I once met a French fellow from Mexico when I was living in Georgia after moving from Florida from Pennsylvania in 1988. He was an odd sort of man. I never could figure him out. But the guy sure could cook.

It was difficult, at first, to understand Samjuan. He would start a sentence in French, end it in Spanish, and accent his words with a Southern drawl. If you don’t think that was near impossible to understand! I don’t know what the hell he was doing in Georgia but we became pretty good pals.

Like I said, he was an odd fellow. He always carried a baby food jar full of a heavy liquid that looked like pimple pus. I know where recipes are involved isn’t a place to be talking about pimple pus but the fluid was pretty intriguing. It was actually some concoction he learned to make from the Endolian cactus that grows wild in a small section of Southwestern Mexico. Each time Samjuan took a swig of that pimple-pus-looking liquid he would become unwrapped start speaking fluent English. I never saw anything like it.

But like I said, the guy could cook. And he gave me a little tip about cooking bacon that I’ve never tried but on which he swore in French, Spanish and English would work. Samjuan told me to soak the bacon in Jack Daniels for about 20 minutes before cooking it. He said the liquor would penetrate the pork and keep the bacon from curling.

I think his notion held true because every breakfast wrap he ever feed me had bacon as straight as the pigs’ legs that carried it.

Like I said, I never tried his Jack Daniels philosophy for the simple fact that he drank what looked like pimple pus from a baby jar. But I have made the breakfast wrap. And it’s good. Give it a try, but I don’t advise soaking your bacon in Jack Daniels. You might end up with a flash-fire in your pan. And rather than Samjuan, members of your local fire department might wonder what in Sam Hill you’re doing!

Western Breakfast Wrap

3 eggs

Butter (one tablespoon)

1/2 small green pepper (chopped)

1/2 small onion (chopped)

5 strips of cooked bacon

Salt and pepper

2 small tortilla shells

Salsa

In a medium-sized non-stick frying pan, cook bacon until done. Drain the grease and set bacon aside in a bowl lined with a paper towel to absorb any remaining grease. Return pan to the burner, add butter and slowly melt.  Remember, when cooking with butter you don’t want the heat too high or the butter will burn and make your dish taste like – well, burnt. After the butter is melted, add peppers and onions and turn the heat up slightly and sauté (cook gently, stirring frequently) until the two soften somewhat. This will take about 3 to 4 minutes or 5, maybe 6. Keep a close eye on them.

Next, break your eggs and add them add to peppers and onions. Cook until the eggs are set and firm, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. You want to make sure to keep your eggs broken up while cooking so you don’t end up with an omelet. .

When cooked, turn off the heat and remove the pan from burner. If you have a microwave, place the tortillas on a plate, cover with a damp paper towel and nuke about 30 seconds. If you don’t have a microwave, empty your eggs in a bowl and warm your tortillas in your frying pan (about 1 minute on each side in a warm pan).

Place one tortilla on a plate and spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of egg forming a line down the center. Crumble half your bacon over the eggs or lay 2 to 3 whole strips over the eggs. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of salsa down the center as well. Fold one side of tortilla to the edge of egg and bacon and the other half of the tortilla over top of that.