4 Levels Of Burritos: Amateur to Food Scientist

[kitchen music]

[upbeat music]

Hi, I'm Brad, and I'm a level one chef.

I'm Gabrielle and I'm a level two chef.

I am Saul, and I'm a level three chef.

[upbeat music]

I like burritos because you're holding it in your hand.

It's that cool tactile response of eating something whole

which really hits that weird reptilian part of your brain.

You can fill it with all of your favorite things,

which is what I plan to do today.

When is a good time to make burritos?

Every time, all the time. [laughing]

[metallic clanging]

For my protein, I'm gonna be doing eggs.

Scrambled eggs are slop.

The best way to capture slop is a burrito.

I'm gonna be using short ribs today.

They're fatty and they have a ton of flavor

and they're really juicy. I'm going to make my burrito

with Mexican sausage, chorizo, and some hanger steak.

First, we will crack the eggs into a large bowl.

A little bit of salt.

I'm gonna whisk 'cause eggs have beautiful

and complex membranes and you want to destroy all of them.

First thing we're gonna do is sear our short ribs.

So first season them with some salt and pepper

on all the sides. I'm gonna grab this

nice chorizo that you guys got for me, cut the bind.

We're gonna throw a little bit of oyster oil.

Oil. I'm gonna throw

the chorizo in it. [chorizo sizzling]

So that's what you wanna hear, that [hissing] sear on it.

I'm going to sear the three sides, put them in there.

We're going to put in some butter, then add the egg.

I like where it's like moist but not goopy goopy.

If it looks like a mashed-up omelet,

I think I'm doing it right.

Set these on a tray over here to rest.

At this point, I've reduced my heat by a lot.

Pour in a dark beer of your choice,

and then I'm gonna go ahead and start deglazing my pan,

which is my favorite fancy cooking term

for scraping all the crap off the bottom.

I like eating chorizo because it's something

that I grew up eating, so that makes me you know,

feel like I'm home. I'm going to put in

my fire roasted tomatoes, my tomato paste,

brown sugar, put in my chipotle chilis. [laughing]

I almost dropped them. Great

so this is getting close.

I'm just gonna grab the steak

right now and cut it into small pieces.

I want to use all the fat from the chorizo

to cook the steak.

A little bit of canola oil.

My favorite ingredient is the tamarind paste!

It's a little bit like a date,

but it has a little more potency and kick to it.

Roasted garlic, allspice!

Cinnamon, some thyme and a bay leaf,

little bit of orange zest, beef stock.

And I'm gonna add the steak.

Make sure that I spread it, and then it gets nice seared.

Even if you overcook it, still not dry.

I know when it's done when it looks almost not done.

So that's when you take it off.

Because it will continue to cook.

All right, I'm putting my short ribs in.

These are gonna be in here for about four to five hours.

Depending on how long you can resist [laughing] eating them.

That's it.

I'm gonna turn this off.

I'm not cooking the meat all the way

because I don't want that to be really dry.

That's how I cook it. All right, my eggs are done.

Now for the fillings.

We're gonna slice the avocado.

What do I like about an avocado?

I'm a Millennial so I've been taught I have to, and...

It's good fat! I have a really,

really flavorful meat, so I tried to keep it

pretty simple with my fillings.

Little bit of oil.

So I'm gonna start with my caramelized onions.

I want my onions to basically sweat off

some of that acidity and get really sweet.

Spanish onion, regular cilantro, chicharron.

What it is, is a pork skin who has been dehydrated

and then fried, so it's just like potato chips.

Cilantro adds both some pop, and a talking point.

Like if you are making burritos for friends,

and you're like, Hey, do you want cilantro?

Then boom, there's a conversation.

As you can tell, they are a totally different color,

and a totally different texture.

Next up are my pinto beans.

A really great way to turn pinto beans

into something that's a little more exciting

and has a little more texture to it is basically

just by adding a can of refried beans into them.

This is cheddar cheese. Cheddar cheese.

I like cheddar because it's most often in my fridge.

Oaxaca cheese, Mexican mozzarella.

It's a little bit sharper and more creamier.

For my cheese I'm using queso fresco.

It's just gonna add a nice creaminess

to the inside of my burrito.

And for my rice, I went with a basic white rice.

And I added in some chopped up cilantro

because I wanted to add a little bit of freshness.

I really wanted it to just serve

as kind of the blank canvas

for the rest of the flavors in this burrito.

All right! My toppings are finished.

For my sauce, I'm gonna be creating a family recipe

passed down from generations,

it's a very complicated compote of hot sauce and sour cream.

I'm gonna be making a pineapple, habanero salsa.

I cut the bottom and the top off,

and then I go around and take off all the sides.

Probably about an inch slices

the whole way down the pineapple.

I'm going to make two sauces today.

First I'm going to make an avocado sauce.

We're using three avocados for one burrito. [laughing]

Sour cream, you add some sriracha to it.

