Roll up, roll up for the yummiest start to the day with this tantalising TexMex mishmash of refried beans, eggs, potatoes. But just what goes in, and what should be left out?

Breakfast tacos should not be confused with tacos eaten for breakfast. Of course, they often are eaten for breakfast, but the stuffed flour tortillas eaten on both sides of the southern US border are quite different from the tacos mañaneros of central and southern Mexico, the rich, corn-based tacos de canasta (“tacos in a basket”) or the smoky beef barbacoa that Monterrey-born Lily Ramirez-Foran recalls being her dad’s favourite Sunday breakfast. Instead, Texas Monthly explains, breakfast tacos “marry the key elements of an American morning – scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes – with the Mexican staples of salsa, cheese, refried beans … genius.”

Although they’re originally a Mexican creation, according to José R Ralat, the magazine’s taco editor (what a job title!), these $3 treats are now so popular north of the border that they’re the subject of regular taco wars, mostly between those who claim Austin as their spiritual home (often blow-ins, according to their fiercest critics), and those who know that no single city can take the credit. The fillings may vary, from pork chops to chilaquiles and beans to cheese, but Ralat maintains that all should be salty, soft and, above all, comforting, and told the Washington Post a few years ago that “the greatest breakfast taco is the one made at home”. Which, if you live 5,000 miles from the Mexican border, is good news indeed.

Bittersweet maroon leaves pair perfectly with juicy red wine in this elegant winter risotto served with a walnut pesto

Bitter ingredients are not to everyone’s taste, but, amid these darkest months, they make me feel alive. I love Seville oranges, grapefruit, brassicas, bitter greens, chicory and, most of all, radicchio. I like the burgundy-spotted castelfranco (great for salad with citrus and cheese) and the long-locked tardivo (best cooked with balsamic vinegar), but radicchio di chioggia is the popular leader of the pack. A chubby little cabbage-y nugget with a middle-of-the-road bitterness that becomes milder, sweeter and more delicious, especially when cooked alongside a large glass of juicy chianti and finished off with a snowy dusting of parmesan.

A booze-free mocktail that uses lemon juice to bring a bright sharpness to the earthy sweetness of beetroot and sumac

Traditionally, shrubs are made with vinegar, but for this one we use lemon juice to bring a bright sharpness to the base syrup, because it balances the earthy sweetness of the beetroot and sumac. A 0% gin brings some botanical notes to proceedings, but the syrup also works wonderfully just topped with soda water. You’ll need to start the syrup a day ahead.

Connor Wilson, head chef, The Kirkstyle Inn, Slaggyford, Northumberland