Did you know that the whole idea of folding breakfast into your hand and getting on with your day came from Mexican and Tejano families who’ve been in Texas longer than Texas has been Texas?
That’s what I was thinking about this week while making breakfast tacos for my family. On flour tortillas, of course. The fabric that holds Texas together.
This breakfast exists because families made it on both sides of a border that moved more than they did.
Every Texan is part of one thread. The teacher who stays late. The nurse working a double. The crew who built half the houses on your street. Pull one thread out, and the fabric begins to fray.
That’s what deportation raids do to a community.
It’s not removing “THEM.” It’s unraveling US.
An Army sergeant in Houston watched ICE deport his wife. A mother in Austin was deported with her U.S. citizen children. In the Rio Grande Valley, people are skipping medical care because they’re afraid to leave the house.
Immigrants in Texas pay over $50 billion in taxes a year. They’re 30% of the state’s STEM workers. But those are just numbers. They pale in comparison to the empty seat in church, at the kitchen table or in the classroom.
When we lose one, we lose all.
So make these tacos this weekend. Make them for people you love. And remember whose hands taught Texas how to eat breakfast.
Be kind, feed your mind, and keep Texas together.
Texas Breakfast Tortillas
Ingredients:
6 flour tortillas
6 large eggs
1 lb chorizo or breakfast sausage
1 tbsp butter
1 large Russet potato, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and rinsed
2 tbsps extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup crumbled cotija cheese (or shredded Monterey Jack)
Your favorite salsa
1 large ripe avocado, pitted and thinly sliced
Instructions:
Make the Home Fries: Place diced potatoes and 1/4 cup water in a frying pan large enough to hold one layer of the potatoes. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until the water is nearly steamed away. Add the olive oil, diced onion, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir until fully combined and continue to cook until potatoes are fork-tender. Set aside and keep warm.
Cook the Sausage and Toast the Tortillas. In another pan over medium-high heat, add the chorizo or breakfast sausage and fry until browned. Drain excess grease, remove the sausage from the pan, and keep the sausage warm. In that same pan over medium-high heat (or carefully over a gas burner), heat the tortillas until toasted and charred as desired. Set aside and keep warm.
Scramble the Eggs: Crack eggs into a medium bowl and whisk until frothy and fully mixed. Add butter to a medium frying pan over medium-high heat. Just as the butter is melting, pour the eggs in. Stir the eggs with a spatula constantly until fully cooked. Remove from heat.
Assemble! Divvy the potatoes, chorizo/sausage, and eggs among the charred tortillas. Top with avocado, cheese, and a bit of salsa. Serve immediately.
Enjoy with family and friends!
The Dad Briefs covers the civic, political, and quietly human stories that shape family life in America — with recipes along the way.
Couldn’t agree with you more. Our lives are interwoven with our immigrant families. Mine certainly is!
P.S. The recipe lists sausages but the directions don’t specify when to warm or add them. We need to be inclusive with sausages too! 😉
I’d enjoy those any time of day! And thanks for reminding folks of how borders have changed over time. That’s largely lost in the us vs them narrative.