The Veggies Are Out There
We tell ourselves a lot of innocent and not-so-innocent lies in the course of justifying our less-than-healthy food choices when eating out and when eating at home. Perhaps the most frequent is that we would choose fresh fruits and vegetables more often if they weren't so expensive. One problem with this statement is the wildly variable cost of fresh produce, depending on where you buy it. I've bought scallions for $1 a bunch at Whole Foods and for 20 cents at the local international supermarket. Another hole in our exculpatory web of self-deception is the faulty claim that fruits and vegetables need to be fresh to be palatable. Frozen corn is delicious, as can be frozen spinach and broccoli; red peppers are great out of a jar and black beans are terrific from a can. Perhaps most damning of all, every single one of these things is far cheaper, ounce for ounce, than ground beef or cheese.
Capitalizing and perhaps even trumpeting the truth of this statement, Dunkin has introduced two new breakfast burritos into its all-day menu, the veggie burrito and the sausage burrito, and they are equally priced, weighing in at $3.99 a piece, an excellent value considering that these hefty tubes of Tex-Mex are easily a meal all by themselves. We'll begin with the veggie burrito.
They Come From the Factory
Because most Dunkin locations have nothing like the dedicated kitchen staff of a normal fast-food restaurant, their food items have to require minimal assembly and little preparation of perishable ingredients, and for that reason these burritos are entirely pre-made. I found this out on my first day of sampling these burritos, during which I intended to purchase one of each kind. This intent was frustrated when the cashier rather awkwardly told me "we don't have any more sausage burritos", clearly referring to them as discrete units of inventory rather than something that could be assembled from components in a kitchen. This is the kind of problem Dunkin really has to correct if it wants to compete seriously in the breakfast space; you don't run out of your signature new breakfast item at 7AM on a Sunday morning.
But They Bring the Fresh and they Bring the Heat!
Yea, I just verbed an adjective, you wanna fight about it? Maybe I'm feeling feisty from all the spicy in these burritos. I think Dunkin cannily reasoned that if you're going to strip the meat out of a breakfast item, you need to punch up the flavor and one way they've done that is to up the capsaicin quotient. The official ingredient list mentions three kinds of peppers plugged into various places in the mix: chipotles are in the sauce that coats the rice and veggies as well as infused, along with bits of Jalapeno, into the egg patty, Chipotles and Habaneros are both blended into the cheese. Since Chipotles are the only pepper of the three that's smoked, the primary sensation you get is just plain heat, heat that's potent enough that your hot coffee has an extra burn as it slides down your throat. The creaminess of the cheese and the unctuousness of the egg cut the fire a little bit, adding smooth and warming notes that keep things from getting too harsh.
Amidst this firefight between richness and piquancy rests a grain and vegetable feast in regal and splendid repose. A mix of brown and white rice adds volume and chew, black beans studding the mixture are surprisingly firm and fresh-tasting, corn kernels pop with juice and smooth-skinned fibrousness. A touch of cilantro brings an awake sense of the garden to keep things from getting excessively swaggery. But the biggest revelation of all is the fire-roasted peppers which really and truly taste of fire-roasting. Usually the effect of alleged roasting is merely cosmetic, with little black bits of skin meant to convince you that these bland, red, limp bits of vegetable matter have been kissed by flame. But with these peppers, both red and green, you really taste the essene of the curled, blackened skins. You would be proud to have roasted these peppers on your own stovetop. So while vegans will have to sigh and await more options, those who can eat cheese and egg have a really exciting new convenience option for breakfast.
What About The Sausage Version?
The sausage version is just fine, but I honestly didn't like it quite as much as the veggie burrito for a pretty simple reason. All the rice and veggies and spice that are in the veggie burrito are included here in the sausage burrito, but in smaller quantities in order to make room for the fairly thick chopped-up sausage patty, and the sausage is fairly bland. If you're anything like me and you have fond memories of sausage, then you remember slices of Jimmy Dean HOT sausage sizzling in a cast-iron pan until they were firmly cooked through on the inside and dark brown and crusty on the outside. The red pepper flakes would give that Jimmy Dean sausage enough heat that you'd take an extra gulp of orange juice to calm matters down. No such luck here. The sausage is just fatty, flabby, salted pork, taking up space and preventing you from getting all of the veggie goodness you'd otherwise enjoy. Plus, unlike the McDonalds breakfast burrito, the sausage isn't mixed throughout the egg mixture. Rather the veggies are on one side and the sausage is on the other. It's like a duplex burrito housing two rather incompatible neighbors.
Conclusions
Right now, if you want a great comfort food burrito with sausage in it, your best bet is still the excellent value over at MickeyDs. But if you want a veggie burrito with authentic Tex-Mex flavor and a nutrient profile markedly superior to, say, the Fully Loaded Croissanwich, get to your local Dunkin and hope they have it in stock!
