Cooking

The Breakfast Burrito

/ May 6th, 2013

I have always considered the tortilla one of the world’s perfect foods. It can substitute for bread, be folded around taco fixings, support a tostada, fried flat and topped with peanut butter, bananas and preserves (PB&B), or wrapped around nearly anything for a kitchen sink burrito. When I was in college and flat broke, and cheese was stretching the budget, the PB&B was a regular (sure, laugh if you will, but it can be darn tasty when you are hungry). Today, of course, the tortilla has been remarketed as a “wrap” and stuffed with everything from bean sprouts to tofu.

One of my favorite things about camping is the smell of hot coffee and sizzling bacon or sausage wafting through the forest. After a few years as a short-order cook (with a bit deeper pockets) I began to experiment with the egg burrito. The first attempt involved preparing them at home, wrapping them in tinfoil, and slipping them on the manifold before a weekend trip. In time, my efforts  evolved into trail burritos, with all my camp mates in queue each morning for a tortilla wrapped around…whatever I had on hand. This is a one-pan meal your friends will not forget.

Preparation

  1. Heat skillet over a medium flame and add your favorite breakfast meat (sure, tofu if that’s your thing).
  2. Cook until halfway done and introduce diced red onion and minced garlic into a clearing in the middle of the pan.
  3. While the meat continues to cook, the onion will caramelize and the garlic will disseminate its wonderful piquancy throughout.
  4. Save three quarters of the grease in a separate container and add eggs directly into the mix…crack first.
  5. Stir until eggs are cooked and scoop your burrito mix onto a plate and cover.
  6. Add a small portion of bacon grease into the pan (substitute olive oil if you prefer), then spin a tortilla around in it for an even coating.
  7. Add cheese, burrito mix, salsa, and sour cream, then wrap burrito-style and move to the side of the pan.
  8. Repeat until your pan is full, turning each as it browns on the bottom.

Egg burritos don’t need a plate and fancy accoutrements; just wrap in a paper towel and serve. Your camp mates will thank you─after wiping the drool and drippings off their chops. Long live the tortilla!

 

Egg Burritos

  • Serves: 4
  • Cooking time: 20 minutes
  • Equipment: large skillet, spatula, knife, plates, cutting board

 

Menu

  • Aperitif ~ coffee with Baileys
  • Main course ~ two burritos wrapped in a paper towel
  • Dessert ~ more coffee

 

Ingredients

  • Flour tortillas (4-8 large)
  • Olive oil (optional)
  • ½ red onion, diced
  • 1 pound bacon, sausage or chorizo
  • 8 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • Cheese, sliced or grated
  • Salsa
  • Sour cream

 

 

Chris spent his formative years riding dirt bikes with his dad in the deserts of Southern California and Baja, Mexico, which led to a lifelong quest for adventure. He is handy behind a viewfinder and at the keyboard, and brings four decades of international travel experience to Overland Journal as Editor-in-Chief. His career, which includes work for National Geographic Adventure, Four Wheeler, Hot Rod, and Autoweek, has taken him through 50-plus countries and to every continent. He has also served as correspondent to magazines in a dozen countries and in as many languages. In 2013 he was part of the Expeditions7 team that crossed Antarctica and he has recently been inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame as a pioneering journalist. When not behind the camera Chris can be found on The Office (his sailboat), or undertaking meticulous “research” for upcoming articles in locales such as Tequila, Mexico.