It’s A Wrap!

BRIAN: Hey Jo and Nathan. We’ve been talking a lot about food, but I didn’t want to just talk about food. I wanted to eat some food.

NATHAN: Will you put that down? We have a show to do.

[LAUGHTER]

BRIAN: Very funny, Nathan. But you might be surprised to hear that I actually did some hard hitting reporting on one of my favorite American dishes, the burrito.

JOANNE: Well now wait a minute there, Brian. Isn’t technically a Mexican food?

BRIAN: Joanne, always the historian. You’ve certainly gotten to the crux of things, as usual. But I don’t want to say more. Can we just roll the tape?

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

BRIAN: Hola. Soy Brian.

PATI: Hey Brian. How are you?

BRIAN: Como estas?

PATI: Nice to meet you.

BRIAN: Ramona? We paid a visit to Pati Jinich the host of Pati’s Mexican Table on PBS. Thank you for having us.

PATI: Of course.

BRIAN: Beautiful house.

PATI: Oh, thank you. Thank you. It’s a little bit not Mexican outside, but once you come in, it feels very–

BRIAN: She takes us into her kitchen and picks up something that looks kind of like a bell pepper.

PATI: So this is a poblano chile. And it’s my favorite chile, because it’s adorable. Just look at it, it’s like super curvy, it’s chubby, it’s shiny.

BRIAN: You mean you play favorites with your chile?

PATI: This is my favorite, really, of them– well, no. The chipotle, too. No, I don’t know. I mean, I love the poblanos. And so this is fresh. And then–

BRIAN: Jinich is passionate about Mexican food. She grew up in Mexico City and she’s lived in the US for 20 years now. So I was anxious to hear her thoughts on Mexican food in the US, especially the American burrito.

PATI: I don’t know who decided to add everything into the burrito, which was the meat, the seasoned meat or chicken or whatever protein. And then, oh, if you’re going to eat the rice and the beans, why don’t we throw it in there too? So it’s the rice and beans and the guacamole. And then these other American garnishes are added. You know, the sour cream and the cheddar cheese and more salsa. And I think that Americans absolutely love the burritos and Mexicans look at the American burritos and think, oh my god, what did they do to this dish, you know? So I want to show you the Mexican way.

BRIAN: So you might have found something like the burrito in the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadors introduced wheat flour to the native diet.

PATI: So in the South of Mexico, everybody was making corn tortillas. And there was no way to add flour tortillas to that repertoire, because the South of Mexico adores it’s corn tortillas. But from the center to the north, they started adapting the tortilla to the flour tortilla, which was also a sort of variation of the pan arabe, or pita bread, that the Spanish had brought with them.

BRIAN: It turns out the American burrito is a direct descendant of the Mexican burrita.

PATI: Always made with a flour tortilla that is fresh. You know, they’re just made or from the tortilleria. And it’s always heated, it’s never served cold or as a wrap. And it only has one ingredient, but the ingredient is one exquisite ingredient. You know, it’s not a piece of meat that you throw in there. It’s chilorio, for example, which is what I made for you, which is pork butt or shoulder.

You have to use meat that still has fat in it. And it has orange juice and water. And so the meat first cooks in that until it’s completely cooked and it starts caramelizing. And then, you shred that meat and you finish it off in an ancho chile sauce or adobo. And the ancho chile sauce or adobo has ancho chiles. You have to remove the stem.

And then, after you remove the stem, you open it up and then you let all of the seeds out. White onion, garlic cloves, parsley, oregano, a judicious amount of cumin, black pepper, and vinegar. I like to add a splash of apple cider vinegar. And then you just let that cook until the liquid has become very thick and the meat has really absorbed it. And then, you have this.

BRIAN: Pati rolled the chilorio in a flour tortilla. And when I finally got to taste it– Mmm. That’s amazing.

PATI: What does it taste like?

BRIAN: It tastes succulent and spicy and the flavors just keep exploding. They’re really absolutely amazing.

PATI: So some people will also add some avocado slices on the side or guacamole. But the thing is when you don’t pack everything together, you can really shine a light on the taste of the chilorio and a well-made flour tortilla. When you throw everything in there, you know, you can’t appreciate, I think–

BRIAN: It’s almost like a philosophy for life.

PATI: Right, right. Mm-hmm.

BRIAN: Patty, I must tell you, this is really the most amazing food.

PATI: And this is really low-key Mexican food. I mean, this is nothing sophisticated. This is really, you know, burritos or burritas made with chilorio or machaca are really workers, you know, construction site workers–

BRIAN: Right, the guys doing your street.

PATI: Yeah. But there’s this pride, you know, for all Mexicans, that no matter who you are or where you come from, food is fabulous. You know?

BRIAN: There was one final step in my burrito investigation. We brought a pork burrito from a popular national chain– which I will not name– for a taste test. You know, for scientific rigor.

PATI: I’m game.

BRIAN: OK, let’s open this up. I’ll give you instructions too. First, you open the bag.

PATI: Right.

BRIAN: Then you– many would throw the bag out their car window. No, I’m just kidding. We would never do that. So already, you can see the difference. This is gigantic. Gargantuan, you might say. Even after we cut it in half.

PATI: The tortilla is probably the size of like a pizza, right?

BRIAN: This is the burrito that ate Chicago, apparently.

PATI: Oh my gosh.

BRIAN: Right?

PATI: OK.

BRIAN: You can say– and mind you, whoever assembled this didn’t begin to put all the possibilities in yet. There are what, at least five, six, seven different ingredients.

PATI: I want to taste the meat that went in here.

BRIAN: OK.

PATI: OK, let me see.

BRIAN: You know, this is the first time I’ve seen you stop smiling since we walked into the house.

PATI: I don’t love it. This, I think, is like if you’re starving and they give this to you, you eat it and you’re thankful. You know? But I don’t think this is something that you stop and sit down for.

BRIAN: Right. Entirely forgettable.

PATI: Right. But I’m very grateful that you brought it.

[LAUGHTER]

BRIAN: Pati Jinich hosts the award-winning PBS show Pati’s Mexican Table. You can find her recipe for chilorio burritas on our website at backstoryradio.org.

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