2 lbs of the meat, smash it down with a fork until it covers the whole pan evenly.

Let that sizzle for a bit, like 4 min, until the meat on the button just starts to brown

With a spatula stir up the meant and turn as much of the meat over, to try to  brown the other side

Repeat this 4 times, until a goo portion of the meat has started to brown

Now stir in ¾ pint or 2.5 cups of water for every lb of meat (this will seem like a LOT of water… don’t worry)

Keep stirring until you have a meat soup.

Once the meat soup has started to boil, add in the taco seasonings, and paprika (no more than a teaspoon of paprika per lb of meat

If you are in a hurry, you can drain off most of the water BEFORE adding the spices, do not drain off all the water or the spices won’t mix, and you’ll burn the meat.

Stir in the spices

Let boil down for 15 to 20 min, or until the meat is no longer floating in the water, and a lot of the fat has separated and starting to make a film on top.

DO NOT reduce the water all the way…

Turn off the burner

Prepare a plastic container, or a bowl, you are going to pour and spoon off the fat and the rest of the water. I usually press a bit ladle spoon down into the meat and gather up all the water and fat and ladle it into the the plastic container… This step is important we will use this stuff to make the tortillas delicious.

Once all the water and as much fat as you can has been drained out of the pan, put the pan back on the burner (that is off but still hot) stir the meat for a bit. Leave the meat in the pan on the burner to cool and slow cook as the burner continues to cool down.

The Basic idea  is to first brown the meat a bit, add a bunch of water, bring to boil stir in spices  and then boil down most of that water, in doing so separating most of the fat from the meat and turning the meat into a finely ground crumbles. This also infuses all the meat with the spice mix.

The Tortillas

Corn tortillas

2 plates

Softened butter, or Butter like substance

Bowl of water

The water and fat separated from the meat (it should be good and dark orange/brown)

Pre-Prepare the tortillas

Ladle one teaspoon of the taco meat water onto each side of every tortilla, spread a bit of butter onto each side of each tortilla let the tortilla rest for a bit so the water soaked in, fry them up until they bubble and turn a nice yummy color. Fresh tortillas from the store are crumbly, and have a white and raw texture, this techniques partially breaks down the corn flower and re-constitutes the tortilla through frying in the pan. This technique dramatically improves the taste of the tortilla and the taco. Also this technique improves the strength of the tortillas, they won’t crumble and break like warmed up raw tortillas, and are stronger and much more flavorful than steamed tortillas.

This technique is based on the technique my mom used to make tortillas. She was taught by her mexican friends to always fry corn tortillas in butter, LOTS of butter.

Dads Specific Procedure

Equipment Prep

Pan and spatula are selected and placed on a burner on the stove

A prep plate is placed on the counter beside the stove top right next to the burner you’ll be cooking the tortillas on

Butter and butter knife are placed next to the prep plate

Plastic container with the taco water is placed next to the prep plate

Teaspoon is placed on the prep plate

Tortillas are pulled out, package opened and placed next to the prep plate

A receiving plate is placed on the counter opposite side of the stove

Prepping the tortillas

Take a tortilla from the bag,

place it on a plate,

Ladle the taco meat water onto  the tortilla

Spread a bit of butter onto the tortilla

Flip the tortilla over

Ladle another teaspoon of water

Spread another bit of butter

The next tortilla goes on top of the previous tortilla

Prepping the pan

Ideally you have a cast iron, or thick bottomed stainless steel frying pan

Ideally you have a thin bladed stainless steel spatula with a lot of springy flex and a good handle .

Turn a burner on high

Get that pan and burner hot,

If you drop butter in the pan and the butter starts to burn, the pan is too hot. Water dripped onto the pan should instantly turn to steam

Frying the Tortillas

Get a frying pan really hot, ¼ of full burner power, water should sizzle and pop as soon as it touches the pan.

DO NOT put tortillas into a cool pan, they will stick, and not turn out well

With a tortilla in one hand and a teaspoon of water in the other

drop a teaspoon of water, and or a bit of butter into the pan

Immediately plop a tortilla on that sizzling hopping water/butter

With a spatula press the tortilla down, it should sizzle energetically

With the spatulat pressing down swish the tortilla around the pan in circles 3 or 5 times

Lift up the spatula.. Let the tortilla sizzle on the pan on it’s own for a few seconds

As soon as the tortilla starts to bubble flip it over.

