Drinks and Sides

I spent three months systematically adding crunchy elements to burritos and sides that did not have them, and tracking which combinations improved. My conclusion: a crunchy element in or alongside a burrito is not optional for satisfaction — it is structural. The best crunchy additions I tested: toasted pepitas (nutty, holds crunch even under moisture), fried tortilla strips (the classic), charred corn kernels (crunchy and smoky), crispy onion (adds a separate sweetness), pickled jalapeño slices (crunch and acid together). The worst: croutons (wrong flavour), raw nuts except pepitas (too dense), anything coated in batter (gets soft within 2 minutes). The ranking: pepitas > charred corn > pickled jalapeño > fried tortilla strips > crispy onion.

Elote (corn on the cob) and esquites (corn kernels in a cup) are the same dish in different formats, and I want to make the case for esquites as the ultimate burrito side. The base: charred corn kernels, crema, lime, chile powder, cotija crumbled, salt. In a cup or on a plate. Add a little epazote if you have it. It works as a side because it is cold or room temperature, which contrasts with the warm burrito. It is acidic, which cuts the richness. It has crunch and creaminess in the same bite. It takes 15 minutes to make and improves every burrito plate I have served it with. This is my standard side when I am making burritos for other people. It never fails.

A question I get asked often: what is the actual difference between mezcal and tequila and does it matter in cooking? Both are made from agave. Tequila must be made from blue agave, primarily in Jalisco. Mezcal can be made from over 30 agave varieties and the production involves roasting the agave hearts over wood or in a pit, which creates the characteristic smokiness. For drinking alongside food: tequila for its clean agave flavour with citrus-based drinks; mezcal for its smoke and complexity with anything rich and fatty — carnitas, dark moles, anything with lard. For cooking: tequila in lighter applications (ceviche, brines, salsas where smoke would be wrong). Mezcal in marinades and braises where the smokiness will complement rather than compete.

Frijoles charros are whole pinto beans cooked with pork products (bacon, chorizo, sometimes ham hock) and aromatics in their broth. They are a side dish but in practice they are the dish I most want to eat at the table. I make them by starting with bacon in a pot, rendering the fat, adding sofrito, then adding soaked pinto beans with their water, additional stock, epazote, and letting it go low and slow for 3 hours. The final addition is a small amount of diced tomato and fresh chile, added in the last 30 minutes so they do not fully break down. These served alongside burritos means every person at the table spoons them over everything. They are both the side dish and the thing that ties the meal together.

Queso fundido is a melted cheese dish that should be separate from the burrito rather than folded into it. It is a side, an appetiser, a dipping situation. When it is inside a burrito it loses what makes it special — the pull, the crater in the centre, the mushroom or chorizo sitting on top. The version I make: Oaxacan cheese (quesillo) shredded, in a cast iron skillet under the broiler for 6 minutes until bubbling and starting to brown at the edges. Roasted poblano strips over the top. Warm corn tortillas for dipping, separately. This is not the same dish as cheese inside a burrito. Serve it first, before the burritos, and everyone is better for it.

Atole is a warm, thick drink made from masa, water, and sweetener — often flavoured with chocolate (in which case it becomes champurrado), or with fruit, vanilla, or cinnamon. It is a traditional morning drink in Mexico and it is unlike anything else. The texture is the thing that surprises people: it is somewhere between a drink and a thin porridge, thickened by the starch from the masa. It coats the palate. It is warming in a way that does not feel sugary. Basic recipe: dissolve masa harina in cold water first (prevents lumps), add to hot water with piloncillo and a cinnamon stick, stir constantly as it thickens. For champurrado, add a disc of Mexican chocolate. This is what I drink on cold weekends when I'm making tamales.

I cook every Sunday for the week. This is my side dish batch process that takes about 90 minutes and produces five days of burrito-ready sides. Rice: a double batch of Mexican red rice. Takes 35 minutes including the toast and cook. Refrigerates for 5 days without quality loss. Beans: a full pot of pinto beans from dried. 2 hours on the stove but mostly unattended. I make this the centrepiece of the Sunday session. Pickled jalapeños and red onion: 15 minutes active. They keep 2 weeks. Charred corn: 10 minutes. Refrigerates 4 days. Everything except the crema and fresh avocado is done on Sunday. Weeknight assembly takes 5 minutes.

Agua fresca has a reputation as something you buy at a market or a taqueria. I thought the same until I made it at home for the first time. The process: blend your chosen fruit with water, strain, sweeten lightly, add lime. Hibiscus: steep dried hibiscus in hot water, strain, sweeten, chill. Done in 15 minutes. Tamarind: soak tamarind paste in warm water, break it up, strain, sweeten, add lime and a pinch of salt. Cucumber jalapeño: blend, strain, lime, salt. Extremely cold, very refreshing, goes with anything spicy. All three of these took less time than going to the shops and they are better than anything I have bought.

After years of using bottled sour mix I finally made a margarita from scratch: two parts blanco tequila, one part fresh lime, three-quarter part Cointreau, half a teaspoon of agave syrup. Shaken hard with ice until the shaker hurts to hold. The difference from a mix-based version is not marginal. The fresh lime has a volatile brightness that no bottled product captures. The agave rounds the edges without adding sweetness the way sugar syrup does. This took me four minutes to make. I have no excuse for ever using mix again.

Made this for a party of forty last month and learned that the home recipe does not scale linearly. At home you soak rice and almonds overnight, blend, strain, sweeten to taste. At volume, sweetening to taste is where it goes wrong, because you taste it warm at the start and serve it cold four hours later, and cold blunts sweetness by a noticeable amount. I underdid the sugar by about a third and had to fix it in the jug in front of people. So: sweeten it, chill a sample, taste the sample, then adjust. Not the other way round. Also strain twice. Once is fine at home and gritty at scale.