Species 009: Spam and Kimchi Breakfast Tacos with Homemade Tortillas

This is a sneak peek article. For the full suite of recipes, check back here in April.

Growing up with four siblings can be a chaotic affair—various schedules colliding, different routines clashing, strong personalities reverberating. For all the chaos that ensued in our seven-person home, I always felt that we got along quite harmoniously, and I’m convinced that good food played a large part in it.

Breakfast time, especially on the weekdays, can be a notoriously stressful time for everyone in a household. Alex isn’t awake yet and he’s meant to drive Lily to school. Nicole’s feigning ill to skip her first period swimming class. Phillip is too engrossed in a comic book to eat, and Scott is straight up unaccounted for. These little dramas have a way of unfolding perpetually. But one thing I remember as an anchor, a source of comfort and stability to start my day, was breakfast.

My mom is superhuman and casually created heroically complex breakfast treats for us—my favorite being her blueberry coffee cake that she would be sure to have ready for me the morning of a big exam or lacrosse match. Many of my recipes are inspired by the food my mom cooked for us growing up. But woven into those memories are those of my dad, who would periodically take the morning duty and insist that my mom sleep in.

On these mornings, my dad would usually prepare us his classic breakfast burritos with Spam, egg, cheese, and a judiciously placed stripe of ketchup. He paid close attention to the eating experience: he would wrap the bottom half of the burrito in a neatly folded paper towel then cover the whole thing with foil and keep it warm in the toaster oven until we were ready to go. This allowed you to peel back the foil and eat the hot burrito in the car without worrying about any juices dripping into your lap. The burritos were never over-stuffed—my dad saw past the restaurant gimmick of flaunting the value you’d get for your money in favor of a more manageable, more enjoyable ratio of filling to tortilla.

“The burritos were never over-stuffed—my dad saw past the restaurant gimmick of flaunting the value you’d get for your money in favor of a more manageable, more enjoyable ratio of filling to tortilla.”

I recently visited Austin for the first time for the SXSW festival (an incredible, inspiring festival for film, music, tech, and really anything creative and innovative). I may have had rose-colored glasses on from the endlessly inspiring events at the festival, but I immediately fell in love with Austin’s breakfast taco scene—namely the tacos from the Veracruz food truck. These little, restrained, utterly delicious breakfast tacos transported me back to those mornings that I would drag myself out of bed, already dreading the tedious reality of being a hormonal adolescent, to find a perfectly packaged, well-proportioned breakfast burrito waiting for me. As soon as I got home from Austin, I got to work creating my own breakfast creation that would capture the comforting convenience of my dad’s burritos and the creative innovation of Austin’s tacos.

Species 009: Homemade tortillas are the perfect vehicle for an egg and cheese taco topped with a surprise hit of seared Spam and diced kimchi.

Primary Traits

I wanted my breakfast taco to be highly consumable with just a little bit of funk. Spam was a constant in my diet growing up—my parents grew up as first-generation Korean immigrants in Texas and are therefore suckers for the conveniently canned meat. I won’t wage war against the Spam haters, but I will say that I think Spam is a food of the gods. The concept for this recipe pivoted around the Spam focal point, so I knew I had to get the Spam just right to start.

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Don’t feel guilty, sometimes you have to get down to business…

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Trait #1: Seared Spam Spears

Spam is at its best when it’s aggressively seared—not crisped all the way through necessarily, or you’ll lose the quintessential tender bite of Spam, but seared enough to give a crunch when you first bite in. Say what you like about Spam, but it brings a delicious saltiness to a dish, and when you crisp it up, it also adds a wonderful textural element. I considered dicing the Spam into little cubes and searing them like that, but one of my big pet peeves when I’m eating a taco is having the fillings tumble out onto my lap. In order to balance these considerations, I decided to slice the Spam into spears and then sear them. That way, you get the crisp yet tender texture of the Spam in every bite without worrying about losing any of that canned gold to your lap—or worse, the floor.

Cheese-smothered seared Spam spears

Fresh tortillas made with real lard

Trait #2: Homemade Tortillas

Next, I knew that I would need to learn how to make my own tortillas. I’m no food snob, and I usually don’t protest store-bought anything—even sheet cakes and cookies. But with a well-balanced breakfast taco, the tortilla isn’t a mere plain sheet of paper for the fillings to write their story on—it’s an unquestionable focal point in the eating experience. In fact, the first thing I noticed about Veracruz’s tacos was the tortilla, not the filling.

For my tortillas, I turned to the ever-trustworthy Serious Eats. I had reviewed other recipes and was drawn to Serious Eats’s ratio of baking powder to flour, as I personally like a softer, lighter tortilla. The secret to these tortillas though is the lard—real live lard from an animal. I had to go to my local butcher to get a jar of the scandalous ingredient, and I recommend you do the same. The payoff in terms of flavor and texture is well worth it.

Trait #3: Egg & Cheese Base

Like I said, I wanted my tacos to have just a little bit of funk, so I knew that I would have to include a classic egg and cheese base to cradle the Spam. I decided to go for a classic scrambled egg, for the comforting, homogenous softness of it, and a sprinkling of Monterey Jack cheese for its melty, creamy texture yet mild flavor.

