The art of making nachos

There are times when a person will make some nachos, and they may think to themselves, "I wonder how I could make the perfect nachos." If you have been in this position, you are about to hear a secret that probably a lot of people know already or if you didn't know it you will look at me and say "well duh." It isn't really a secret at all. But it's rarely done.

First of all, always make your nachos in the oven. The microwave is only the kind of thing you use if you do not have any other kind of oven. Like if you're in a dorm room. If you are not allowed to have anything that is not a microwave, you can safely ignore the rest of this post. Otherwise, read on.

The big secret is to put the chips in the oven before you start making the nachos. This is a good idea for two reasons. First of all, it dries out your chips, so when you put all your toppings on, they will all get soaked up by the now-dry chips. This makes the chips tastier. Second, any fool can tell you that toasted chips taste better.

So, when making nachos, the first thing you want to do is set your oven for 400ºF. It usually takes my oven about 15-20 minutes to get to this point. I usually occupy this time by either finding all the potential ingredients, or playing with my dog.

Once your oven is at a neat 400º, it is time to put the chips in. Obviously, you want to put them on some kind of pan, and if you are smart, you will put foil (always shiny-side-down) on the pan (that way it is very easy to clean up). You want the chips to change in colour a little before you take them out again. Probably 10 minutes or something. Just keep looking. Anyway, this is the time to get your refried beans all heated up (a job for your microwave?!!). Also grate some cheese. Now, if you want these to be really good, you should put other things on, like peppers or onions (not whole—all cut up).

Another secret—before you put the beans on the chips, stir some of the grated cheese into the already-heated-up beans. For some reason, they pour easier when you do this. So when the chips are done, you pour the beans over them, and then you dump all the grated cheese on it along with anything else that you like. Put the thing back in the oven and it should be ready in 10 minutes or so. Make sure you turn the oven off when you are done. I do not want you to burn your house down or just waste a bunch of precious gas just because you don't think I was clear as to whether or not you should leave the oven on when you are done. You should never leave the oven on when you are done.

Anyway, when you are done, you should have some nachos with a great taste that you completely like.