THE NIBBLE is having a lunch of gourmet burritos. Below:

> Gourmet burrito ingredients.

> Burrito history.

> The modern burrito.
 
Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The year’s 25+ Mexican and Tex-Mex food holidays.
 
 
BURRITO HISTORY

A step back in history: In 1519 the Spanish conquistadors arrived in what today is Mexico, bringing with them wheat flour and pigs. This enabled flour tortillas and carnitas. Flour tortillas are more flexible than corn tortillas, and therefore, easily rollable.

A modern question is: Why are carnitas in a flour tortilla called a burrito—“little donkey” in Spanish?

No one knows for sure, but the leading guess is that it was named for its shape, which resembles the bedrolls carried on the back of donkeys.

While the modern burrito is no more than 100 years old, Mesoamericans often rolled their food in tortillas for convenience (no dishes or utensils needed). Avocados, chili peppers, mushrooms, squash, and tomatoes were sliced and rolled.

The Pueblo peoples of the Southwestern U.S. were even closer to the mark. They made tortillas with beans and meat sauce fillings, prepared much like the modern burrito [source].

But the word “burrito” doesn’t appear in print until 1895, in the Spanish-language Dictionary of Mexicanisms. It was a name used in the region of Guanajuato, in north-central Mexico. It is described as “a rolled tortilla, with meat or other food within, called coçito in Yucatan and taco in the city of Cuernavaca and in Mexico City.”

That there was a rolled food called burrito in 1895 dispenses with the folk tale of a man named Juan Méndez, who sold tacos from a street stand during the Mexican Revolution (1910–1921) in Ciudad Juárez. As he used a donkey for transport, customers began to call his tacos “food of the burrito,” the little donkey and the name eventually stuck.

Food historians opine that the modern burrito may actually have been invented in the U.S., as a convenient lunch for Mexican agricultural workers.
 
 
THE MODERN BURRITO: BORN IN THE U.S.A.

The precise origin is not known, but it is generally believed to have originated in a Mexican-American community in the U.S., among farm workers in California’s Central Valley (Fresno, Stockton).

According to Wikipedia, the farm workers who spent all day picking produce in fields would bring lunches of homemade flour tortillas, beans, and salsa picante (hot sauce)—inexpensive and convenient.

Burritos first appeared on American restaurant menus in the 1930s, beginning with El Cholo Spanish Cafe in Los Angeles. El cholo is the word used by Mexican settlers in California for field hands.

Burritos were mentioned in the U.S. media for the first time in 1934, appearing in the Mexican Cookbook, a collection of regional recipes from New Mexico by historian Erna Fergusson.

The book includes “celebrated favorites such as enchiladas, chile rellenos, and carne adovada, as well as the simple, rustic foods traditionally prepared and served in New Mexican homes.”

It was “inspired by the delight and enthusiasm with which visitors to the Southwest partook of the region’s cuisine.” You can still buy a copy.

In 1999, food writer John Mariani wrote that “What makes burritos different from most other Mexican-American foods is the metamorphosis of this dish.

“We tracked down the earliest print references for ‘burritos’ cited by food history in American/English reference books. They are nothing like the burritos we are served today…

“When and where did the change happen? In the early 1960s, in Southern California. The who and why remain a mystery.

Our survey of historic newspapers suggests food trucks played a role. Burritos are efficient, economical, easy, and delicious.” [Source: Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 48)]
 
 
TODAY’S BURRITOS

In Mexico, meat and beans or refried beans can be the only burrito fillings. In the U.S., things get more elaborate.

American burrito fillings may include not only the refried (or other) beans and meat but rice, lettuce, salsa (pico de gallo, salsa picante), guacamole, shredded cheese (cheddar or jack), sour cream and vegetables.

Burrito sizes vary—they’re super-sized in the U.S., up to 12 inches. You can also find them in 9- and 10-inch diameters.

In 1964, Duane R. Roberts of Orange County, California sold the first frozen burrito. He made so much money that he was eventually able to buy Riverside’s iconic Mission Inn and refurbish it.

Tia Sophia’s, a Mexican café in Santa Fe, New Mexico, claims to have invented the original breakfast burrito in 1975, filling a rolled tortilla with bacon and potatoes. It was served “wet,” topped with chili and cheese.

Many Americans had their first breakfast burrito when McDonald’s introduced the Sausage Burrito in 1991: a flour tortilla, sausage, American cheese, scrambled eggs, onions, and peppers.

Taco Bell didn’t introduce a breakfast burrito until 2014.

This brings us to the choice of the grab-and-go burrito, eaten by hand, and wet burritos, on a plate covered with sauce and other garnishes, eaten with a knife and fork.

And then there’s the burrito bowl, pioneered by Chipotle: the fillings of a burrito eaten with a fork, no tortilla.

Chipotle now sells more bowls than conventional burritos. The bowls save 300 calories [source].

