In the latest episode of Binging with Babish, which recreates fictional food from popular TV shows and movies, Oliver Babish took on an especially heavy challenge: the “meat tornado” from Parks and Recreation.
Ron Swanson, the stern libertarian head of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department, famously does not like “ethnic” food. Andy Dwyer manages to convince him to try a burrito from “Big Head Joe’s” that’s so dense with meat, it killed a man.
Babish confirmed with Dr. Michael Rothkopf, a physician nutritionist specialist, that someone with pre-existing heart conditions can in fact die from coronary failure as a result of eating spicy and meat-heavy food.
To recreate this lethal burrito, Babish marinated two pounds of flank steak with garlic and cilantro. Then, he cooked an entire pork shoulder in “an irresponsible amount of lard” for carnitas. As the carnitas simmered, he braised two chicken breasts in a spicy mixture of cumin and chili.
Because the burrito would need to cover an immense amount of meat, Babish had to cook an extra large tortilla — one almost the size of his paella pan. After two attempts, Babish stacked the steak, the carnitas, shredded chicken, handfuls of cheese, several dollops of refried beans, and a few generous “glugs” of the extreme hot sauce used as the final challenge in the YouTube interview show Hot Ones onto the massive tortilla.
The finished meat tornado, which was roughly the size of a newborn baby, clocked in at 1 pound, 15.8 ounces. With the sheer amount of lard and hot sauce slathered on it, the meat tornado could easily kill a man.