The Breakfast Taco

[lovebenton0]

I thought this was interesting in this morning's Austin American Statesman. Who hasn't eaten breakfast tacos?!! Seems that more of us do it all the time, and though the history is hazy, all indications point to its conception here in Texas. Are we surprised?

[ExtraMSG]

The history of the breakfast taco is elusive. Calls to state universities, the Institute of Texan Cultures, Pace Foods, Texas historians, as well as the perusal of 100 Texas cookbooks, failed to turn up its origin. But the breakfast taco seems to have begun in Texas.

...."The earliest recollections were the breakfast tacos sold by street vendors . . . historically, Mexican workers both in Texas and border cities."

....

Still, he thinks it started in Texas....

Peyton says he's never seen anything like them in Mexico.

But, "many people in many places have been scrambling eggs and putting them into a tortilla."

WTF?

I've never gone to a place in Mexico where tacos weren't served at stands in the morning. And who does't get a basket full of tortillas with their huevos con chorizo?

I have to say that I hope this trend spreads because the breakfast taco is so much superior to the norm out here, the breakfast burrito, imo.

Edited March 18, 2004 by ExtraMSG (log)

[fifi]

As usual, I am confused. What is the difference between a taco and a burrito? We seem to have used the terms interchangeably. The usual is some combination of eggs, chorizo, potatoes, salsa, cheese rolled up in a flour tortilla. Interestingly, I almost never see corn tortillas. I wonder why that is? Does that portend a more Northern Mexico origin? Or does it put the pointer right back to Texas?

The link isn't working right now so I could be talking out of my sombrero.

[Jaymes]

Like most things, the exact definitions seem to vary from region to region, but it's been my experience that "taco" refers to something wrapped up into a tortilla, either corn or flour, and eaten immediately. Like a sandwich, but with a tortilla.

An enchilada is something wrapped up in a corn tortilla and usually baked, and served plated.

A burro is the same thing as an enchilada, only made with flour tortillas.

Having lived all across the US Southwest, I think that what Texans call "breakfast tacos" are what most folks points west do call "breakfast burritos." I personally can't tell any difference, with the exception of what one chooses to put inside of them.

[rancho_gordo]

Aren't regional differences a hoot?

Here (California) a burritto (or cylandrical God), is a large flour tortilla filled with rice, beans, meat and salsa, plus many variations. I don't believe you find these in most parts of Mexico unless there are many gringoes, like fajitas. A taco is with a corn tortilla (or better, 2 small corn tortillas), and filling. A taco dorado is often served with drier fillings and the tortilla is gently fired in corn oil.

I once heard someone describe making enchiladas with flour tortillas and I find that pretty odd. It would seem the tortilla would fall apart or get gummy, at best.

But there must be a lot of corn tortilla-eater in TX as well as flour folks. I know a brand of corn tortillas we get here actually comes from TX!

[Jaymes]

I once heard someone describe making enchiladas with flour tortillas and I find that pretty odd. It would seem the tortilla would fall apart or get gummy, at best.

Not at all. As I said, typically "enchiladas" made with flour tortillas are called "burros." Look in any good Mexican cookbook, and you'll find several recipes.

[rancho_gordo]

Not at all.  As I said, typically "enchiladas" made with flour tortillas are called "burros."  Look in any good Mexican cookbook, and you'll find several recipes.

I can't find a single reference to a burro in any of my Mexican books! And very few references to flour tortillas at all.

I have a book from Tucson called El Charro Cafe and she mentions a burro as a burrrito made from a 14-18 inch tortilla (as opposed to a 10 or 12 inch). But her description is of a self-enclosed, meat and salsa filled tube, not an enchilada.

Could it be that burros as flour tortilla enchiladas are a Texas original? Enchilada would mean that the tortilla is "chile'ed" so to speak so I'm assuming we're talking about different things.

Edited March 18, 2004 by rancho_gordo (log)

[hollywood]

Call me perverse but I like taquitos for breakfast. With salsa.

[hollywood]

I seem to recall eating something called a carne guisada burrito, chunks of beef in a thick gravy wrapped in a flour tortilla, at Jaime's Spanish Village on Red River in Austin many years ago.

[afoodnut]

Just to chime in with another regional perspective: Here in Colorado, the breakfast burrito is ubiquitous. The breakfast burrito is exactly as Fifi described

The usual is some combination of eggs, chorizo, potatoes, salsa, cheese rolled up in a flour tortilla.

