The Crunch Wrap Challenge

 Everyone loves Taco Bell. wha'ts not to with their crunchy tacos, filled with tasty chicken or beef, burritos bursting with sauce and beans and nachos dripping with hot queso. Now there's a whole slew of home chefs recreating the chain's famous crunch wrap. Does it measure up? Make ti at home an d find out.

New contributor and reporter for Eater, Luke Fortney wrote about this phenomenon in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section.The Crunch wrap has been embraced by everyone and it's usually the food for choice fro teenagers.It first debuted in 2005, the brainchild of Lois Carson, a long time Taco Bell product developer. The idea was originally met with a lot of pushback. executives felt it was too slow to fold and too strange to eat.Yet Ms. Carson saw a need for it . Taco Bell did not have any sandwiches.Tacos, especially wound up dripping beans, cheese and sauce on diner's fingers.It was either that or use utensils which are an added hassle. Thus the Crunch wrap , a folded pocket containing layers of tomatoes, sour cream, lettuce and a spicy meat filling was born,Unfourtunately recipes can't be patented so there are all sorts of variations of it.At Carritoa, a pop up taqueria in Manhattan owners and chefs David Verastegui and Joaquin de la Torre stuff their version with Szechuan style beef in amino Crunchy wrap. At Kim Jon Grillin,in Portland Oregon, chef and "Chopped" competitor adds bulgogi and hanchan, a Korean veggie dish into a Muchwrap Supreme.

There are more variations. Ali Zahman, a first generation Afghani American makes his with halal ground beef  homemade queso and a better grade of tortilla flour for his Cwunchwap (he had to change the name for fear of getting sued) Being the child of immigrants he wanted American food and Taco Bell was it for him.Kris Yenbamroong of Night+market in Los Angeles give his version a Thai twist.It's s o popular that he sells thirty for them a night. The rapper action Bronson declares it "one of his favorite things on Earth". Chef Yenbamroong replaced the tostada with a fried wonton wrapper and the beef with pad grapow gai - spicy basil chicken.Its then wrapped inside a flour tortilla. These aren't used with any other ingredients at Night + Market but as a crunch wrap they fit perfectly. How anyone e;se makes them is up to them. Mr. Fortney gives the recipe. Ground beef ca be used but you could used shredded pork or chicken. even plant based beef crumbles would offer a lighter option.The spices are cumin and paprika along with tomato paste and yellow onion. The assembly is relatively easy It filling tortilla with the spicy filling pico de Gallo w, sour cream and tomatoes.Then the tostada is wrapped around this creating a hexagon.Its then fried in oil in  skillet.

Anyone can make and customize their Crunchwrap. It can be filled with whatever you want. Make to your way or Taco Bell's way.