The U.S. even developed the breakfast burrito, and astronauts eat them in outer space!
 
 
GOURMET BURRITO INGREDIENTS

We’re not the type to put gold leaf, foie gras, and sturgeon caviar on food just to create the world’s most expensive [fill in the blank]. But we do enjoy the luxury of playing with top-drawer ingredients.

Rice and beans are fillers. You can make a burrito without them or can serve them on the side.

Or, you can take them up a notch with fancier rice and beans.

Here are typical burrito ingredients and their upscale variations. If you don’t like our ingredients, tell us what you’d use instead.

 
For lunch today, we’re having:

 
Have whatever burrito you like, but definitely have a burrito. Where would we be without them?

[1] Steak and cilantro burrito. Here’s the recipe from Half Baked Harvest (photo © Half Baked Harvest).

[2] Gourmet burrito: grilled shrimp and avocado cream. Here’s the recipe from Foodie Crush (photo © Foodie Crush).

[3] Breakfast burrito: Now an American staple, it first appeared in 1975. Here’s a recipe from She Wears Many Hats (photo © She Wears Many Hats).

[4] Chipotle restaurants brought burritos and burrito bowls across America, like this steak burrito bowl (photo © Chipotle).

[5] Wet burritos: definitely not grab-and-go. Here’s the recipe from Hezzi D’s Books & Cooks (photo © Hezzi D’s Books & Cooks).

[6] Not wet, but smothered in a poblano-cheeese sauce. Here’s the recipe from Tastes Better From Scratch (photo © Tastes Better From Scratch).

[7] A burrito bowl provides the fillings without the tortilla (photo © Simply Recipes).

[8] Trendy and vegan: a kale burrito with black beans and avocado. Here’s the recipe from Cookie and Kate (photo © Cookie and Kate).

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Not so with Jeff’s Famous Jerky. Each variety we tried was melt-in-your-mouth tender, with exquisite flavor. When you can say jerky has exquisite flavor, you know you’ve hit the motherlode.

Jeff’s Famous Jerky, of Mission Viejo, California deserves to be famous, especially for its eye-opening bacon jerky. Bacon or beef, the meats are marinated in deep, layered marinades.

Jeff’s produces more than a dozen flavors (below).

The beef jerky has lower sodium than most brands, with no added MSG or nitrates. The bacon jerky has less sodium than pan-fried bacon.

The only caveat with jerky in general is that it’s high in sodium (don’t buy it for anyone on a salt-restricted diet).

But it’s almost fat free, and it’s solid protein: One ounce has about 23% of one’s daily value of protein. Before we continue, check out:

TRENDS IN JERKY

And America wants more of this high protein, low-fat, grab-and-go snack that’s naturally gluten-free*.

America’s consumption of meat snacks has increased by 18% over the past five years, according to recent data from The NPD Group, a market research company.

House-made jerky can be found more and more on the menus of fine casual restaurants.

[1] Oh so delicious: Jeff’s Maple Brown Sugar Jerky.

[2] Hot and sweet: Jeff’s Honey & Jalapeño Jerky (all photos © Jeff’s Famous Jerky).

[3] Jeff’s beef jerky. [4] and [5] Packages of Jeff’s Jerky.

JEFF’S FAMOUS JERKY VARIETIES

Jeff’s makes so many flavors of delicious, tender jerky that you won’t know where to start. (We suggest a build-your-own mixed box.)

The flavors are variously spicy, sweet, hot, and combinations thereof. More importantly, they are clean, clear and natural, beautifully layered to imbue the meat with complex flavors.

All are hormone-free, without added MSG or preservatives, made from American meats.

Bacon Jerky Varieties

 
Beef Jerky Varieties

 
GET YOURS NOW!

Single-flavor packages are $6.99 at JeffsFamousJerky.com. The beef packages contain 3 ounces of jerky; the bacon packages have 2 ounces.

Build-your-own variety packs offer a 20% savings; and there are gift boxes with personalized notes.

For Easter treats, tie a ribbon through the punch hole on top of the bag, and maybe add some bunny stickers.

The word jerky comes from the Quechua language of the Incas, who called their dried meat “charqui.” But they were hardly the first people to make it.

Neither were Homo sapiens, we can deduce. Homo erectus emerged 1.5 million years ago, and evidence found five years ago in a South African cave suggests Homo erectus that built campfires.

The remains of animal bones and plant ash could be dated to a million years ago. [source]

By the time Homo sapiens emerged, 195,000 years ago, man had been enjoying barbecue, and by extension jerky, for some time.

Drying food is one of the first three food preservation techniques, along with salting and, in northern climes, packing with snow in ice caves or cellars.

Meat dried over a smoky fire is protected from egg-laying insects and multiplying bacteria (they need moisture to live). Cutting it into thin strips makes it easier to chew.