I've never heard them called anything other than a burrito here.

In Colorado, the convention seems to be:

Burritos, breakfast or otherwise, are always rolled, always made with flour tortillas, and may or may not be "smothered" with green chile.

Tacos can be either hard (fried & crisp) or soft; they may be rolled, flat, or folded; they're made with corn tortillas.

Tostadas are flat, hard (fried & crisp), made with corn tortillas, with the filling piled on top.

Edit to add: Enchiladas are usually soft, rolled corn tortillas, enrobed with "enchilada sauce," or some version of chile. Occasionally, there are variations where the enchiladas are stacked, or layered. They still use soft corn tortillas.

Edited March 19, 2004 by afoodnut (log)

[BigboyDan]

Burrito and Burro are the same thing, the former term being used in the Texas and the latter in the West. Generally. In Texas Breakfast Burritos are larger flour tortillas that are filled with any combination of eggs and whatever, rolled-up tight and closed (breakfast burritos are never deep-fried), plated seem-side down, and sometimes covered with chile con queso - made them a million times.

[Jaymes]

Not at all.  As I said, typically "enchiladas" made with flour tortillas are called "burros."  Look in any good Mexican cookbook, and you'll find several recipes.

I can't find a single reference to a burro in any of my Mexican books! And very few references to flour tortillas at all.

Well, maybe I'm spelling it wrong. Maybe it's burra - or just with one r. I'm in Missouri and my cookbooks are packed up, but it's been my experience that "burrito" is a US term. And that "burros" are very authentic and tipico of Northern Mexico.

Not a "Texan thing." In fact, not until relatively recently were flour tortillas even widely available in most Tex-Mex restaurants, although now they are seen as often as corn. But I remember the first time my Texas-native former husband was forced to eat flour tortillas. It was during the time we lived in Arizona. We lived in Tucson for five years, and in New Mexico for another five. Flour tortillas were the norm in both places as accompaniment for main dishes, soups, etc., although not for enchiladas, obviously. It took him a long while to get used to flour tortillas, but he never liked them as well.

I know I've seen many, many references to "burras" or "burros" in Mexican cookbooks. Keep looking!

Edited March 19, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[hollywood]

Miscellaneous burrito info. http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/foodmexican.html#burritos

[Jaymes]

Miscellaneous burrito info. http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/foodmexican.html#burritos

Very interesting. And helpful.

Although I do find the fact that they cannot properly spell "Tucson" to be a little disconcerting for a "research source."

[Mudpuppie]

As usual, I am confused. What is the difference between a taco and a burrito?

I can't answer this, but I can attest that there is a difference. I can only find breakfast burritos out here in CA (and then rarely), and I sorely, sorely miss Texas breakfast tacos. Don't know how they're different -- they just are.

Oh, and Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's.

[hollywood]

Oh, and Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...DUTF-8%26sa%3DG

[lovebenton0]

Miscellaneous burrito info.  http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/foodmexican.html#burritos

Very interesting. And helpful.

Although I do find the fact that they cannot properly spell "Tucson" to be a little disconcerting for a "research source."

I think it bothered me more that they did not spell tortilla correctly. Then there were so many typos in that grouping of articles that I decided their proof reader quit.

Eating in central Mexico, tortillas were nearly always served with every meal. It is the staple bread of course. But, living in San Miguel de Allende for a while I got used to a common eating practice of tearing the tortilla, often flour, into quarters and dipping into or placing a bit of food in the quarter. I still do that, except when I am choosing to eat a taco, which I prefer with soft corn tortillas. One of my favorite quickie "out" meals in Mexico was two or three small corn tortillas with my choice of filling set on the plate, and sauces on the counters for my pleasure.

Often, around Central TX, for a long time, a burrito was categorized as a soft flour tortilla with beans and whatever else you wanted to fill it with. Now everything is called a taco, unless you get a large tortilla with beans and other filling that is rolled and tucked, with or without sauce on it. A taco is finger food here only, while a burrito smothered in sauce is certainly not. Of course if that is fried then it is a chimichanga, if the corn wrapped "tacos" are rolled tight and fried then it is tacquitos. This is common usage here, not talking about books or history, just what is commonly used terms. To me, a breakfast burrito is still a flour tortilla rolled with beans and any combination of eggs, cheese, potatoes, chilies, etc., and salsa; if it is a soft corn tortilla then it is a taco.

