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Comment by humanistbot | Hacker News Reader

A properly wrapped burrito doesn't need edible adhesive tape.

Edit: Also, does the photo of the tape look a little like mold?

For those curious what a properly wrapped burrito is like: I was taught to do it as follows (worked at a burrito joint, not Chipotle):

- Lay out your tortilla flat with all ingredients on top. Try not to overstuff for the first time you try this because getting it right takes a bit of practice

- Place the tortilla in front of you, ideally positioning the ingredients in a line running perpendicular to your field of vision (straight ahead).

- Take each hand, make the "sign of the horns"[0], except stick your thumb out instead of placing it against your fingers like in the article.

- Gently fold inward the left and right sides of the tortilla about 1 inch/2.5cm (this is slightly variable depending on tortilla size and ingredient stuffing, but a good rule of thumb) using your horn fingers and slide your thumbs under the area of the tortilla closest to you.

- Use your thumbs to push up and roll the tortilla away from you, trying to position the edge being rolled such that it grabs all of the ingredients when you close the burrito. Keep your horn fingers in the tortilla during this step and roll as tightly as possible.

- Once you have rolled the tortilla such that it covers all ingredients, push the top of the tortilla back towards you as tightly as you can before removing your horn fingers and then use your hands to finish tucking and wrapping as tightly as possible.

If done correctly, you should have a wrapped burrito that can be held and eaten without any sort of wrapping or worry about ingredients falling out from either side.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_horns

Do you have a video of this being executed as described? I lack burrito shells and filling, and am having a hard time following your description.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlirQ2SeGTw and many others.

The key is to not overfill the damned tortilla. The top and bottom "flaps" should be able to fold down to the middle of the ingredients. If they can't at least fold down that far your burrito will deconstruct itself mid-meal. I like to create a polar burrito where the bottom flap reaches past the ingredient center to give more surface to attach to the side flaps. I'm ok if the top flap isn't super secure as it's eaten in the first two bites.

An inedible wrap should not be the only thing keeping the burrito together. Biting the burrito will cause it to leak inside that wrap then it makes a mess. Overstuffing a burrito might give you more food but at the expense of the burrito being an entirely self contained unit of perfection.

Also if you've got store bought tortillas stick a damp paper towel between them and microwave them for 10-20 seconds on a plate. You'll get a partial steam and they'll be more pliable and you'll get an easier wrapping experience and a superior burrito over a tortilla fresh out of the package.

Concur:

- Absolutely have to nuke the tortilla or it won’t flex. 45 seconds with the cheese (UK grated 4-cheese blend from As/co works great) until it just goes melty. Have the fillings ready and work fast, it stiffens right up.

- Don’t overstuff. UK “white wraps” are too damn small :|

The steamers they use at burrito shops make the flour tortillas soft and flexible so they can wrap, fold, & stretch without breaking, and the steam moistened flour sticks to itself better when wrapped.

Steamers are well and good but not typically found in people's kitchens. Microwaving pre-packaged tortillas is an easy way to make them burrito-capable. Even "good" packaged tortillas benefit from the microwave treatment.

My home method: keep a spray bottle handy or, in a pinch, dribble some water along the edge of the tortilla while it’s in the pan. Can get a very tight seal if you then roll it over or spread with a spoon/spatula.

I'll have to try out a spray bottle. I usually go for the microwave because I usually am scooping the meat out of the pan I cooked it in. I microwave the tortillas on a plate I'm eventually using to serve them. Everywhere I've lived saved my current house has had cramped kitchens so I'm used to a cramped meal prep area. I optimize for fewer dishes as I've never had the room and I hate doing dishes post-meal anyways.

I'm curious to try the spray bottle as I'm sure it'll do a better job steaming tortillas than my microwave technique.

With a small tortilla you can eschew structural purity and leave the top of the burrito open. In such cases if the bottom flap can fold up 1/3rd the way from the bottom on the ingredients you're probably good. Then wrap the sides in tightly and plate with the solid "back" of the burrito down. It'll last long enough to serve without the contents spilling. If wrapped well enough you can still eat it with one hand.

This was invented by university students, who are known to fill burritos past theoretical limits

These are the keys. You need a larger tortilla and or a lower amount of filling than you probably realize.

Also, after you build that burrito, you can optionally toast it in a pan with some oil to get the exterior crispy and rigid.

The first one? It's colored with dye to be visible, the second one is what the actual tape would look like.

