Lets talk about huevos rancheros, which shall be referred to herein as huevos rancheros, so as to avoid lots of annoying coding.
Is there some “standard” way that huevos rancheros is made, or can it be any eggie dish with a Mexican flair?
I make it in a number of different ways, depending on my motivation level and what I happen to have in the fridge. For example, today I made super-lazy huevos rancheros: I took two eggs + two egg whites, beat in a big spoonful of store-brand salsa and some cumin, and used that mixture to make a cheddar omelet. I ate it with more salsa and some tortilla chips. Yum yum! But the thought plagued me: Was it really huevos rancheros that I was eating, or was it just an omelet with some salsa mixed in?
you will need (give or take)
(per person)
2 eggs, cooked sunny side up or over easy.
4 corn tortillas
warmed up salsa (we make it, but you can use store brought if you prefer)
oil
Put oil in pan.
place tortillas in hot oil.
leave in hot oil until ‘translucent’
pat off excess oil.
place on plate, place eggs on top.
pour salsa on top of that.
sprinkle with cheese (if you like it that way. I don’t, but mr babs does).
(Pit word) you. (Pit word) you all. It’s just after midnight, I have eggs and salsa but that’s it, the nearest Mexican restaurant is at least five hours away and involves crossing an international border, and you have to start this.
Well, at least I can still get beer so I can have a hangover tomorrow, which is a part of the huevos rancheros experience as I know and love it.
BNB has it right. Tortilla (lightly fried but still soft) + fried eggs + sauce. But here there is a sauce that is made especially for huevos rancheros.
The recipe that BNB linked to calls for canned tomatoes, which are seldom found in Mexico, plus fresh are available year round.
Eggs scrambled with tomatoes, onions and green chiles are called huevos a la mexicana.
I dunno where you all come from, but in my ex-neck o’ the woods, the defining bit of food that made the difference between eggs-n-salsa and huevos rancheros are BEANS. Ya GOTTA have beans to make it huevos rancheros.
1 slighly fried tortilla
topped with beans in a bit of sauce
2-3 fried eggs on top
sauce (salsa or green chili or ranchero)
cheese
And if you love huevos (blanquitos) rancheros (which I’ve also seen made by poaching the egg in the salsa and then served as described by BNB), you’ll probably like Enchiladas Montadas. (Fried egg served on top of a small stack of flat red chile chese enchiladas.)
Best huevos rancheros I ever had was at a restaurant across Central from UNM in Albuquerque, and rather than salsa they covered the eggs in a layer of deep red chile pequin paste Mmmmm!
Lessee…slightly corny western-cowboy name… Frontier? That sounds right. Frontier Diner. Around the corner from the Purple something-or-other and the head shop
Aha! I’m glad I asked. I haven’t been eating huevos rancheros after all. Rather I’ve been eating eggs and salsa, or sometimes huevos a la mexicana.
I don’t think I’ve ever had real huevos rancheros. I’ll have to try it. This month’s Bon Appetit is devoted to Mexico, so there are some good recipes in there for tortillas and sauce. Would it be an inexcusable corruption to have the eggies scrambled instead of sunny-side-up? Unadulterated egg yolks make me queasy.
Do whatever you want! It won’t really be Huevos Rancheros, without fried eggs* (anymore than you could have, say…Eggs Benedict without poached eggs), but it should still be yummy and you should be able to get the idea.
Fenris
*Well, it won’t be. The cooking method of the egg is crucial to Huevos Rancheros, as the yolk is supposedta mix with the salsa making a sauce. Without that, it just ain’t Huevos. Don’t make me start my “Words mean things” lecture. I’m not afraid to use it, you know!
True. The reason I linked to that site is because I tried to get a recipe that would easily be reproduced by someone not familiar or who has access to Mexican ingredients. I figured it was ‘close enough’.
There is another egg dish similar to huevos rancheros called huevos divorciados. It follows the same tortilla + eggs + sauce routine but you place one egg on one end of the plate, the other egg on the other end. Cover one with green sauce and the other with ranchera sauce and place a serving of beans between them. It is best to use an oval plate.
Also huevos en rabo de mestiza are sometimes confused with rancheros. The eggs are poached in the sauce which is also tomato based but with strips of grilled poblano chiles and sauteed onions.
Chilaquiles are often served montados and sopa de arroz is sometimes served with un huevo frito.
I need to learn more about Mexican cooking. I have Rick Bayless’s book, but I’m not inspired by it, for some reason. Maybe I’ll try some things out of that new Bon Appetit.
Any cookbook suggestions for a gringa? I have plenty of access to ingredients.)
A little easy egg dish that a friend showed me how to make that is kind of a Mexican thing (her husband is Mexican):
fried eggs served on warm corn tortillas topped as follows:
heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a frying pan on medium to med. high heat - angle the pan so that the oil collects on one side directly over heat.
add crushed red pepper, chili powder, cumin, maybe a little garlic powder, and some dried parsley ( I just eyeball the amounts based on past experience) quickly crush everything together, using a wooden spoon or whatever, don’t let anything burn.
Pour over eggs for eggy spicy goodness. Serve with frijoles and maybe a couple of roasted anaheims on the side. Cheese or no, your choice.
She called this grokamole.
1 large tomato - chopped roughly
1/2 medium onion - roughly chopped
2 large eggs
2 flour tortillas
1/2 cup frijoles refritos (refried beans)
1/2 cup Spanish rice - leftovers are great
Salsa or Tobasco to top
Garlic (salt or fresh) optional
Heat beans in pan slowly. Add garlic if you want (my preference).
Reheat rice.
In a large frying pan add 1 TBS oil, tomato and onion. Fry until onion are translucent.
Add eggs and rumble them - shake pan and stir all ingredients together.
Zap tortillas in the microwave or on a griddle. Top with beans, rice and egg mixture.
Mmmmm!
