Burrito Estilo Tijuana (California Burrito)

This is a Tijuana burrito. Baja California, the border, the late-night taquerias along Avenida Revolucion and the carts that feed the line at the San Ysidro crossing. Not San Diego. Not Mission District. Tijuana. The dish moved north because the workers and the students moved north, but the recipe was built on the Mexican side first.

The California burrito is a Noroeste burrito, which means it starts with the flour tortilla. Norte de Mexico is wheat country, has been since the Spanish brought wheat to Sonora in the 17th century, and the flour tortilla in Baja and Sonora is not a Tex-Mex compromise. It is the tortilla. A 12-inch sobaquera, paper thin, hand-stretched, is the proper vehicle. If you can only find supermarket flour tortillas, get the largest ones you can and warm them properly so they stay flexible.

The filling is the Tijuana street formula: carne asada chopped fine, papas fritas hot from the oil, queso asadero or Chihuahua melted onto the tortilla, guacamole, and pico de gallo. The papas are not a gimmick. They are the structural element. They give the burrito its body and its weight, and they are what makes it the California burrito and not a regular burrito de carne asada. Leave them out and you have made a different dish.

The carne asada itself carries Tijuana's specific accent: lime, garlic, beer, and a little soy sauce. The soy sauce is not American confusion. Tijuana has had a Chinese-Mexican community since the railroad era and the kitchens of the city absorbed soy sauce into the marinade generations ago. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and Baja's cocina speaks with the voices of everyone who built the city.