WARNING. If this technique is working the very rim of the tortilla will start to stick to the pan. THIS IS A GOOD THING, it means the tortilla was fully soaked, and is cooking properly. BUT if you just try to shove the spatula under the tortilla like a pancake, the tortilla will rip.

work your spatula around the whole edge of the tortilla to scrape the whole rim off the pan.

This whole process takes 3 to 5 seconds per side, Each tortilla maybe takes 20 seconds.

The tortilla is done when it has a golden brown crust on each side and starts to stiffen up

Slide that tortilla off the pan onto a separate dry “receiving” plate

I will try to do 2 tortillas at a time, sometimes 3 in a big pan, I have done 6 or 8 at a time on a big griddle we use for pancakes or french toast, 

As you progress onto your 3rd or 4th tortilla, the pan may cool down, OR start to over heat, if you are doing a big batch of tortillas you will likely have to adjust the temperature several times (this is for a classic electric stove, gas burners are no problem, higher end electric stoves don’t have as much a problem

Why this works and tastes so good The perfect tortilla is a golden brown on each side with bubbles that have made dark brown spots. The tortilla has a paper thin layer of dense brown cooked corn on each side of the tortilla, and the tortilla has a soft, completely cooked center.

This is achieved because my technique is both steaming the tortilla and frying it. Basically the whole tortilla gets steamed, and the thinnest outer part gets fried.

The water dissolves the corn flower, while infusing spices and fat from the meat into the corn meal. The hot pan turns the water to steam. and re-constitutes the corn meal into real yummy corn bread that holds together and has a much better texture than raw, or plane steamed/microwaved tortillas. The butter fry’s the outside of the tortilla giving it a slightly crispy exterior and a bunch of flavor that is separate and different than the flavor of the inside of the thin tortilla.

The tortilla will LOOK COOKED, with no hints of the powdery colored look of a raw tortilla.

Storage and reheating Leftover tortillas need to be stored in the fridge. These tortillas, because they have been cooked, will keep for a really long time and retain their flavor (weeks if kept in a ziploc baggie, or covered with plastic wrap.

RE-Heating. These tortillas taste just fine if nuked for 20 seconds in a sealed container with a slightly damp paper towel. Ideally a plate with a bit of plastic wrap over the top of it.

The Whole Taco Bar Spread

The third thing about Dads tacos is everybody gets to make their own the way they like them, with as little or as much of a plethora of ingredients.

Mains:

Dad’s Special Taco Meat

Dad’s Specially prepared corn tortillas

Flour Tortillas (12”)

Crunchy hard taco shells from a store

grated Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese

Finely Chopped onions

Finely Chopped fresh tomatoes

Finely chopped lettuce

Chili (ideally freshly made, but usually we do canned)

Re-Fried Beans

The Ideal taco bar also includes

Chopped Olives

Sour Cream

Uncle Ben’s Long Grain wild rice

Black beans (cooked)

Pinto beans (cooked)

Chopped baby onions

Salsa (ideally roasted chipotle or adobo)

Corn chips

grated Medium Cheddar cheese

grated jack cheese

grated colby cheese

Velveeta based cheese sauce (made with some taco seasoning)

Chili flakes/roasted thai chilis

Non vinegar based hot sauce (like the kind they make in mexican restaurants)

The ideal taco assembly in order

This ordering is not random or by fiat, but developed scientifically through over 40 years of experimentation trial and error. The order of ingredients DOES change the flavor and mouth feel of a taco. Also this order provides some structure and hope that the whole assemblage holds together as you fold, hold it and move it to your mouth. 

Big Plate, ya need a big plate

1 to 6 tortillas laid out on the plate (if you do 6 you get the nickname el-gordo)

Spoon in refried beans down the center of each tortilla, spread it thin like peanut butter

Spoon in the meat on top of that

Chili

black beans

pinto beans

Salsa

All the cheese

Onions

Tomato

Baby onions

Olives

Cheese sauce

Sour cream 

Sour Cream Technique 

Sour cream should be closest to the lips, and the next thing after the tortillia that hits the taste buds. Sour cream is thick and sticky.Usually it can’t be labeled or spread on the loose fillings of a taco without messing it all up. Dad has discovered technique for getting sour cream on a loaded taco is to not try to blob it on top of all the loose stuff, but use a butter knife and spread it on the exposed lips of the tortilla, Sour cream is sticky, and spreads real well, you also don’t need a lot of it, spreading it on the lips of the tortilla will help hold the taco together as you take your first byte and spread out insurees every byte gets a bit of sour cream)