And now we have every secret sauce

at any chain restaurant in the country. [laughing]

Get rid of the core.

Put them in a non-stick pan.

Get that really nice brown caramelly color.

Now I'm gonna chop 'em up.

Put everything into the food processor

and turn it into a salsa.

Put in my cilantro. Cilantro.

Everything on it, no wasting.

Just a little bit of onion, raw garlic,

supposed to be healthy for you.

And then we add the serrano pepper.

There's different types of peppers.

Some they're for texture, flavor.

Diced bell pepper, minced habanero for that extra spice

and my lime juice. Lime juice.

It's gonna give a nice acidity.

It also is gonna keep the avocado from turning black.

A little bit of salt, a little bit of water.

OK, we're locked and loaded.

And I'm just gonna go ahead and pulse this.

You don't want it really smooth.

You want it a little bit chunky.

We're going to blend this

until it's nice and smooth. [blending]

Ready to go. Wow! [laughing]

Habanero is very fragrant.

It's a very powerful little pepper.

And here is my salsa. Next I'm going to make

a tres chiles sauce.

Guajillo, chile Morita,

and for heat we're using chile de arbol.

We want to remove this part, and also the seeds.

Just throw a little bit of oil,

and then we're gonna add some Morita.

It's basically very similar to dry chipotle.

Get it nice and toasted.

We're gonna add only two chile de arbols, really hot.

Turn these off. [sizzing]

Just add the water.

This will make the pepper softer.

So we're just gonna let it boil a little bit

and then we're gonna remove them.

So here you have the peppers.

Then we're gonna add the onion.

Little bit of oil. [sizzling]

I'm also gonna add some salt, make the onions sweat.

Clean the tomatillos.

It's like the bearded cousin of the tomato. [laughing]

And then plum tomatoes.

They're a little bit sweeter than the other tomatillos.

Some garlic here.

Cook this for 15-20 minutes.

We want to have a little sear in all of them.

Looks good so far.

Now we're going to add all of these to a blender.

Chilis, vinegar, some salt. [blending]

I think it's ready!

Tres chiles salsa. And now

let's prep my tortilla.

I'm using a traditional

flour tortilla. Flour tortilla.

If you want to fold it, you gotta have that flour.

Getting them from the store, out of a package is fine.

I'm going to make the flour tortilla from scratch.

So I'm gonna dump the flour, the salt.

Make sure the salt mixed in all the way.

Now I'm gonna add the vegetable fat.

The water little by little.

Take it out of the Robot Coupe.

Add some flour into your hands,

and then you wanna work the dough.

Dough doesn't stick to your hands, that means it's ready.

Now you let it sit for 15-20 minutes.

The longer you let it sit, the softer it will become.

First I'm gonna make sure it's nice and round.

Just like you're making a pizza.

Normally a burrito you will use a 12 flour tortilla.

I think that's it. I'm gonna warm it up.

[Gabrielle] Put a little heat on the stove top.

Circle goes in here.

I'm just trying to get it warm on both sides.

[Saul] You see the bubbles, start coming up?

And if it does brown a little bit, that's OK.

If it puffs up a little bit, that's OK.

You just don't want to burn it.

We don't want to cook it all the way

'cause we want to keep it nice and flexible

so we can roll the burrito. My tortilla is warm,

let's put this together.

First spread the sauce every which way.

Kinda leave room for the edges

because we're gonna be folding it.

The moment of truth, let's see.

Oh my God, it smells so good, I'm so excited!

I like to start with the rice

because it soaks up all the juices

and everything that's gonna be in there.

Next I'm going to do my refried beans

and pinto bean mixture.

Then I'm gonna do

a layer of cheese. Cheese,

I'm gonna start with the white cheddar.

And then we're going to add the Oaxaca cheese

Now I'm gonna take tortilla, put it on top,

press it down to make sure the cheese sticks,

then we're just gonna flip it, and there you have it.

And our avocado.

Some cilantro.

Making a burrito is a lot like jazz,

just throw it all in there.

Some beauty's gonna end up happening.

My favorite part, which is the short ribs!

Gonna start with chorizo.

You have the steak.

Keep it into one side because remember

you just want to roll it.

Also don't put a lot. Then you add your eggs.

Oh my gosh, hey eggs, how you doin'?

We forgot about you.

We have our caramelized onions, queso fresco.

Tres chiles salsa, avocado sauce, onions,

some cilantro, [speaking Spanish] chicharron.

Last but not least, our pineapple habanero salsa.

It's really important not to overfill your burrito

because then it's gonna be really hard to roll it up.

Oh yeah that's got too much stuff in it.

So sometimes you overstuff your burrito.

Good news gang, just eat what's in there

until there's enough to fold it.

I don't got time for shame, what's up Epicurious!

I'm gonna squeeze all of this in here,

and then I'm gonna take my outer corner

and tuck it, and roll it and, [gasping] OK, I did it.

Now if you want to secure your burrito,

just put it back to the pan and it will close it.

