by Rae Lynne Morvay

Created on: January 05, 2008   Last Updated: July 08, 2008

At one time I was a manager of a tex mex style restaurant. At the restaurant we would often add the meat, cheese, sauce and beans to the tortilla, place it in the steamer, briefly steam it, then pull it off the steamer then we would add the produce and sour cream and then fold. This of course produced a perfectly heated tortilla and nicely melted cheese, and heated ingredients.

Unfortunately most of us do not have such a steamer in our home kitchens. We must resort to a skillet, griddle, or microwave to heat our tortillas and make them pliable. Often the ingredients in a home kitchen are added after the tortillas is sufficiently heated and pliable.

Some people prefer to just stuff and fold an unheated burritto and that is fine, but I find that they are easier to fold and taste better if you heat them up and get them more pliable fistr.

If using a skillet or a griddle you would simply place the tortilla on top of it or inside it. Allow it to heat for around a minute on each side. It should then be pliable enough to fold.

The easiest and quickest method of heating a tortilla is by using the microwave. Place tortilla on microwave safe plate, place a napkin or paper towel over it and microwave it for 15 to 30 seconds depending on the strength of your microwave.

Now your tortilla is ready to fill and fold.

Add your ingredients to the center of the burrito. You must be careful to not add too much, you need to be able to actually fold and close up the burrito. You should also not go end to end with the ingredients. You will need about an inch on each end for rolling.

Try to think of the wrapping as having 4 sides even though it is a circle. Two of the opposing sides need to be fold in, and the other two opposing sides need to be rolled.

Take each end and fold it in. You should fold them in to about the edge of the ingredients. After you do this you will then take one of the sides of the burrito, making sure the ends stay put. You will roll or fold that one side of burrito, if you want to make a nice professional looking burrito, tuck a portion of the side in at the other edge of the ingredients. Then continue to roll till it is completely closed. If you just want a basic roll, simply just roll up the burrito the main thing is making sure that you keep the ends folded.

Microwaving the whole thing for about 30 seconds after you roll it will help keep it together nicely, but this is not necessary.

Many people don't realize that folding a burrito is very much like folding an egg roll, except an egg-roll needs an egg wash to hold the won ton wrapper in place once it is rolled. So if you have ever wrapped an egg roll, the method is very similiar.

As you can see folding a burrito is very simple. The most difficult part of doing it is making sure the ends stay folded.

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