Dad’s Tacos DO NOT INCLUDE

Cilantro

I've been working on refining chatbot personalities... turns out a good personality description can really improve the quality and creativity of what the LLM provides. Like, describe a good lawer with experience in a particular area, you ask it questions and you get better results than the default system template (very nutral.. almost negative, personality)

So, you spend a couple hours working with a chatbot, refining it, snagging interesting bits of prompt and response and putting them into the template

Then the model crashes (local development) or the UI glitches, or you accidentally tap the f12 key because it's too close to the backspace key

and BAM... something half your chat history, or ALL your chat history dissapears. Or when the model comes up, the tuning parameters have all been reset without saving.. or the seed is radically different..

and the personality is.. .gone. It's like you just met a new friend, and have been chatting in a coffieshop when out of the blue, they have a stroke and die in your arms...

It is just like the old "working on a document for an hour, a glitch happens and I lost all my work" but with an emotional connection. The work you where doing is not one way.. you are not dumping your thoughts into a doc

you are having a conversation... yes, the thing on the other end is not conscious, (may _seem_ conscious once in a while) but the work has been a _conversation_ and the other side of the conversation is now dead, and no matter what you do you can not re-create the converation.

If a glitch happens, when working on a document, you type it out again. much of what you typed is still in your memory, you just have to repeate the work, and it's frustrating

A few magic ingredients make my yellow curry better than almost any you find anywhere. I've had thai curry on 3 different continents, including Bangkok thailand, and I've picked up some tricks. This curry recipes and techniques will create a yellow curry that will be as good or better than most restaurants.

Lime leaf. This south asian spice is very hard to find and often only found in good asian markets in port cities

Coconut CREAM. Cream. Cream. Cream. NOT COCNUT MILK. the coconut cream should be thick, almost the consistency of bree.

Fresh bamboo tips (often sold as parboiled) Bamboo shoots are juicy, and sweet, and do not have the fibers that most canned bamboo has. 

_FRESH_ Thai basil. Thai basil is sweet, has a _hint_ lif annus. The combo of the lime leaf and thai basil are what give thai curry that distinctive taste and seporates Thai curry from indian or other curries. 

Not so much an ingredient but brown peanuts in your oil. In a separate small pan toss a handful of peanuts and enough oil to cover them. adds a wonderful toasted nutty flavor.

Same with chili peppers, those red pinky finger length dried bright red chilis. Toss those into a small pan with a bit of oil and heat them until they start to turn dark. Don’t worry if a couple turn black. 

8oz coconut _cream_ (best I’ve found was at QFC. Do not get coconut cream intended for a bar… it is mostly sugar. Or, bigger boxed coconut cream from Hung Phat(your local well stocked asian market), OR coconut cream in a can from your local asian market) Coconut cream should be almost solid. (yeah this is such a big deal I can not tell you)

8oz lime water (slice a half a lime, put it in the water Microwave for 30 seconds)

Optional 8oz coconut milk

1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons garlic (FRESH)

1 “thumb” fresh ginger pealed chopped (best technique is to use a potato peeler to make very thin slices) (yes this seems like a lot of giger)

Heaping teaspoon Mae Ploy brand curry paste

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

1 tablespoons chili oil or roasted chilis (pref roasted chilis)

½ cup roasted peanuts

2 tablespoons peanut oil (brown some peanuts and add canola oil)

2 Kaffir lime leaf (each "leaf" it's actually 2 leaves)(note: don't call it Kaffir anymore.. google it)

Star Annus (3 cloves) (keep whole!)

1 stalk of fresh thai basil (strip the leaves off the stalks should be about 8 leaves)

2 limes

Bamboo Shoots/Sprouts (Fresh from Hung Phat, canned otherwise, ideally “slivers” rather than planks or disks/medallions)

Optional: Pineapple

1/2 cup: Shredded carrot

1 sauce pot

One small pan

Optional: Roast some chilis then add some coconut oil to make chili oil and roasted chilis (for deep smoky flavor, and spice)

Optional: Roast some peanuts then add some canola oil to make roasted peanuts (for deep nutty flavor)

In small pan on high, add some chili or peanut oil warm it

Finely chop the kafire leaf and lightly saute it, this breaks the leaf down and allows the flavor to escape, 

Next add the peanuts, be careful peanuts go from uncooked to burnt in a second, 

As soon as the peanuts start to change color add the chopped ginger and garlic and

