What makes it a burrito?

Now I am no expert on burritos but after my trip to California, my tastebuds cannot forget how delicious these wrapped goodies are. During my trip, I learned a lot and it was all because of a friend who is, what I would consider, a burrito lover/guru. I learned a lot from her and want to share with you, my wisdom.

Living in Vancouver, there are many restaurants that will label wrapped food as a burrito but no one here is able to master the soft, chewy and elastic flour tortillas. As you can see in my other posts, tortillas are not hard to make but does take practice and skill to master. It is something that I would like to try out again because I do miss eating them. Restaurants will tend to use the store bought kinds and fill them with a bunch of items making it more like a wrap then a burrito.

(They called this a burrito but it wasn’t saucy enough, had too much healthy greens and the wrap was not quite there. Not a burrito!)

If you are ever traveling to the US, please take a look at this handy Burrito Bracket. The Burrito Bracket was created by a group of burrito experts tasted over 67,000 burritos to make a list of 64 of the top burritos in America. Lucky for me many of the best burrito places are found in California where I would be for a week. In a span of about 5 days I tried about 20 burritos.

From this Burrito adventure, I learned what a burrito should or should not be and how you can tell a burrito from a wrap.

Burritos is a mexican dish and usually contains beans, rice and meat. There are many types of burritos from Mission style burritos to wet burritos but they all come with something in common a delicious flour tortilla. A well made burrito is able to hold the saucy filling without tearing and breaking. The flour tortilla should also stay chewy and elastic even if it is grilled (which is how I prefer my burritos). It should also be wrapped well so that the filling does not fall out at the end. A burrito should not make a huge mess.

Another criteria on the trip is the way the burrito was wrapped and filled. The filling should be evenly distributed into every mouthful and the pieces of meat should not be big and stick between your teeth. The meat shouldn’t be overly spiced and be cooked in such a way that it is tender. If the burritos have beans, the beans should be silky and buttery.

Some of my favorite fillings include guacomole, avocado, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa and other types of vegetables.

Burrito fillings don’t have to be overly complicated. One of my favorite burritos just had refried beans and cheese.

Hopefully, this gives you a brief overview of burritos and what makes them so great. Vancouver – please learn from our neighbor in the south and make some tasty changes. (On a side note La Taqueria has come out with burritos and has come pretty close to making a great burrito).