Now you need supreme confidence in your burrito

to cut it in half, I would never do this at home.

But I kinda want to brag, so I'm going to right now.

And here is my burrito.

And here is my burrito.

And here's my burrito.

[light music]

All right, let's give it a try!

[vocalizing] That's pretty good!

Oh my God, so good. [laughing]

The best part of my job. Great.

Right here. It's really good.

The meat's so tender!

Has a ton of flavor in it.

The sauce has really melded with the cheese

so it's just hitting you with some heat.

Yeah this is a great recipe.

I can taste the crispiness of the chicharron.

The spiciness from the tress chiles Morita.

It's just a dream come true in a burrito.

All three of our chefs made different

and delicious burritos. [dramatic music]

Brad made a breakfast burrito

with scrambled eggs as his protein.

They're easier than meat! Eggs cook very quickly.

The whites start to set around 140 degrees fahrenheit,

and the yolks at 150 degrees fahrenheit.

So if you're in a hurry

and want a very high quality protein, eggs are perfect.

Gabrielle added a complex protein

in the form of well-seasoned beef short ribs.

She cooked them slowly, first with a sear

followed by hours of braising.

Depending on how long you can resist

[laughing] eating them. Braising tenderizes meat

by converting the connective tissue collagen

into softer gelatin.

She used beer to deglaze her pan

after searing the short ribs.

It's a great beer. Saul used a combination

of hanger steak and chorizo.

Hanger steak from the short plate of the cow

is a coarser cut of meat with concentrated beef flavor.

Chorizo is a highly seasoned, slightly spicy

pork-based sausage.

It's semi-cured, so it's not as hard as cured chorizo

and requires cooking.

Saul took it out of the casing

so that it had a crumbly texture

which combined well with the finely diced steak.

[dramatic music]

Brad kept it simple with avocado, shredded cheddar

and chopped cilantro.

Avocado is high in monounsaturated fatty acids

and cheddar is higher in saturated fat.

Both add to satiety

which helps keep you fueled through the morning.

Gabrielle cooked onions which made them sweeter

through the caramelization reaction,

balancing the slight tang from her meat mixture.

She warmed whole pinto beans

and combined them with refried beans.

These have complex polysaccharides like raffinose

and stachyose that can add a creamy quality

and texture variation.

The white rice used is very neutral

and added a starchy component to her burrito.

Saul's filling included raw onion

which is savory and crunchy

from starches that soften when heated.

He also added chicharonnes which are seasoned,

deep fried pork skins that are intensely crunchy.

Just like potato chips. And two cheeses,

white cheddar and Oaxaca.

Oaxaca cheese has a stringy quality like mozzarella

and melts well because it's high in moisture.

[dramatic music]

Brad went with a simple but delicious mixture

of sriracha and sour cream.

The sour cream decreases the spice level of the hot sauce

by coating capsaicin chemoreceptors on our tongue.

For her salsa, Gabrielle brought sweetness

with grilled pineapple, and added heat from habanero chilis.

She added bright fresh notes with her cilantro

and bell pepper, and acidity with a squeeze of lime.

Saul made two sauces.

First he made a smooth sauce that was mostly avocado

with a touch of lime and cilantro

to cut the high amount of fatty acids.

He then made a tres chilis sauce

that packed a spicy, smoky heat

from its three different kinds of chilis.

He also included blackened onions and toasted peppers

which formed pyrazine compounds

that provided charred flavor.

He added tomatillos which are acidic and sharp

and plum tomatoes, which provided umami

from their glutamic acid. [dramatic music]

Brad and Gabrielle used store bought flour tortillas

which are soft and stretchy

and don't break at larger sizes like corn tortillas would.

They both lightly heated their tortillas

which increased their pliability.

Saul made his own flour tortilla

which allowed him to control its flavor and texture.

He used a wheat based, unbleached, all-purpose flour.

I used to be a pizza guy so

when I decide to start making flour tortillas,

I was like, ah, I got this. [dramatic music]

The rolling and structural integrity of the burrito

makes all the difference.

You want to layer so that favors and textures are balanced

while maximizing the ease of eating.

Brad anchored his burrito

by first spreading his sriracha sour cream on the tortilla.

This allowed the sauce to cover a greater surface area

than pouring it on at a later point would.

He then added his cheese, avocado, and cilantro and eggs,

but initially overstuffed his burrito.

Overstuffing can prevent the burrito from rolling

into a closed cylinder.

Or worse, it could cause your tortilla to burst.

Gabrielle started her assembly with rice

then added her beans, meat, and other ingredients.

Rice is starchy, causing friction with the tortilla,

and helps prevent everything else

from sliding around or spilling out.

Saul's assembly was unique.

He first melted cheddar cheese

and then added the tortilla on top.

The melted cheese adhered to the tortilla

acting as a moisture barrier and kept it from getting soggy.

Hopefully our chefs have shown you

some new tips to incorporate,

the next time you're rolling up burritos.