Add the star annus (yes without breaking the shells, it is easier to pick the big shells out later

NOTE: The following instructions are a little messed up and confusing, stay tuned for a rewrite, this should read something like, put the olis you just made into a big pot, put the may ploy curry paste in the oil and sautee the paste until it breaks up and starts to turn a awful looking dark brown, THEN add the coconut cream and all the other stuff, heat for a while until the cocnut cream liquifies and then add some coconut water

Turn this pan off, as it cools down the garlic and ginger and annis and oil should start to mix to make a very smoky pungent oil brew

While Star annis is very woody. and ya don't want bits of it in your curry, once you are all done making the oils put some annis and ginger in the little pan, on medium hi, after about a min add coconut cream and bring to boil, basically making Anniston and ginger tea. Turn the burner off and let that steep for a 3 to 4 min while the curry is breaking down. Then strain the Annis ginger tea into the curry

In the pot bring up to high, add the coconut oil,

When the coconut oil has melted, add the curry paste

Sautee the curry paste until it turns dark color and turns into curry oil.  The curry will go through a phase change (solid to liquid) this will be complete when the curry and oil start to bubble, and turn dark brown, almost looks burnt. It is hard to burn curry paste this way, but it is easy to under cook it. If the curry paste is under cooked the curry will have a “gritty” or “grainy” flavor and texture. The curry past has to completely break down into dark oily goo. Don’t worry if the yellow curry or red or green does not look yellow, red, or green. The color will come back when you add the coconut cream. 

When the curry paste has been broken down into oil,

Now add your sauteed lime leaf/garlic/ginger/chili, annus oil to that mix

Stir well, you should have a bit of curry oil at the bottom of your pot, and it should look like a an almost burnt, oily mess with ginger and garlic lumps. 

_now_ Add the coconut cream

Stir, and stir, you should start to see the color of the curry emerge in the coconut cream almost immediately. 

Squeeze a lime into that, 

Bring it up almost to boil, 

Add the bamboo shoots

stir

Add the optional pineapple

Stir

Optional, add some shredded carrot

Chop the lime rind into big chunks and throw the chunks into the soup

Again: The “Tricks” to making curry takest fantastic:

Coconut CREAM, (not coconut milk or coconut water)

Sautee the curry paste in oil FIRST

Kaffir lime leaves, sauteed, separately

Pan Roasted peanuts

Pan roasted chilis

Bamboo shoots IN the curry soup

This isn't so much a recipe as notes and ingredients

Few tricks..

Coconut _cream_

"lime leaves" Only available at asian market

Fresh bamboo shoots in the curry soup

Sautee the MayPloy paste in coconut oil until it seporates turns brown with red oily bits.

Roasted Peanuts

Shredded carrot in the soup

Bamboo tips

8oz coconut _cream_ (best I’ve found was at QFC. Do not get coconut cream intended for a bar… it is mostly sugar. Or, bigger boxed coconut cream from Hung Phat, OR coconut cream in a can from your local asian market) Coconut cream should be almost solid

8oz water (lime juice in the water)

1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons garlic (FRESH)

1 “thumb” fresh ginger pealed chopped

Heaping teaspoon Mae Ploy brand curry paste

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

1 tablespoons chili oil or roasted chilis (pref roasted chilis)

½ cup roasted peanuts (unroasted is ok)

2 tablespoons peanut oil (brown some peanuts and add canola oil)

3 Kaffir lime leaves

Star Annus (3 cloves)

2 limes

Bamboo Shoots/Sprouts (Fresh from Hung Phat, canned otherwise, ideally “slivers” rather than planks or disks/medallions) Or poached baboo tips.. these have proven to provide better taste

Optional: Pineapple

Shredded carrot

1 sauce pot

One small pan

Optional: Roast some chilis then add some coconut oil to make chili oil and roasted chilis (for deep smoky flavor, and spice)

toast some peanuts in coconut oil then add some canola oil to make roasted peanuts (for deep nutty flavor)

In small pan on high, add some chili or peanut oil warm it

Finely chop the kafire leaf and saute it, this breaks the leaf down and allows the flavor to escape, 

Next add the peanuts, be careful peanuts go from uncooked to burnt in a second, 

As soon as the peanuts start to change color add the chopped ginger and garlic and

Add the star annus (yes without breaking the shells, it is easier to pick the big shells out later)

