Winco TB-20 Taco Salad Bowl Basket 18" diameter round - Case of 12

I do love this thing, and was glad I read the reviews about how to use it or I would still be trying to figure it out. I used a medium saucepan filled about 2/3 with canola oil, got it nice and hot, stuck a large flour tortilla in the oil and slowly pushed down the tortilla with this tool. The tortilla clung miraculously to the tool, and fried beautifully after about a minute or so. My kids were all excited, my husband was impressed, and it was tasty.I burnt one of them by pressing the tortilla to the bottom of the pan. I had better success when I stopped doing that. Also, you can leave the pot of oil covered on the stove and reuse it several times. I kept it around for over a week and used it a few times.If you come home depressed one day, make one of these things with a smaller tortilla, sprinkle the fried tortilla with cinnamon sugar and fill with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream and some pancake syrup. You'll feel temporarily better.

Excellent quality! Very heavy and made to last! The only issue is there are no instructions so if you don't know how to use it or have never used one before you have to search for instructions.The basket is actually simple to use.Instructions:Heat your deep fryer to 350 degrees. Using the basket, push the tortilla down into the fryer (do not put the tortilla inside the basket) and hold in place for approximately 50 seconds. Remove the basket then carefully left the tortilla upsidedown over the fryer and drain excess oil. Set the fried tortilla on paper towels to remove any excess grease.The basket works in most larger size deep fryers. The handle does not fold so it does take room to store, or hanging on a pot rack works great.

Got this and used it the same day. Love it!!! So easy to use. I used a 12" diameter pot. Just laid the shell on top of the hot oil and then pushed out with this tool. It worked great. Only wish I had a little deeper pot. With the shell touching the bottom pot it got a little more cooked then the rest. Over all this made a great salad bowl. Shell only take 1-2min to cook. So might use this for a casual dinner with guests or family.

This is great. Very sturdy and handle is very long so you don’t get burned. No instructions. But thanks to these reviews, I learned how to use. Your pot needs to be as wide as the tortillas you use. Put about 5-6 inches of oil in it. Heat the oil. Place the tortilla into the pot flat where it floats on top, then gently in the center of tortilla, use the tortilla maker to gently press down the tortilla that is floating in the oil and it will mold up to the basket ON THE OUTSIDE. You do not put tortilla inside the basket. I just kinda make it go into the oil from the sides and top till it is done. If you press hard to force it to the bottom of your pot, it might burn the bottom. This is not hard to use at all. MAKE SURE YOU DONT HAVE TOO MUCH OIL BECAUSE IT WILL GO OVER THE POT WHEN YOU PRESS DOWN!!!

We finally figured out how to make restaurant quality taco shells at home. Bought a large kettle frier in order to get enough oil. Drop the flour tortilla into the oil and press down with this devise. The tortilla will form up around the metal and form a shell. Hold down in the oil for a few minutes and done. Very slick the way it works, my wife loves it. Just like dining out.You can't form the tortilla inside and it pulls away, must be on the outside.

This taco bowl form is fantastic for making fresh shells for salads. A bit of instructions would have been nice (but at least the reviews here helped a lot). No doubt, this thing is commercial grade because it's built like a tank and can be used on the big 12 inch tortillas. I especially like that the base is rather large in terms of diameter so that your shells can be filled with dinner-sized portions.I used my large fryer to test it out with and it's fine, but I'm thinking next time I'll try to use a large round pot with tall sides instead. The reason is that my fryer has the heating elements on the bottom and I was constantly pressing the tortilla down there to fully submerge the shell - and so the bottom of the shell more cooked than the rest. It didn't effect the taste at all so it's no big deal.As has been said before, you don't put the tortilla inside of the form/basket. You put it in the oil and then press down with this shell maker directly in the center of the tortilla. The tortilla will be shaped upward and wrap itself around the form as it cooks.My shells took about one minute to fully cook and harden at 375 degrees in peanut oil. Just keep a set of tongs in one hand to grab the shell with, shake off, and drain on paper towels. 325-350 might be better next time (to make golden, flaky shells instead of light brown ones) but it will take a little longer to make.Also, I'm thinking that next time I'll use uncooked, fresh tortillas to see if they turn out more crisp and flaky than ones made from cooked white flower tortillas. Will update later if there's anything to report...

I don't often buy "single purpose" kitchen equipment, but.my husband and I love "taco salad" and this looked promising. I used about 2inches of oil in a deep stainless steel pot. Using this to hold a tortilla in the hot oil was easy, safe and effective. If the oil isn't deep enough to cover the entire tortilla, simply remove this tool to a paper towel, and use tongs to flip the shell over. My husband pronounced this a perfect success.

I know some other people had stated this in their reviews, but I guess I did not take it to heart. I don't know who can use this for home. I put it in my empty 6 qt large pot and to have the thing covered with oil I know it would be splashing oil all over the stove. I would of loved to have a tool to make taco salad bowls, but this is a total failure. I put it back in the plastic bag and it is on its way back to Amazon. I hope we can find something smaller.

Got it , tried it and the taco wrap kept collapsing in the fryer. Not what I expected. Basket was too deep for my purpose. But I will try to work with it since I have it.

Good product.