In my reflection of yesterday --
Finding the holy grail isn't easy and frequently requires dealing with bullshit, especially true when you're somewhere new. Sometimes the day just doesn't go your way, and sometimes there's this suffocating feeling that the universe isn't on your side. Curve balls are part of the adventure. You have to embrace the curve balls. The bullshit is worth the hassle -- the prize at the end can be so insanely rewarding. And if you can find a way to take it in stride, you're frequently rewarded.
Tee up Cheese by The Floozies.
I'm feeling great today, in a lighter mood after a successful ending yesterday.
I'm writing at this dope spot I stumbled into on my morning drive. Moran Point on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It's more or less a generic pull out, but no one is here and the view is insane. I backed my truck up for a sweeping view of the Grand Canyon. I'm sitting on my new EXPED sleeping pad, and I'm obsessed with the comfort. Worth every penny.
I saw a very large bird posted on a peak in the distance. There was a cool trail hugging the rim of the canyon and I slowly approached over the course of 45 minutes and got real up close and personal. She was posted in her nest up top an epic view point over the Grand Canyon. A highlight of the day. I love me some cool animals.
I was very confident this was a California Condor, but much to my dismay, my mom was able to quickly identify it as a turkey vulture.
Still super sick.
Her crib had the best view.
This spot reminds me of my favorite spot in Tucson – Windy Point at Mt Lemmon. Where I got my first taste of nature. We would always go to the exact same spot, a random pull out with a very short hike. If the spot is sick, you don't need more than that, even if its just a random pull out. When you know, you know.
King of Dank
The most important part of any burrito is the tortilla.
Side note, I'm a massive fan of all the cheap Mexican drive throughs in San Diego because I believe they're all supplied with the same tortillas. For any breakfast burrito order at a Mexican drive through, always ensure they add refried beans, it's an important addition. And call me crazy, but my only order outside of the Breakfast Burrito is a carnitas burrito -- I haven't deviated from this in years, I'm rarely disappointed, and have no plans to deviate from this till the day I die.
Grocery stores are notorious for having extremely low quality tortillas, a hard no from me. The one very loose exception are those half baked tortillas that you throw on the pan, that's really the only mass market grocery store option -- but I'd still look to your most OG Mexican spot for an exclusive tortilla buy. It's the most important ingredient if we're talking burritos.
For any given grocery run in my household:
Trader Joes for most of the random non perishables.
Normal grocery store for the majority of the produce -- and Amy's refried black beans -- another important specialty pick for burritos and one that can't be easily reproduced. Amys refried beans are elite.
And most importantly, Pancho Villas for tortillas. The necessary extra stop for the most important item.
This is how to make the perfect breakfast burrito. This whole process generally takes about 45 minutes.
Ingredients:
The best tortillas you can find
Amy's refried black beans (no substitute here)
Potatoes, I prefer frozen McDonalds style hash browns, but dealers choice
Cheese, I prefer Oaxacan style balled cheese, but dealers choice again
Veggie concoction -- I like onion, broccolini, and zuchinni as my trio. Go with your favorite trio.
Eggs (and I always add green onions)
Bacon (optional)
Hot sauce -- more on that below
I'll start with three frozen hashbrowns -- double the suggested time in the oven and bump up the temperature. We're going for super crispy for texture. Get those in motion first, as they'll take the longest.
Then I'll cut up my veggies and sauté them for ~15-20 minutes.
Soon after I'll scramble four eggs. Start by cooking the green onions for 2 minutes, then adding the eggs and scrambling. Right before they're done I'll add a nice portion of cheese on top.
Then I'll add the eggs to the veggies as one big pan of burrito filling.
I prefer cooking my bacon in the oven, so in the process of the veggies / eggs cooking I'll add the bacon to the oven and get those in motion. Ideally timing them out with the potatoes.
During my downtime I'll put the beans in a tupperware and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes.
Now we've got an egg / cheese + veggie concoction in one pan. We've got potatoes and bacon coming out of the oven. And beans out of the microwave. Now we're ready to make the burrito. The key here is thin layers.
First we're going to microwave the tortilla for 12 seconds so it's soft and easy to roll.
We'll start with a layer of beans. Then we add a layer of cheese on top of the beans (dealers choice on the level of cheese).
Then we'll add a layer of potatoes and bacon. Carefully proportion both so there's a bite of both from top to bottom.
Then we'll put a healthy scoop of the egg / veggie concoction to fill it out. Okay to have a heavy hand here. Just make sure you have enough space to be able to roll it.
I do a partial roll, because the tortillas I like are medium sized. That means the bottom is pinched and the top is open. I call this a pinner.
Once the burrito is rolled, you want to put it in the oven. Get a nice crisp on the top side of the tortilla. You're warming up all the ingredients so they melt into each other. This is an important step.
DANK OUT BABY.
Make sure to have a nice dab of hot sauce on each bite, because that's a full dank out.
I have strong opinions on hot sauce. Tapatio is the best hot sauce. Price is what makes this a clear distinctive winner. Purely based on taste, it's a close call between Tapatio and Cholula but Tapatio still inches out Cholula. If you factor in price, it's now fully in Tapatios favor. With that being said, Cholula is hands down the second best so either works.