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We tell ourselves a lot of innocent and not-so-innocent lies in the course of justifying our less-than-healthy food choices when eating out and when eating at home. Perhaps the most frequent is that we would choose fresh fruits and vegetables more often if they weren't so expensive. One problem with this statement is the wildly variable cost of fresh produce, depending on where you buy it. I've bought scallions for $1 a bunch at Whole Foods and for 20 cents at the local international supermarket. Another hole in our exculpatory web of self-deception is the faulty claim that fruits and vegetables need to be fresh to be palatable. Frozen corn is delicious, as can be frozen spinach and broccoli; red peppers are great out of a jar and black beans are terrific from a can. Perhaps most damning of all, every single one of these things is far cheaper, ounce for ounce, than ground beef or cheese.
Capitalizing and perhaps even trumpeting the truth of this statement, Dunkin has introduced two new breakfast burritos into its all-day menu, the veggie burrito and the sausage burrito, and they are equally priced, weighing in at $3.99 a piece, an excellent value considering that these hefty tubes of Tex-Mex are easily a meal all by themselves. We'll begin with the veggie burrito.
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| Get a Load of the Size of This Thing: You're Looking at Half of a Dunkin Veggie Burrito |
Because most Dunkin locations have nothing like the dedicated kitchen staff of a normal fast-food restaurant, their food items have to require minimal assembly and little preparation of perishable ingredients, and for that reason these burritos are entirely pre-made. I found this out on my first day of sampling these burritos, during which I intended to purchase one of each kind. This intent was frustrated when the cashier rather awkwardly told me "we don't have any more sausage burritos", clearly referring to them as discrete units of inventory rather than something that could be assembled from components in a kitchen. This is the kind of problem Dunkin really has to correct if it wants to compete seriously in the breakfast space; you don't run out of your signature new breakfast item at 7AM on a Sunday morning.
 |
| One Side Benefit of Factory Assembly (Pardon the Fuzzy Photo) is That They are Efficiently Packed, End to End with Cheese and Egg. No Folded Ends of Empty Tortilla, the Fillings Reach All the Way to the Edge. |
Yea, I just verbed an adjective, you wanna fight about it? Maybe I'm feeling feisty from all the spicy in these burritos. I think Dunkin cannily reasoned that if you're going to strip the meat out of a breakfast item, you need to punch up the flavor and one way they've done that is to up the capsaicin quotient. The official ingredient list mentions three kinds of peppers plugged into various places in the mix: chipotles are in the sauce that coats the rice and veggies as well as infused, along with bits of Jalapeno, into the egg patty, Chipotles and Habaneros are both blended into the cheese. Since Chipotles are the only pepper of the three that's smoked, the primary sensation you get is just plain heat, heat that's potent enough that your hot coffee has an extra burn as it slides down your throat. The creaminess of the cheese and the unctuousness of the egg cut the fire a little bit, adding smooth and warming notes that keep things from getting too harsh.
 |
| Moist, Vegetal, Beany, and Spicy. Note the Big Hunk of Jalapeno at the Bottom Left Corner |
What About The Sausage Version?
The sausage version is just fine, but I honestly didn't like it quite as much as the veggie burrito for a pretty simple reason. All the rice and veggies and spice that are in the veggie burrito are included here in the sausage burrito, but in smaller quantities in order to make room for the fairly thick chopped-up sausage patty, and the sausage is fairly bland. If you're anything like me and you have fond memories of sausage, then you remember slices of Jimmy Dean HOT sausage sizzling in a cast-iron pan until they were firmly cooked through on the inside and dark brown and crusty on the outside. The red pepper flakes would give that Jimmy Dean sausage enough heat that you'd take an extra gulp of orange juice to calm matters down. No such luck here. The sausage is just fatty, flabby, salted pork, taking up space and preventing you from getting all of the veggie goodness you'd otherwise enjoy. Plus, unlike the McDonalds breakfast burrito, the sausage isn't mixed throughout the egg mixture. Rather the veggies are on one side and the sausage is on the other. It's like a duplex burrito housing two rather incompatible neighbors.
 |
| The Sausage Version has the Same Veggie Filling, but Less of it. Note the Segregation of the Sausage, Packed in at One End, Sequestered from its Vegetarian Companions. |
Right now, if you want a great comfort food burrito with sausage in it, your best bet is still the excellent value over at MickeyDs. But if you want a veggie burrito with authentic Tex-Mex flavor and a nutrient profile markedly superior to, say, the Fully Loaded Croissanwich, get to your local Dunkin and hope they have it in stock!
Like this post? Share it on social media and like our Facebook page to help The Food Kingdom grow!
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