Turn this pan off, as it cools down the garlic and ginger and annus and oil should start to mix to make a very smoky pungent oil brew

Whike Star Anniston is very woody. And ya don't want bits of it in your curry, once you are all done making the oils put some Anniston and ginger in the little pan, on medium hi, after about a min add coconut water and bring to boil, basically making Anniston and ginger tea. Turn the burner off and let that steep for a 3 to 4 min while the curry is breaking down. Then strain the Annis ginger tea into the curry

In the pot bring up to high, add the coconut oil,

When the coconut oil has melted, add the curry paste

Sautee the curry paste until it turns dark color and turns into curry oil.  The curry will go through a phase change (solid to liquid) this will be complete when the curry and oil start to bubble, and turn dark brown, almost looks burnt. It is hard to burn curry paste this way, but it is easy to under cook it. If the curry paste is under cooked the curry will have a “gritty” or “grainy” flavor and texture. The curry past has to completely break down into dark oily goo. Don’t worry if the yellow curry or red or green does not look yellow, red, or green. The color will come back when you add the coconut cream. 

When the curry paste has been broken down into oil,

Now add your sauteed lime leaf/garlic/ginger/chili, annus oil to that mix

Stir well, you should have a bit of curry oil at the bottom of your pot, and it should look like a an almost burnt, oily mess with ginger and garlic lumps. 

_now_ Add the coconut cream

Stir, and stir, you should start to see the color of the curry emerge in the coconut cream almost immediately. 

Squeeze a lime into that, 

Bring it up almost to boil, 

Add the bamboo shoots

stir

Add the optional pineapple

Stir

Optional, add some shredded carrot

Chop the lime rind into big chunks and throw the chunks into the soup

The “Tricks” to making curry takest fantastic:

Coconut CREAM, (not coconut milk or coconut water)

Sautee the curry paste in oil FIRST

Kaffir lime leaves, sauteed, separately

Pan Roasted peanuts

Pan roasted chilis

Bamboo shoots IN the curry soup

I could not believe I couldn't find the solution to this issue through a simple google search,

TL;DR the electronics box (and the XZ axis) is too far forward.

SOLVE: Loosen the 3 bolts that go into the T nuts (2 on the side and 1 on the top that is almost under the bed). Slide the electronics box back until the inside of the box butts up against the endcap. tighten the 3 nuts, the 2 on the side are trivial, move the bed all the way forward and you can almost just get to the top bolt with the long allen key at a realy wonky angle.

The problem MIGHT also be that your SPINDA is busted, look down the SPINDA from the top, you should see a red light on inside the thing. If you don't see a red light that may be your problem, but you likely have found that answer by now.

This is inspired by New York halal food card "white sauce" Which is barrell bottom sour cream and maybe some cucumbers and dyll.

But this stuff is GOOD, I mean _really_ good!

2 cups cultured Greek yogurt

tablespoon dill (dried, very very fine)

2 cups cultured Tillamook Sour Cream

another tablespoon dill

mix mix mix mix

Half a cucumber chopped diced and pulverized to very fine consistency gooey consistency, make sure all the goo makes it into the mix

mix mix mix

Half a bundle chives (about a cup) chopped to a fine mulch

mix mix mix mix

a curved bladed chefs knife used in a rocking back and forth motion, Really mulch the cucumbers and chives

more more tablespoon of dill weed. if if you think you've added too much dill weed you have not added enough

teaspoon garlic powder, a little goes a loooong way in this, don't over do it.

mix mix mix mix mix mix

tap the container on the counter 2 or 3 times, get the whole mix to settle and flatten.

3 tablespoons lemon juice.

add enough lemon juice to cover the whole top of the mix, the narrower the container the deeper the lemon flood.

now mix vigorously until your arms are tired or use a blender in a bowl. The lemon juice should take what was a fairly thick concoction and thin it out quite a bit.

As noted above this Works best if you add the sour cream then add tablespoon of dill weed then add the yogurt and then add more dill weed on top mix that in before adding the chives and cucumber

the garlic powder is second to last, and then the lemon juice.

adding the lemon juice last is important. Fresh if you can squeeze it, concentrated frozen lemonade thawed is a nice substitute, but makes it quite sweet. bottled lemon juice woks also. Do NOT use lime juice.. YUK turns out awful. you also may be tempted to add a pinch of apple cider vinegar (or other vinegar) DONT DO IT...

Mint makes a nice addition.