My friend Grant recently introduced me to Chipotle Tabasco and I've been experimenting there. In the same burrito session, Megan introduced me to the Sour Creme dab on each bite which was a cool move, but I'm not quite there. Sriracha is exclusive to asian food, so let's not even entertain that. Valentina is good, but inferior to Tapatio and Cholula. I believe that's the big 5. That's where I stand.
The key is that every bite gets one or two drops of hot sauce. It's an important touch.
One other side note here. I could go either way with avocado, but if you're going to add avocado, it should be on the outside as a condiment. I have come to agree with Julia that avocado should never be warm. Due to the important step of crisping the tortilla in the oven, the avocado should not be added inside the burrito.
Another important point. If you make extra burritos, which is likely, make sure to individually wrap the extra burritos in tin foil. Makes for a better re-heat, and I generally go with the morning after burrito at ~300 degrees for ~30 minutes to ensure everything is properly heated up with a crisp tortilla.
You are welcome.
::
Danks
One of the things I missed most was the luxury of having a stocked kitchen. Julia and I immediately made a run to the grocery store for the dank tortillas and made a fatty round of breakfast burritos. Man, I missed those, so dank.
Cooking was the highlight of my week, and I'm going to take you down a deep rabbit hole here.
I had a pretty epic Mexican combo in the kitchen this week. It consisted of the following:
-- a massive portion of homemade guacamole
-- shredded chicken via crock pot
-- nachos (premium)
-- quesadillas
-- nachos (basic)
This is how it went down.
Guacamole
Guacamole is a luxury that you can layer into any Mexican meal, and also stands firm on its own as a snack.
What you'll need:
6 avocados
One large tomato
One jalapeno
One small onion
A handful of cilantro
Two limes
Salt and Pepper
(combine and your done)
Some key tips with guacamole
-
Keep the avocado chunky, you don't want it to be a paste
-
Finely dice the tomato, jalepeno, onion, and cilantro
-
Use the salt, pepper, and lime as your variable components for flavor. Those three can influence the quality to a great degree.
Shredded Chicken
What you'll need:
2 lbs chicken breast
Can of tomatoes
Seasoning (mexican seasoning, or really open option with whatever you got, you just want to add a lot of seasoning because chicken is bland)
Onion
Jalapeno
I use crockpot because it's easier, but you could easily just boil the chicken on its own, shred, and then add all the components. With crockpot you literally just dump it all in the crockpot, put it on low for 4 hours, shred, and you've got enough chicken to make like 10 different variations of dank mexican dishes.
Now you got a fat stack of guacamole and shredded chicken.
Make sure you got chips (or better, tostada shells) and tortillas.
We're off to the races.
Nachos (Premium)
The key with premium nachos is to individually dress each chip. This is a trick I picked up in Texas. Tex-Mex nachos are far better than SoCal nachos. I have found tostada shells to be a great vessel for this, like a bunch of little mexican pizza slices. You want to take the biggest sheet pan you have and carefully place one layer of chips, the bigger the pan the better.
Here's the layering order
-- refried beans, can be black or pinto but must be Amy's brand (sometimes I'll add some water to the tupperware with the beans so it's a little more runny and easier to spread across all the chips)
-- shredded cheese (dealers choice)
-- veggie medeley (I like onion, zuchinni, brocollini)
-- shredded chicken
-- jarred pickled jalepeno (optional)
-- another layer of cheese
Put in oven for 5-10 minutes at 300 so that the cheese can blend it all together.
Don't put the guac on the nachos. Guac should always be cold, never hot.
Layer on the dipping mechanism for each bite. For my breakfast burrito, it’s tapatio. For nachos, it's either guac or salsa. A dab on each bite.
Quesadillas
I love quesadillas. Similar to the burritos, you need to have high quality tortillas.
I have a slight preference for having two separate tortillas folded into individual halfs, which you cut into three pieces (6 total). Julia prefers the pizza style where you put two whole tortillas on top of one another and cut into four pieces.
Dealers choice.
The layering is going to be very similar to the nachos, but everything is thinner.
-- thin layer of refried beans
-- thin layer of cheese
-- thin layer of chicken or veggies or both
-- jarred pickled jalepeno (optional)
-- another layer of shredded cheese
I like to heat up the pan as I'm getting everything prepped. The tortilla will get a better crisp if the pan is hot. You'll want to put a half tablespoon of butter down to coat the pan.
Keep a close eye and get a really nice crisp on both sides.
Then find your dipper of choice (guacamole, salsa, or hot sauce).
Nachos (Basic)
After a proper nacho and quesadilla run with Julia I had unfortunately ran out of guacamole. A real bummer. I still had a decent amount of everything else though, and I went to my OG. This one never disappoints. Julia says that this is the meal that reminds her of our college days.
In the remaining tupperware of Amys beans, add really whatever you've got left. For me, I had shredded chicken, pickled jalepeno, shredded cheese, and tapatio.
Load it up.
Microwave for 2 minutes.
Boom.
Eat with chips.
Easiest lunch ever.
So dank.