Trait #4: Kimchi Relish

With those three traits sketched out, I felt something was missing. Veracruz’s tacos were unapologetically simple in the sense that there were only minor texture and flavor variations. The egg, cheese, potato, and chorizo melds together into a deliciously comforting mess that is strategically homogenous. You might notice though that a lot of tacos feature a bright, crunchy element—often a slaw or pickled veggies—on top for some variation in texture and flavor. I decided to give a nod to my Korean heritage by topping my tacos off with some diced kimchi—a pickled, spicy cabbage integral to most Korean diets. My mom used to make us Spam and kimchi fried rice, and the pairing is popping up in more and more modern Korean restaurants. It is a match made in heaven, with the saltiness of the Spam playing beautifully with the tangy spice of the kimchi. It turned out to be the perfect topping to my breakfast tacos.

Resulting Species

The resulting breakfast taco is perfect nod to both my dad’s classic breakfast burritos and Austin’s laudable breakfast tacos. It is a comforting thing to eat thanks to the creamy scrambled eggs, gooey cheese, salty Spam, and wonderfully tender fresh tortillas. The kimchi gives it a bright, surprising finish that might discomfort some but will hopefully delight many others. Make the tortillas in advance and assemble them in the morning for your kids—they might just form a new favorite memory. Or go on your own food adventure and make them for yourself. Either way, enjoy!

Until next time,

The Culinary Darwinist

This is a sneak peek article. For the full suite of recipes, check back here in April.

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Spam and Kimchi Breakfast Tacos with Homemade Tortillas

Makes 10 tacos, where an average human would probably eat 2 to 3 for breakfast.

Ingredients

For the tortillas

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 T lard or butter
Note: I absolutely believe lard is the secret ingredient here. I bought mine at my local butcher, as grocery stores don't always sell it.
9-12 T warm water (around 110º)

For assembly

10 eggs
1/2 cup half and half
Salt and pepper to taste

1 can of Spam, low sodium
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 1/2 cups kimchi
Note: I'll get around to making kimchi one day, but for this recipe I used store-bought. Try to find traditional Korean kimchi—none of that hipster stuff that's out there.

Method

Make the tortillas

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Toss with your hands to mix. Add the lard and, using your fingers, work the lard into flour mixture until it looks like wet sand. The key here is to coat the flour in lard, as it prevents gluten formation when you're working with the dough—resulting in a more tender tortilla.
2. Add the warm water as you would in a pie recipe: Start with a good amount of the water and incorporate it with your hands. Work in more as the dough indicates. You're looking for a shaggy but soft dough. I average about 10 T of water for the recipe.
3. Once the dough comes together, turn it out on a lightly floured surface and knead just until the dough becomes smooth (about 1 min). Cover with a damp dish towel to prevent the dough from drying out, and rest for 10 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 10 pieces. I still have some French training in me, so I measure the dough and then divide the weight by ten, averaging about 45g of dough per tortilla. Roll each piece into a little ball. I like to dab a little bit of vegetable oil on top of the dough balls before covering again with the damp towels, further preventing them from drying out. Rest for 20 minutes.
5. Place a cast iron skillet, or the heaviest skillet you have, on medium-high heat and let it come fully up to temperature. Roll a dough ball into a 6-inch round. You can either roll it on your counter (try not to flour the surface too much, or you won't be able to stretch the dough out properly) or, as I like to do, cut the sides off of a gallon-size Ziploc bag to make a kind of plastic book. Place a dough ball in between the plastic and roll it out. Peel the tortilla off the plastic and throw it straight into the skillet.
6. Cook for about 30-40 seconds on each side, checking for the lovely golden brown speckles quintessential to tortillas. This process is like making pancakes—you'll have to gauge the heat of your pan and adjust accordingly. Because these tortillas are thicker, they'll burn without cooking if the heat is too high. If the heat is too low, you'll dry the tortillas out before they achieve a light gold color. If you notice that your tortillas are shrinking back up in the pan and becoming too thick, this means that your dough needs to rest some more. Accept the fact that you might have some black sheeps and carry on. Keep the cooked tortillas under a dish towel to prevent them drying out.

Assemble the tacos

1. Sear the Spam: Remove the hunk of Spam from the can, slice it into 1/4" slices, then 1/4" spears. Cook over high heat, letting one side of the spears brown richly before flipping them. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
2. Prep the kimchi: Drain the kimchi from its excess liquid and dice into small chunks.
3. Make the scrambled eggs: In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half and half, and salt/pepper. Cook the eggs in a large skillet over low-medium heat. Stir the eggs slowly as it starts to set.
4. Turn your oven on to broil and lay the tortillas onto sheet pans. Divide the scrambled eggs amongst the tortillas, top each with 4-5 spears of seared Spam, and sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted. Garnish with the diced kimchi and serve immediately. ∎

This is a sneak peek article.

For the full suite of recipes, check back here in April.