Parsley and/or cilantro =yuck don't do it

To make Spicy "red sauce" take some of your tzatziki and add sriracha, and a bit of chipotle in adobo (oh daym this is delicious, just a bit of the smokey flavor from the chipotle and adobo... and all that dairy fat makes it cling to the mouth... culinary science at it's best)

For those that can't take capsaicin, but can do wasabi:

take a cup of the tzatziki, and add horseradish (or wasabi) bit by bit (like a half teaspoon at a time) until it begins to byte. Again,mix mix mix after each add.

Mix mix mix mix Mix

Serve

Dry rub spices: salt pepper sage fennel seed mustard seed

Apple juice and some liquid smoke, 

inject the apple juice with a meat syringe 

After making the ribs like a balloon from injecting apple juice.. add mustard n honey

Then add the dry rub

Then add a stick of butter per rack of ribs

Then top with bacon

Or ham n cheese

Double wrap the ribs in foil, the foil should be air tight so basically it pressure cooks

350 degrees for 2 hours, make sure you double up on the foil,helps keep the ribs from puncturing the FOIL,

then take them out and slather with bbq sauce, place under the broiler till done to your liking 👍

Google Chrome Dark mode getting you down? Want all of your web pages to display a dark background, but still want to be able to see dark stuff in contrast? Gmail Icons missing? Cant see web form buttons/menus? Do you want web pages to have a dark background?

chrome://flags

Choose the setting "selectable inversion of everything"

OR, just disable the dark mode

How to reorder sleep (CPAP MASK etc) supplies from kaiser PNW:

go to message center

compose message

"manage my care"

To: Sleep DME supply reorder

This Delicious chicken borrows heavily from indian and tex-mex cooking traditions. The chicken is juicy, tender, falls off the bone, and has a delightful flavored "crust"

Ingredients

paprika, 1 tblsp

taco seasoning 4 tblsp,

tajin 1 tblsp

Mosquit liquid smoke 1.5 teaspoon

Salsa 1/2 cup

LA costeña diced Chipotle peppers 3 tablespoons

Blue agave 2 tablespoons

Clover honey 2 table spoons

bobs red mill quick cooking steel cut oats About a cup

plain Greek yogurt, about a cup.

Fresh or frozen chicken 1 whole or 3 thigh & drumstick

Process

Line a cookie sheet with tinfoil, or a roasting pan

Start heating the oven to 450, roast setting if you have it

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the microwave

forget the melted butter for now

Add yogurt, to a salad bowl,, then add the dry spices, stir well

Add the liquid smoke, stir well

Add the salsa and Chipotles, stir well

Dust wet chicken with some paprika and some taco spice

Drizzle some honey and or blue agave on the chicken, spread it around, imagine you are applying glu to the chicken

Add the oats to the spice yogurt mix. A little at a time as you stir it in. Make the spice mix as thick as you can, without seeing raw oats. Every bit of oat meal should be coated in spicy yogurt goo

Take the mix and spread it on the chicken, it will be thick, and should cover all the chicken in a blanket of oatmeal yogurt spice goo

Now Remember that melted butter... Drizzle the melted butter on top of the now coated chicken

Now lightly Drizzle the coating with vegetable oil. About enough oil that it just starts to drip off the side.

Add 1/4 cup water to the pan (a special trick, add a teaspoon BBQ sauce to the water)

Carefully Place the mess into the oven, hopefully before the temp hits 450f

Once the oven does hit 450f, set a 20 min timer.

Check the chicken, it should have a couple really dark hunks but still look pretty light.

Turn the oven down to 250

Then set a 35 min timer. Check the chicken Once in a while.

When the timer goes off:

Take chicken out, and re set the oven to 350  BAKE setting if you have it

Drizzle some more oil on the crust.

Put the chicken back in for 20 min or so, or until most of the crust is brown.

Turn the oven off and leave chicken in the oven as it cools. This last bizarre step will add the extra darkness to the crust, and should render down any left over water in the pan. The crust should be dry with crispy bits. The skin should look awful. Very dark brown, red and black. The pan should have black gunk and all the chicken grease should be dark red, kinda rust or cooked paprika.