And enchiladas, well, that is a different enchilada altogether. My husband makes his chicken "enchiladas" with flour tortillas. They are very good, but, I had never had "enchiladas" that way, as to me they were burros. All enchiladas have corn tortillas.

Aren't regional differences a hoot? . . .

But there must be a lot of corn tortilla-eater in TX as well as flour folks. I know a brand of corn tortillas we get here actually comes from TX!

Lots of corn tortilla eaters here. Just as many corns on the shelf as flours; white corn and yellow corn.

[hollywood]

One of my college room mates liked to take a flour tortilla, heat it directly on a gas burner on the stove, fill it with refried beans (well, Rosarita's), chorizo and eggs. Yum.

[Mudpuppie]

Oh, and Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...DUTF-8%26sa%3DG

Thanks, that helped.

[Jaymes]

Actually, my current situation is allowing me only slight moments here and there to dash in and then dash back away, so haven't had time to elaborate much. In addition, my cookbooks are alll now in storage, so I can't quote the proper authorities to back me up. And, sadly, the "experts" that once roamed eGullet and would PM us all to clear up every conundrum appear to have left the cyberbuilding.

But.

That article said that the burrito/burro probably originated somewhere in the desert between LA and Tuscon [sic].

The northern states of Mexico produce a lot of wheat and have for a very long time. Flour tortillas are the staple there. It is to me unbelievably insulting to imagine that none of them ever thought of wrapping something -- chicken, beans, beef, whatever -- up into some of those tortillas, tucking them into a dish and heating. Until, of course, some Americans showed them how. Although, it should be said, this quibble is probably meaningless since at the time of the original "invention" of the burro/burrito, the "desert between LA and Tuscon" undoubtedly WAS Mexico.

Although extremely popular in Northern Mexico, it has not been my experience that this fondness for flour tortillas and burros ever extended all the way into the southern reaches of the country. Certainly not the way that it has extended northward into the US.

And to answer RG's question, the recipes that I have and use most often for burros don't call for a lot of cooking. If you did cook them for any considerable length of time, I do suspect that they would eventually get soggy. But all of the recipes that I have seen call for ingredients that are already cooked, like shredded beef or chicken, and then wrapped up, and basically heated through. And I have always been told that burros/burritos (the latter term being more popular north of the border) are basically enchiladas made with flour tortillas rather than corn.

Edited March 19, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[ExtraMSG]

I didn't read through it, but the way I've always understood the terms (for Mexican-American purposes):

Burrito: always a flour toritlla wrapped in such a way that the innards do not escape, that is, folded much like a spring roll, though often with one end open. They are also not cooked afterwards. Often has beans and rice inside. Can also be sauced and eaten with a knife and fork. Often quite large.

Taco: usually a corn, but now often a flour tortilla folded over ingredients. Always eaten by hand. Not usually filled with rice or beans. Left open on the end. Ofen the tortilla (especially when corn) is fried first.

Enchilada: usually corn, but now often flour tortillas wrapped around ingredients, often heavily cheesed, and covered with sauce and cooked.

So, was the article actually referring to breakfast burritos??? I would guess that they tradition would come from places where the flour tortilla and the burrito originated rather than Texas. Since breakfast tacos are a common thing in Mexico, it seems obvious that people would eat similar things with flour tortillas if that's what they had to use. Though you Texans sure like to take credit for everything.

I guess in that regard I'm agreeing with Jaymes, now that I look back through some posts.

[hollywood]

Oh, and Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's Porfirio's.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...DUTF-8%26sa%3DG

Thanks, that helped.

Well, was it this Porfirio? http://www.cs.amedd.army.mil/rlbc/salinas.htm

[Robb Walsh]

Hispanic Times Magazine, March, 2001, by Janey M. Rifkin

Since our culture in California is to an important degree Mexican, I would like to clarify some of the traditional Mexican customs which have been loosely interpreted by Norte Americanos.

There are several misnomers about our tasty and often delectable Mexican food. The smells, tastes, and textures of foods which originated south-of-the-border are ever increasing in popularity. But of tacos and burritos--the converts to our special dishes often know very little.

A taco is a tortilla rolled, or folded, over any kind of food. The burrito is a special type of taco that was invented in Sonora and consists of a rolled flour tortilla...

[Jaymes]

[Mudpuppie]

Well, was it this Porfirio? http://www.cs.amedd.army.mil/rlbc/salinas.htm

Nope -- this one.

Two #1s with cheese, please.