All the fat is trimmed from the meat because fat doesn’t dry. The dried meat could (and can) then be stored for long periods of time without refrigeration.

While the prehistoric method of drying the meat was used by other ancient peoples, it was not known in Europe.

The first visitors to the New World found Native Americans making jerky† from the meat of any animal they hunted (that which wasn’t consumed immediately).

In addition to helping early colonists stave off starvation, later pioneers who headed west quickly learned to make jerky. It was easy to transport, and was an important, high-protein addition to their diet.

The meat for jerky could be anything from buffalo to whale. Today jerky can be found in proteins as common as turkey, tuna and salmon, to exotics such as alligator and ostrich.

Today’s jerky eaters have the luxury of enjoying it as a snack rather than a necessity. We also have the pleasure of using tender cuts of meat marinated in a variety of spices, salt and/or sugar—seasonings that were not available to most ancients jerky-makers.

Modern jerky is dried in low-heat smokers, as opposed to the ancient technique of hanging strips of meat racks to dry in the hot sun. (The campfire could hold only so much.)

If your only experience with jerky has been dry and tasteless jerky, you deserve some of the good stuff.
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*Some brands or flavors within brands may use soy sauce or other glutinous ingredient in the marinade.

†The pemmican you may have read about in tales of early America was dried meat mixed with dried berries and rendered animal fat. It was invented by Native Americans and used extensively by immigrants in the fur trade. Many years later, it served as a high-calorie food for Arctic and Antarctic explorers such as Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen.

Some people have never had a hot, runny, seductive soft-boiled egg. That’s because they’re such a pain to peel when hot, that even most restaurants don’t offer them.

Soft-boiled eggs were popular in our family. Nana had a set of vintage silver-plated egg cups; Mom had ceramic cups.

The eggs were served with “toast soldiers” (photo #2): slices of toasted bread cut into half-inch vertical strips, for dipping into the yolk. (In the photo, the soldiers are topped with lots of yummy salmon caviar.)

Soft boiled eggs have long been popular among those who could afford the egg cups: Egg cups were found in the ruins of Pompeii.

No egg cups? Small ramekins, juice glasses, and even some cocktail glasses will work. You can also nestle the egg in rock salt (photo #3) or small pebbles.

You can even make origami egg cups (photo #5). Just follow the video below or this visual from Gathering Beauty.
 
 
TAKING THE TOP OFF THE EGG

 
We are incapable of doing either of these correctly. With the spoon, we end up with fragmented pieces of shell. With the knife, the force can end up spilling yolk.

Practice makes perfect, but we found a better solution: an egg cutter, also known as an egg topper. It’s an inexpensive gadget and takes up very little room in the gadget drawer.

 
 
EASTER EGGS

Dye The Eggs: Photo #1 shows how they do it at Petrossian.

Top With Caviar: For Easter or other festive occasions, top your eggs with affordable caviar: capelin, lumpfish, salmon, tobiko, trout or whitefish roe.

For bright colors, we’re partial to salmon caviar or colored and flavored whitefish roe. (For sturgeon caviar, we waive this suggestion.)

Check out the different types of caviar and roe* in our Caviar Glossary.
 
 
FOR SCRAMBLED EGGS

If you want to fill the eggshells with scrambled eggs, you need to sterilize the insides of the shells or else (far easier) buy pasteurized eggs, such as Davidson’s Safest Choice.

Here are instructions to sterilize the shells from Rem Cooks.

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*The Difference Between Roe And Caviar

All caviar is roe, the uncooked eggs of any fish. While caviar has traditionally referred only to sturgeon roe, the roe of many (or any) fish is now commonly called caviar. In the U.S., it is legally permissible to call any roe caviar as long as the fish is identified, e.g. salmon caviar.

As food writers, we prefer to use the latter with the fish identified, even if it is sturgeon caviar. There are enough different kinds of sturgeon caviar, that even confining the word to sturgeon requires a modifier: beluga caviar, Black Sea caviar, Iranian osetra caviar, farmed white sturgeon caviar, etc.

By the way, caviar is not a Russian word, nor is it used by Russian speakers. Khaviar, meaning eggs, is of Persian origin, found in the Iranian and Turkish languages. Russian speakers use the word ikroj (pronounced EEK-ruh, with a rolle “r”) for all roe, and use a modifier (beluga, salmon) to specify which type. Habitués of sushi bars will note that the Japanese adapted this word into ikura, salmon roe.

[2] Top a boiled egg, a toast finger, a half of a baby potato (photo © Le Coq Rico | NYC [now La Rotisserie]).

[3] No egg cups? Use rock salt (photo © Sturia Caviar).

[4] Or make origami egg cups, with these instructions from Gathering Beauty (photo © Gathering Beauty).

[5] How to cut the tops from the eggs. You can get a cracker/cutter on Amazon.

There are several origami egg cup tutorials on YouTube. This one is the slowest (i.e., easiest to follow).