It does look like mold with the added dye. I'm sure they were more concerned with the technical feasibility of using it with food safe dye than how it looked— which is fine. That's what engineers do.

But that's why culinary school curriculums are a combination of art school and a trade school rather than a branch of applied chemistry, and why industrial food manufacturers employ chefs in test kitchens rather than having food scientists do it all. Aesthetics aren't a technical problem to be overcome— it's an entirely different mode of reasoning about something. Deep understanding of the underlying mechanics isn't required— it might actually be a hinderance. I'll bet doctors have an exceptionally hard time with life drawing, for example.

So? Evidently people who properly wrap their tacos "all the time, every time", aren't the target of such an invention.

Once you learn how to do it it’s very easy, and even helps spread the burrito contents along the inside.

People really should just learn to wrap their burritos it’s fun and the dense bottom park provides a wonderful texture.

But I assume this invention lets you make much larger burritos for the same size tortilla, which is pretty cool.

Ah, indeed. I am a fan of larger burritos.

They are targets. You need to think ahead. Learned knowledge is used space. By replacing knowledge with tape you have effectively eliminated millions of gigabytes of memory wasted by thousands of burrito wrappers across the world holding this useless knowledge in their heads.

While current knowledge can't be unlearned the skill of proper burrito wrapping is similar to the skill of dialing a rotary phone or using manual gear shift in a car. The future of burrito wrapping is via tape. You sound like my grandpa telling me how he walked 10 feet to school everyday instead of riding a Segway.

> using manual gear shift in a car.

Which is useful everywhere but suburbia which is why it's still popular and mandatory in driver's education in Europe?

But not popular anywhere in the US whether it's suburbia or not. Japan still uses Fax machines the same way Europe still uses manual.

The US was behind the rest of the world with chip-n-pin by nearly two decades. That has nothing to do with it. The fact is manual can do things that automatic can't and it's just dangerous to have the latter in some situations.

Japan is behind on fax machines. The US was behind on chip-n-pin. Isn't that evidence for the possibility that manual is also a sort of hold back? I don't see how the chip-n-pin example helps your thesis.

Anyway these are my overall thoughts on manual: https://www.cars.com/articles/why-manual-transmissions-are-d...

Also, In what situation is manual safer then automatic?

Depending on user (the burrito maker) to perform correctly is a major engineering mistake

by that definition, everything is a mistake

burrito is just the word for doing it correctly.

Certain shops I go to consistently do it right. Chipotle does it consistently badly. They might have high turnover due to poor working conditions and can't keep up with training people to do it well. So they'd benefit from this kind of aid.

I imagine university dining halls often aren't "properly" wrapping their burritos and may be part of the motivation behind this invention :)

Normally when asking for a burrito you tell them the toppings one by one, never all at once. Withholding information is the best way to get an overstuffed burrito and your money's worth.

They're hard to wrap properly, so tape might help.

Double wrap is the key

this guy chipotles

If you are referring to Chipotle as your northstar for what a burrito is, I'm sorry but I'm not sure you are qualified to weigh in on burrito construction?

Chipotle is to burritos as Little Caesars is to pizza. I mean technically maybe(?), but whats the point?

> "Chipotle is to burritos as Little Caesars is to pizza."

yah, the best burritos and tacos are from a street cart on the corner or a little hut restaurant, otherwise it's probably manufactured food, no matter what the brand tries to sell you, since the overhead costs (rent, especially) drown out all the other concerns like taste.

i personally wouldn't want this tape on my burrito, because i tear off all the excess tortilla to get a better yumminess ratio.

I've noticed some variation between locations, but when it's good it's great. It's all fresh, well-seasoned, high quality ingredients. How is it anything comparable to the cheapest pizza you can buy? Maybe Taco Bell but definitely not Chipotle.

Pizza is like sex - even when it's bad, its good.

So, are burritos the same way?

This is why I prefer ordering with the app, they see the whole list of what you want and don't have to go through the mental effort of wondering how much of what to use as they don't know how many stuffings you want.

The whole point is to get them to overstuff it though. That's why you make it seem at first like you're not going to want much but then you ask for everything you can possibly get, one by one.

"A bowl"

"White rice"

"Black beans"

"Oh yeah, some veggies too"

"Actually maybe let's add some sofritas to that"

etc.

That said -- I usually go with a bowl instead of burrito, makes their life and my life easier

That requires me to learn a skill though (burrito wrapping).

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