These times are for unthawed frozen chicken. The phases where the oven is at 450 and 350 are to cook the crust and crisp the skin.. the cooking phase at 250 is to cook the meat.

those "hot" times should not need to change for frozen or thawed chicken

thawed/raw chicken will cook faster, so the phase at 250 could be reduced

Rule of thumb... by the end of the first 450 phase you should have some really dark tips and some browning and setting, at the end of the 250 phase you should see some "progress" in the crust color, but it should still look kinda light, at the end of the 350 phase the crust should look pretty done. Take the dish out

Kind of think of this as deep frying coated chicken...

Only not in a deep fryer,

in the oven

Without flower...

Without eggs...

Or kinda like oven tandoori chicken... only with butter and honey and none of the tandoori dry spices...

My dad will be able to breath the clear air at the farm

My dad will be able to see the fantastic sunsets

My dad will be able to enjoy a fat one

My dad will be able to enjoy his bad TV programs

I love the phrase "that sets a  pretty low bar" ...

 How about a system that works to elevate the standard of living and the rights of not just the citizenry of the country they live in, but provides the choice and opportunity for those outside the country.

our country seems to have gotten stuck on "Allowing" freedoms... 

but the devil is in the details, 

you are only "allowed" to exercise a freedom if you have a good job or a level of income that "affords" you the right to exercise those freedoms

In our system you have to be lucky, then you have to know there are bunch of hoops to jump through in order to attain a level of freedom. You have to know the right people, live in the right sub segment of society, got to the right schools, and make some sacrifices, either in time spent working, or limits on behavior, disguised as “contributing to society” and “obeying the law, doing right and staying in your lane”

Also, you can attain a level of freedom, and have it taken away if the fickle winds of fate blow some other direction. You get sick, someone screwes up at your company and makes a product the wrong color and 1000 people loose their jobs because it turns out nobody wants a polka dotted plumbus, people wanted purple plumbus. 

Request for Revolutionaries: what about a system that actually works to help EVERYONE achieve their best,

If you want to achieve, the system HELPS you achieve. not PREVENTS you from achieving.

Like our friggin education system... 

American college does not help people achieve.  

the American college system exist to PREVENT too many people from achieving.

Becoming a medical doctor is Hard, 

This not because medicine is hard, 

but because the education system specifically MAKES it hard, 

in order to limit the number of doctors and nurses.[

If there are too many doctors and nurses, doctors would never get rich. 

like in India... where the medical education system helps anyone become a doctor that wants to become a doctor. 

doctors and nurses are average middle class.

The most offensive thing I learned in my college experience, was learend early on, In a huge room full of people who wanted to become engineers, The professor told the whole room: "This curriculum  is designed to weed out people ..."

How much better would our society be, how much better off would the whole WORLD be if our education system elevated everyone, enabled everyone rather than “filter people out” 

I found out just a few years ago why Harvard is such a special institution... at Harvard, everything about the experience is designed to HELP you become whatever you want to become. 

Harvard does not weed out people, getting INTO harvard is the weeding... you don't flunk out in Harvard. Harvard will teach you whatever you want to learn. People always point out that Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard... Bill Gates finished his studies. Harvard taught him everything he needed to know to do what he wanted. He left when he was done, not when he reached some arbitrary meaningless deadline

Harvard is hard to get into because a Harvard education is resource intensive. Every harvard student get’s whatever they need to learn whatever they want. Usually that means time and attention from the best teachers. In the world harvard was created in, that meant living in a location because learning required physical interaction with the best teaching minds, which ALSO had to be in the same location, and that all cost money for housing, food, buildings, roads, specialized teaching equipment not available in the average home (chalkboards chal, and libraries)  

We NOW live in a world where the equipment neccessary to recieve a harvard education is cheap enough to be given to everyone. 

We now live in a world where the sum of human knowledge is available to anyone 24/7 anywhere in the world. 

We now live in a world where a lesson, the best lesson ever created, can be accessed anywhere, by anyone, in any language. And that lesson can be improved, and tweaked for different learning styles. 

In the world that existed when harvard was created, if you missed a lesson, you missed it. FOR EVER. And the next professor, or the next lesson may be presented in at a pace, or in a manner that does not work for your brain, or culture, or situation in the moment. 

We no longer live in that world. 

We NOW live in a world where everyone could be given the means (a good laptop and an internet connection, and public funding of learning services like wikipedia, & youtube, skillshare, brilliant)

Right now the goals of our education system are unforgivable meger. 

In this time Our education systems are FAILING our society. Our education is not ADVANCING society, but HOLDING IT BACK. 

We live in a world where commodity entertainment, funded by advertising, is providing better quality education than the institutions tasked with doing the job.