Huevos Rancheros was the first ‘Mexican’ dish I remember eating.  I remember 2 corn tortillas soft fried then dipped into red enchilada sauce and laid on the plate with just an inch of overlap on the tortillas.  Two eggs cooked together sunny side up were put on the tortillas.  More red Enchilada sauce over that.  Sprinkle of chopped onions.  Sprinkle of shredded cheese. Plate on the table.  Dig in.  Beans were nowhere near.  Our beans were red beans and came with sausage over white rice on Mondays.

I was raised in southern Louisiana so this was VERY exotic. Turtle, alligator, various types of duck, Canadian goose, deer, oysters, crawfish, catfish – all these were no surprise to find on the supper table.  But, Huevos Rancheros sounded like something a bullfighter would eat before facing the bull.  We kids would stomp the floor and snap pretend castanets – which would shake the whole house since it was wood frame set on concrete piers – till Mom would give us ‘that look’ indicating her patience was gone and we should stop ‘acting the fool’ and sit down.  Which we did with swirls of our pretend capes.

It was even more fun when we found out this was a breakfast dish.  Breakfast for dinner.  Man!  We were living on the edge!  Who knew it would be so hard to add HR to the Double Eagle/Peppers Cafe Menu?

Actually, it WAS on the original Peppers Café menu when we first opened Peppers and the sales were poor so I eventually took them off and put something else which would sell better.  Other items like banana enchiladas or green chile cheese stuffed wontons proved more popular than the Huevos which were on every Mexican joint’s menu from Texas to California.

About January, 2010, John Ritter started mentioning that people were asking about Huevos Rancheros and I started warming to the idea of having them back onto the menu.  Simple dish.  Good food costs.  Easy to make.  No extra items needed. And, there’s that breakfast-for-dinner excitement thing!

Plus, I considered it ‘ligher’ fare,  in calories at least.  That seemed to be a trend for our area.

So, without any testing or tasting or even much discussion, since everyone had heard of Huevos Rancheros.  Everyone knew what they were, how to make them.  No problem.  No worries.  I published the new menu sheets, mentioned the change to Chef – again, no problem – changed the cash register and instructed the Servers.  And, bid Adios, Muchachos!

The next morning I find news in the Daily Log that there had been some discussion among the dinner cooks as to what was Huevos Rancheros when the first order came it.  The cooks sent out their version which the customer reported as strange.  So, the next order, the cooks tried something else.  Again, the customer reported “how could you screw up Huevos Rancheros?”

Of course, I immediately went to Chef Campos.  Chef was baffled.  Chef had instructed all three evening cooks in what to do.  How could they screw it up?   Sure, enough, when the evening cooks come it, Chef and I were at the back door waiting.  Seems the cooks all know different versions and argued among themselves totally ignoring Chef’s instructions.  Talk about steamed clams!  Chef was furious.  Long discussion about following instructions, the importance of consistency, customer satisfaction is the key to success – all out usual buzzwords.

So, I started researching Huevos Rancheros.   Turns out, HR is a Mexican dish based upon a Spanish dish of baked eggs.  But, as always in cooking, regional differences based upon item availability takes the lead in the evolution of recipes.  I didn’t look further than the northern Mexican states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon and the American Southwest.

Here is what I found as regional recipes for Huevos Rancheros.

All the Mexican states use a rough chopped cooked red salsa of tomatoes and peppers – the peppers may differ but the basic idea is visible pieces of tomato, peppers, sometimes some onion and always garlic.

Baja California Norte
Smear of mashed beans (black or pinto) under two soft fried corn tortillas, two soft cooked eggs,  hot salsa, sprinkle of local soft white cheese.  Spoon of beans on the side.  Sometimes chopped avocados are added right before the hot salsa.

Baja California Sur
Smear of mashed beans (black or pinto) under two soft fried corn tortillas, two soft cooked eggs, hot salsa, sprinkle of local soft white cheese.  Spoon of beans on the side.  Sometimes one tortilla is laid down, some kind of seafood – cooked shrimp or cooked fish or drained ceviche – topped with another corn tortilla then the eggs, salsa and cheese.

Sonora
Smear of mashed beans (always pinto) under two soft fried corn tortillas, two soft cooked eggs, hot salsa, sprinkle of local soft white cheese.  Spoon of beans on the side.  Sometimes a green salsa (no tomatoes)  is made with chopped roasted pork or shredded pork  (Think ropas viejos)

Chihuahua
One corn tortilla dipped into the hot salsa and laid on the plate, smear of mashed beans or whole beans, second corn tortilla dipped in the hot salsa, two soft cooked eggs, hot salsa – red or green, sprinkle of local soft white cheese.  No beans on the side.

Nuevo Leon
Smear of mashed beans (always pinto) under two soft fried corn tortillas, two soft cooked eggs, hot salsa, sprinkle of local soft white cheese.  Spoon of beans on the side.  Sometimes the tortillas are stacked and have chopped beef or ground beef between them.  I suspect this is a recent (last 30 years) development taken from the Tejas border recipes.

American Southwest:

California
Smear of mashed beans (black or pinto) under two soft fried corn tortillas, two soft cooked eggs, hot salsa – red or green, almost always including cilantro, sprinkle of monterey jack cheese.  Spoon of beans on the side.  Sometimes there are slices of avocado inserted between two stack tortillas.

New Mexico – South

Smear of mashed beans (almost always pinto) under two soft fried corn tortillas, two soft cooked eggs, hot salsa – red or green sometimes with cilantro but never with cumin, sprinkle of Monterey jack cheese and yellow cheddar cheese.  Spoon of beans on the side.

New Mexico – North
Two soft fried corn tortillas, two soft cooked eggs, hot salsa – red or green, always with cumin and sometimes cilantro, sprinkle of shredded Monterey jack and cheddar cheese.  Spoon of mashed or whole pinto beans on the side.

Texas
Two soft fried corn tortillas, two soft cooked eggs, hot salsa – red or green, sprinkle of yellow cheddar cheese.  Spoon of beans on the side.  Sometimes the tortillas will be stacked and stuffed with ground beef. Sometimes they use flour tortillas instead of corn.

These are general findings and variations abound.  Just order Huevos Rancheros in every Mexican restaurant you enter and find your favorite combination.

Who knew?