Breakfast Burritos

Read through the recipe, gather the equipment, and use the ingredient lines to prepare everything: dice the potatoes evenly, chop the onion and jalapeño, shred the cheese and slice the avocado. Line a plate with paper towels. Everything is cut, measured and within reach.

Heat the oven to 300°F (150°C) with a rack in the middle position for warming the tortillas. It is ready when the oven reaches 300°F.

Whisk the eggs, milk and 1/2 tsp kosher salt in the medium bowl until no white streaks remain, so the eggs are ready before the potatoes finish.

Break the sausage into small crumbles in the 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring only now and then, until the crumbles are browned on several sides with no pink left and the thickest crumbles read 160°F (71°C) on an instant-read thermometer, about 6 to 8 minutes. Lift the sausage onto the paper towels, leaving its fat in the skillet.

Add the canola oil, the potatoes and 3/4 tsp kosher salt to the fat in the skillet, and spread the potatoes in one layer. Cover and cook over medium heat until a knife meets only a little resistance, about 5 minutes.

Wrap the tortillas snugly in foil and put the packet on the middle rack of the 300°F oven, where they warm while you brown the potatoes, until they are soft, floppy and steaming when you open a corner. Keep them wrapped until you roll.

Brown the potatoes uncovered over medium-high heat, turning them only once they are golden underneath, until they are crisp at the edges and tender inside, about 10 to 12 minutes. When the potatoes are nearly tender, add the onion and the jalapeño, if using, so they soften with browned edges. Stir in the sausage, season with black pepper to taste, and take the skillet off the heat.

Melt the butter in the 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low heat until foaming. Pour in the egg mixture, let the edges set, then push them toward the center with the heatproof spatula, folding slowly. Take the skillet off the heat at large, soft curds with no liquid egg left, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Taste a forkful of the potatoes with sausage and a bite of the eggs. Aim for savory, peppery potatoes and eggs salted enough not to taste bland. If either part tastes flat, add kosher salt to taste; if it tastes one-note, add black pepper to taste or hot sauce to taste, if using. Taste again until both parts taste well seasoned.

Divide the cheese, eggs, potato filling and about 1/2 cup salsa evenly among the 4 tortillas, laying each share in a strip across the lower third of a warm tortilla with the cheese underneath. Fold the bottom up snugly over the filling, fold in the sides and roll each burrito up tight, setting it down seam-side down.

Pour off any fat left in the 12-inch skillet and set it over medium heat. Sear two burritos at a time seam-side down, spaced apart, until golden underneath and the seam holds, about 1 to 2 minutes, then turn them and brown the other side. Repeat with the other two.

Cut each burrito in half on the diagonal so the layers show, and serve as 4 servings of one burrito each, with the avocado, salsa to taste and hot sauce to taste, if using. To freeze ahead, wrap cooled, unseared burritos in foil and freeze them; reheat them still wrapped in a 350°F oven until the very center reads 165°F (74°C) on an instant-read thermometer.