Man eats Beef Enchilada, pictures at eleven.

[Big Galloot]

Having tried MRE manicotti and being left with the lingering suspicion that I had actually stumbled upon a Beef Enchilada by mistake, I figured it was time to try the enchilada and find out. I sampled a Wornick “Beef Enchilada in Sauce” from January of 2004. Enchilda, by the way, is not a Spanish word. It is Indian for, “I bet you can’t get the American to eat this!” You don’t want to know what burrito means.

The primary difficulty with sampling MREs is determining the correct wine to enhance the ambiance of the dining experience. The complexity of Mexican foods and the lack of an indigenous Mexican wine make this particularly difficult. Unfortunately, Ripple is no longer available so I settled for an Argentinean malbec. The malbec is a fruit-forward red wine that did little for the actual enchilada, but went very well with hot sauce.

Despite my fears, the enchilada did not prove to be a cleverly disguised manicotti and was in fact very much a Mexican meal, but clearly one originating on the north side of the Rio Grande. If you have ever experienced Hormel’s Beef Tamales in the can you will get a distinct sense of déjà vu eating the MRE Beef Enchilada. The beef was very finely ground and well spiced, although lacking in beefy flavor and the tortilla was recognizable. The major difference between the MRE and Hormel is the lack of the cumin that dominates the taste of the Hormel product.

One thing that I am beginning to notice is that Natick is apparently recycling the same “sauce” in a number of these entrees. The Country Captain Chicken, the Manicotti and the Beef Enchilada all appear to have the same sauce with curry, oregano, or chili powder tossed in to match it to the entrée.

As with all of the MRE entrees that I have tried this meal was tasty and definitely not something that could only be considered edible in the case of dire emergency. You may think of it as the “frozen pizza” of Mexican food. The surprise came when I threw in some hot sauce; this entrée immediately went from “good” to “fan-fucking-tasic.”

[bigboy]

My ex-marine nephew told me the best way to eat the beef enchilada MRE is to heat up entree,add the cheese spread and hot sauce then mix real well then usecrackers to scoop and eat.Kind of expensive nachos though.I tried it and it was pretty good.

[Enchilada]

Big gallot?
First the same day you post you ate Manicotti is the same day I did too.
Then today you tell me you drank a bottle of Argentinian Malbec?
Just this evening(here in UK) I have done just that, killing a whole bottle.
Whats going on?
Is it the old saying-"great minds think alike"?
Or are we long lost twins?

[C-rats]

I've got to say that I really like the MRE Enchilada. Yeah, it's not the "perfect" MRE entree, but I find it to be very tasty! (burp).

After warming (by boiling the pouches) I once threw two enchiladas on a plate, along with two pouches of refried beans & one of "Mexican" rice. I then sprinkled some diced purple onions on top and tossed on a big scoop of sour cream. Armed with a spoon in one hand and a bottle of Tapitio Hot Sauce in the other, I was in C-rat Heaven!!

Damn fine meal......Damn fine!

[Big Galloot]

To Enchilada -

Wait until you find out what you are going to do tomorrow! I would tell you but I don't want to ruin the surprise. Just make sure you are wearing clean underwear. BTW - I only had one glass of malbec otherwise I wouldn't be able to remember dinner well enough to review it.


To C-rats -

The onions, sour cream, refried beans, Mexican rice, and Tapitio sound terrific but can you still taste the enchilada?

[C-rats]

To C-rats -

The onions, sour cream, refried beans, Mexican rice, and Tapitio sound terrific but can you still taste the enchilada?

Ahhhhhhh! So that's why it was such a good meal!


(errrrr, what enchilada?)

[DIRTYDAVE]

That is one of my all time fav MREs.