South Sac Blog continues its practice of presenting our serious hard-hitting commentary on important issues - a tradition that you've come to expect. Today we reveal the results of our taste test of breakfast burritos from McDonald's and Jack in the Box. Which one is better?
First, let's lay the foundation. McDonald's created and began selling a sausage breakfast burrito many years ago. It was favorably received by fast food breakfast lovers, and has remained on the menu. Another larger burrito briefly appeared on its menu but was discontinued. The sausage burrito survived and is even sold all day long here in South Sacramento, not just in the morning. McDonald's sausage burrito has always been inexpensive. We picked up three for $5.67 according to our receipt. If you do the math that comes down to $1.89 a piece.
Jack in the Box began selling its current line of breakfast burritos just a few years ago. It offers Jack customers three choices: meat lovers, triple cheese and hash brown, and grande sausage. They are $3.79 each. Immediately we know readers will question the fairness of comparing a burrito costing $3.79 with another that costs only $1.89. So what? Why assume something is better just because it costs a little more? It might be disgusting and a complete rip-off. The only way to find out is to subject these burritos to rigorous scientific scrutiny in the South Sac Blog Taste-Test Kitchen. And that's what we did.
We make this disclosure: The South Sac Blog crew has been eating McDonald's breakfast burritos for years, and we like them. We haven't found another fast food joint that makes a better one, in our opinion, even Taco Bell (much to our surprise). But we approached our task without bias and with complete objectivity. We haven't tried the current line of Jack in the Box burritos until today, so we were actually a bit excited to begin.
Staying in our beloved South Sac neighborhood, we went through the drive-thru at the Jack in the Box on the corner of Mack Road and Stockton Blvd., and chose the meat lovers burrito because it contains bacon. We then proceeded directly to the McDonald's on Gerber to pick up the sausage burritos, and took everything to our taste-test laboratory nearby.
Following the scientific method, our hypothesis was that McDonald's burritos are better, because they have withstood the test of time, while other Jack burritos have come and gone. Then we collected facts to prove or disprove that hypothesis.
Initial Comparisons
Jack in the Box burritos are bigger. As you would expect from its higher price, the Jack in the Box breakfast burrito is larger than a McDonald's burrito. See for yourself:
Each comes with its own sauce (if you ask). Though I never add salsa to a breakfast burrito, believing the burrito should stand on its own.
The Tasting
Up first was the Jack in the Box meat lover's burrito. My first bite contained a wonderful crunch from the bacon strip inside. I don't know if you will get that same texture from the grande sausage or triple cheese with hash brown burritos. I also noticed the nice flavor of the flour tortilla which is out of a package of course, but it didn't seem stale. The bulk of the burrito is made up of scrambled eggs, as you can see. Bu the eggs seemed to have no special seasoning, or vegetables and were bland.
But that doesn't mean the Jack burrito lacked taste. The bacon, ham, and sausage, provided a good level of salty flavor, but not too salty. You get the taste of bacon of course, then the taste of ham - thinly sliced, like deli meat. Then the sausage. Adding to the flavor was shredded and melted cheddar cheese, which didn't materialize until after the second or third bite. But it was welcome.
My main observation, is that other than the tortilla, there was nothing particularly ethnic or cultural about Jack's meat lovers burrito. It was simply scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, and cheese wrapped in a tortilla. I would have preferred something with Mexican seasoning, and perhaps chorizo. On the other hand, it was filling and it didn't taste bad in our opinion. I would order it again given the right circumstances.
Compare the Jack meat lovers burrito with the smaller McDonald's sausage burrito below.
The McDonald's sausage burrito is supposed to offers peppers, onions, fluffy scrambled eggs, sausage, and melted cheese all wrapped in a soft tortilla. The cheese is a pasteurized processed cheese - more like a sauce in my opinion - giving the burrito a creamy texture. Today, mine didn't look anything like the picture at the McDonald's website. I could taste the peppers - which provides a very mild spiciness, I just couldn't really see the peppers until near the bottom.
Notice the thinness of the McDonalds' tortilla. I thought the tortilla from the Jack burrito was a little thicker and with more taste. Also, on this particular day, my McDonalds burrito was kind of dried out and the tortilla was a little hard. I've had better breakfast burritos from McDonalds - the one I ate today must have been sitting around.
Conclusion
On this particular day, with these particular burritos, from the particular franchises where they were purchased, the Jack in the Box meat lovers burrito was our favorite. The thicker tortilla, the larger quantity of meat, the addition of bacon, and the cheddar cheese, all combined to provide a tastier bite. We won't give up on the McDonald's sausage burrito, however. It's cheaper for one. If you have to watch pennies because our elected officials have screwed up the economy so bad, and your own situation is tough, then that could matter. Also, the smaller size of the McDonald's burrito is both a positive and a negative. If you don't want to eat a lot, then the smaller McDonald's burrito is the way to go. Also, you could buy a burrito and, say, an oatmeal, and pretend your eating healthy. And you wouldn't be painfully full afterwards.
If you have an appetite, or you need something more substantial to carry you through the morning, then a Jack burrito would be the way to go. If you went to McDonald's, you would by buying at least two of theirs anyway, and spending the same or more money.
Some people may poo-poo the whole idea of buying burritos from giant fast food chain establishments. Well of course if you have more time you can always go out of your way to a local taqueria and pick up a better breakfast burrito for a little more money. For instance the great Taco Fresco Burgers & Fries on Florin makes a rather good one. It has chorizo with superior seasoning. Simply delicious.
But why does anyone go to McDonald's and Jack in the Box in the first place? For convenience and speed. You don't even have to get out of your car if you are in a hurry. And there are so many of these places that when you need something and only have 15 minutes to spare, there is probably a fast food place two blocks away at the most. It might be the only option on any given day.
So there you go.
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