A Review of Frozen Burritos
The Burrito
The Origin of Burritos
One of the things that seems certain, is that the burrito is a 20th century invention that was brought to American from Mexico.
One site refers to the invention happening around 1910 when a food vendor wrapped contents in a tortilla. He traveled on a donkey (burro) and hence, the term burrito evolved from that.
Other sites talk about how the food was served in Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles in the 1930s and since then, has become quite the staple.
However, curiously enough, when one thinks about it, a burrito is just merely a sandwich turned around a bit. You have your meat and fillings covered in a bread device.
There are versions of the burrito everywhere, throughout the world. The egg roll and the gyro are just a couple that come to mind. Rolled sandwiches on flat-bread are popular in deli restaurants.
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I will be updating this periodically but would like to hear feedback from you folks....
The contenders
Brand
| Contents
| Covering
| Quality
| Price
| Overall
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tina's Red Hot Beef
| 7
| 8
| 7
| 10
| 8
|
Jose Ole's Beef and Jalapeno
| 8.5
| 8.5
| 8.5
| 7
| 8
|
Tina's Big Burrito (Green Chili)
| 6
| 7
| 6.5
| 7
| 6.5
|
El Monterey: Beef and Bean Red Chili
| 7
| 8
| 7
| 10
| 7.5
|
PJ's Organics
| 8
| 8
| 8.5
| 7.5
| 8
|
Tina's Red Hot Beef!
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Tina's Red Hot Beef!
Overall Rating: 8
This is probably one of the burritos they serve you in the food trucks or at the Quick-E-Bites at the corner.
It's relatively cheap - sometimes 3/$1.00 and cooks up nicely.
Like most of my food, I like it fried and that's how I prepared this one. I had to thaw it out first.
It came out nice and crisp. The tortilla was airly and delicious. The fillings however were minimal. I saw a few actual beans and then some small pieces of what looked like ground beef.
There was probably about two tablespoons of filling in all. One burrito isn't enough to satisfy your appetite, that's for sure.
Not bad overall. Great in a fix and you can't beat the price.
Jose Ole
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Jose Ole
Overall Rating: 8
Wow. This is a pretty good burrito.
Cooks up nice, crisp tortilla with just the right thickness.
Contents are rich and spicy and there are plenty of them.
Mine really resembled beef and the jalopaneos gave it some nice pizazz.
One of my favorites, this was was more like a Chimichunga and didn't fall short.
A little more pricey than other brands, but wroth the extra fifty cents or so you pay forit.
Will definitely go back to this one. Delicious.
Tina's Big Burrito (Green Chili)
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Tina's Big Burrito
Overall Rating: 6.5
Although this one was much larger in length, it didn't seem to have that much more as far as contents were concerned.
And what was there, was pretty bland. With the green chili flavor, I expected a little more flare, and some more sauce.
What was inside, was a dry, pasty substance that seemed like beans mashed with some sort of beefy paste.
It wasn't that bad, but I expected more. More flavor, more spice, some more stuff.
I'll stick with the red hot beef. I hope they have that in a Big Burrito size.
El Monterey: Beef and Bean Red Chili
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El Monterey: Red and Bean Red Chili
Overall Rating: 7.5
These are sold in packs of ten for about three dollars - and they taste like it.
They are not much larger than your average pizza roll - probably about half the size of most burritos. You cannot tell that because of the packaging.
I like mine deep fried and this one was pretty messy. Most of the cheese - if there was any - was fried out.
There were some small pieces of material that resembled ground beef and a few slivers of bean.
However, it wasn't bad. With a name like Red Chili I expected more flavor and spice but it wasn't there. But there wasn't much to taste to begin with. See the photo above.
This burrito was mostly tortilla.
Was it worth it? Given the price, these make a great snack. And if you have a family of four or more, it's convenient as well. You can bake these or stick them in the microwave if you wish.
Frying is pretty messy and most of the contents will probably leak out.
Let me know what you think about this one.
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PJ's Organics
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PJ's Organics
Overall Rating: 8
Well, this is a brand I had not heard of before. I fried it up after defrosting like I did the others.
The first thing that struck me was the aroma - it was very rich and deep and the fragrance was pleasant. The spices and the meat were very discernable.
When I cut into it large whole beans, slivers and chunks of meat and pieces of rice were obvious. There wasn't as much meat as I anticipated. I could also taste cilantro which is something I don't care too much for. However, it wasn't overbrearing.
Most of the good stuff seemed to be stuck down at one end of the burrito. It wasn't bad, but I much prefer the cheaper variety. This will definitely appeal to some people however. The tortilla was fresh and tasty, the smell of the spices alluring.
If you like beans in your burritos, then this will be a plus.
Worth a try.
© 2019 Finn
