Mission-Style Burritos

You won't find burritos like this in Mexico. They are a variation that was born and bred in the Mexican-influenced Mission District of San Francisco. This is the fuel that gets a bike messenger up San Francisco hills all day long. This is what gets the local college students through the night.

To create a Mission-style burrito start with a large flour tortilla. Add rice and beans, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, hot peppers (if you wish), choice of meat or not and roll that bad boy up so it's about the size of the average adult's forearm. You don't usually eat Mission-style burritos if you're not that hungry, although that second half can make for some great leftovers later. Watch out as the "regular" size tends to be big and the "super" size tends to be enormous.

Everyone in town has their favorite haunt and favorite burritos so be ready to do a lot of tasting if you set out to find your true ideal.

Here are some qualities that I think are essential to a good Mission-style burrito. Most Mission-style that go bad have missed a few of these things.

Beans - you should have a choice: re-fried, black or pinto. And they shouldn't have a smokey or barbecue aftertaste to them.

Moist, not wet - too many bad burritos are really wet and drippy. The beans should be drained well and the salsa shouldn't be swimming. You should be able to eat a burrito in your hands without juices flowing out of them. Also, the rice should be moist, not crunchy and dried-out.

Tightly-wrapped - the correct shape for a Mission-style burrito is a really tightly-rolled log. Too many burrito jockeys roll them too loosely, or just sort of fold over the tortilla. If your Mission-style burrito has been rolled up properly, you can eat it sitting on a park bench or while walking without it coming apart on you. You should be able to slowly peel away bits of the foil outer wrappping and eat your way down.

Correct proportioning of ingredients - first the rice, then the beans, then lettuce, then salsa, guacamole, sour cream and whatever else. When tightly rolled, this puts the wetter ingredients in the middle of the burrito with the more absorbing ones on the outside. Tightly-rolled, this is what makes for a well-shaped and non-dripping burrito. You don't want the salsa, guacamole and sour cream to be on the outside as they immediately escape as you peel back the foil. Also, the wetter toppings should not be added in the same amounts as the drier ones. They should accent the flavors, not make up the bulk of the filling.