Inform the family you've got chili simmering on the stovetop -- you won't have to call them twice to the dinner table. Tell the family you're making chili-cheese burritos for dinner -- you won't have to call them at all. They'll all be sitting around the table waiting to eat. Tick, tock. Once assembled, if individually wrapped in plastic or in aluminum foil, they're great to take to school or the office. They reheat perfectly in the microwave or in the oven, and for tailgate, I reheat the foil-wrapped packets on hot grill grids. The chili-cheese burrito is how one gets to eat chili in a sandwich.
A bit about burritos: A burrito is a portable sandwich found in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine. It consists of a large flour tortilla that has been wrapped or folded to fully encase a filling. Before serving, it gets lightly-grilled or steamed, to soften the tortilla. Refried beans, Mexican rice and meat (or a meat mixture) are typically the only fillings used, and, burritos are served unembellished, in order for them to be eaten with the hands. In Spanish, "burrito" means "little donkey", coming from the word "burro", which means "donkey".
During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1921), in the El Paso area, a street-food vendor named Juan Mendez sold tacos at his street stand. Because of the war, for safety sake, it became necessary to continually pack up and move his stand/street-cart from place to place. He began using his donkey to transport him and his food. In order to keep the food warm as it traveled, Juan had the idea of wrapping it in large flour tortillas. His food invention became so popular, consumers began traveling to him from other places around the Mexican border in search of:
The "burrito", or: "the food from the little donkey"!
Chili-cheese burrito, it's all in the name: chili or chili con carne and shredded cheddar cheese encased in a large flour tortilla -- absolutely nothing more, nothing less.
Back in the 1980's, my kids loved Taco Bell's Chilito (the name was later changed to the Chili-Cheese Burrito when the company became enlightened to the derogatory Spanish definition of the word "chilito" -- an embarrassing marketing blunder to say the least). I found it to be barely palatable.
The chilito and the chili-cheese burrito contained a homogenous mixture of mystery-ground-beef seemingly pressure-cooked in some sort of dry-seasoning-blend mixed with water and hot sauce -- it had the consistency of something one would expect to come out of a can. Enough said. If you're one of the many in search of a copycat of their "secret-menu" recipe (even though discontinued, it's said Taco Bell still makes these upon request), you're in the wrong place.
For each chili-cheese burrito:
1 large 9 1/2"-10" burrito-sized soft flour tortilla
3/4 cup finely-shredded Mexican-style cheddar-Jack cheese blend
2 tablespoons minced, fresh cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons very-thinly sliced scallions
1/2 cup thick* Texas-steak chili or chili con carne
1 tablespoon corn, peanut or vegetable oil
pico de gallo (or salsa fresca), Mexican crema (or sour cream) and/or avocado crema (or guacamole), for accompaniment and/or garnish
* Note: In order to pick chile-cheese burritos up in your hands to eat them sandwich-style, the chili needs to be thick (not overly juicy or soupy). If that is the case, stir 1 tablespoon ground restaurant-style corn tortilla chips into every 1 cup warm chili. After a few minutes, the chips will absorb the excess moisture and thicken the chili. Still soupy? Add more ground tortilla chips.
~Step 1. To assemble each burrito, place one tortilla on a plate or flat work surface. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the surface, followed by the cilantro and scallions. Spoon and mound the chili, cold or slightly-warm but not steaming-hot, in a tubular shape, in the center of the tortilla. Repeat this process until all burritos are assembled.
~Step 2. Place oil in a 10"-12" nonstick skillet and use a paper towel to spread a thin-coating of oil across the bottom and slightly up the sides. Lift and place one assembled tortilla into skillet. Over low heat, cook until cheese has melted enough to adhere to the surface, less than 1 minute. Remove from heat and return tortilla to plate or flat work surface.
~Step 3. To wrap the burrito, fold the left and right sides of the tortilla up and over the chili. Next, fold the side of the tortilla closest to you up and over the top. Turn the plate around (so the open side is facing you), then lift the last flap up and over the top. Roll the tortilla over, so that it sits seam side down. To finish cook the burritos, tightly-wrap each burrito in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and heat in the microwave for 45-60 seconds, or, in a 350º oven for 6-8 minutes.
Remove from microwave or oven & slice into three ASAP...
... & gobble 'em up garnished w/your favorite toppings:
That's a Wrap: Big Beautiful Chili-Cheese Burritos: Recipe yields instructions to make 1 large burrito/3 pieces/1 serving.
Special Equipment List: 10"-12" nonstick skillet; paper towels; 1-cup measure; plastic wrap or aluminum foil
Cook's Note: Hamburger Helper entered the marketplace in 1970, and Chili-Mac Hamburger Helper entered in 1971. Packaged by General Mills and sold as part of the Betty Crocker line of products, the mascot is a "helping hand" named "Lefty" -- a four-fingered, left-handed, white glove with a face. Each box contains dried pasta and packets of powdered sauce and seasonings. For my scratch-made recipe: ~ Walking Dead: It's Chili & Mac and Cheese Together ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2019)
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