The history of TexMex cuisine
You live in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or anywhere else in Texas and you love TexMex cuisine. That makes you a bona fide “chilean head.” TexMex food is the specialty in these parts and has quite a history!
The term “TexMex” first entered the common lexicon as a nickname for the Texas-Mexican Railroad, chartered in 1875. Train schedules, published in newspapers, abbreviate railroad names. For example, the Missouri Pacific was called the Mo. Pac. and the Texas-Mexican was abbreviated Tex. mx It was in the 1920s that the hyphenated form was used in reference to the railroad, as well as to describe people of Mexican descent who were born in Texas.
Food historians claim that the first printed evidence of “TexMex” referring to food occurred in 1945. From there, TexMex restaurants slowly emerged outside of the southwestern US in cities with a substantial Hispanic population. . So TexMex became “gourmet”. In the 1970s, Mexican culinary expert Diana Kennedy is credited with taking this common food and turning it into a trendy food and new “must-have” cuisine for a younger generation.
What exactly is TexMex cuisine?
Several hundred years ago, during the mission era, Spanish and Mexican-Indian foods were combined as Anglo food in Texas, as in other parts of what was called the Northern Frontier of New Spain. It was this cuisine that would eventually be called TexMex. The cuisine actually originated with Texans of Hispanic descent, or Tejanos, as a hybrid of indigenous Spanish and Mexican foods when Texas was still part of New Spain and, later, Mexico.
Served at the tables of the South Texas region between San Antonio and Brownsville, this cuisine has changed little since its earliest origins and was heavily influenced by the cuisine of neighboring northern Mexican states. Originally, TexMex began with a taste for cabrito (kid), barbecue (roasted cow heads), carne seca (dried meat), and other products of the cattle culture that were common on both sides of the Rio Grande during that period.
TexMex incorporates ingredients common to Mexican cuisine, although some unknown in Mexico are often added. This cuisine is also characterized by the intensive use of meats (particularly beef), beans and spices, in addition to Mexican-style tortillas (corn or flour), fried or baked. Nachos, crispy tacos, crispy chalupas, chili con queso, chili con carne, chili gravy, and fajitas are all TexMex inventions.
Serving tortilla chips and a hot sauce or salsa as an appetizer is also an original TexMex dish. Additionally, TexMex has imported flavors from other spicy cuisines, such as the use of cumin (common in Indian food), but it is used in only a few authentic Mexican recipes. In the 20th century, TexMex acquired items like yellow cheese from the United States, because it became cheap and readily available.
The cuisine evolved during the 1950s in Mexican restaurants, whose popularity coincided with the arrival of large numbers of Mexican immigrants and created the TexMex style of food, the mixture of northern Mexican peasant food with peasant and cowboy food. from Texas. Chili was unknown in Mexico and was derived from the use of beef in Texan cooking. Fried beans were a mistranslation of the Mexican dish, refried beans, which actually means deep fried beans.
This was followed by mixed platters, packed with enchiladas, tacos and tortillas, which have now become the standard on the Tex-Mex menu. New dishes, such as chimichangas and nachos, were created to please the American palate. One of the most successful ethnic TexMex dishes to date is the fajita.
I want Taco Bell!
The food community began referring to Americanized Mexican food as “TexMex,” a term previously used to describe anything that was half Texan and half Mexican. Texan-Mexican restaurant owners considered it an insult. However, this insult launched many hits. To the rest of the world, TexMex had mirrored the wildest, most untamed parts of Texas. He conjured up images of saloons, cowboys, and the Wild West. Dozens of Tex-Mex restaurants sprang up in Paris and across Europe, in Bangkok, Buenos Aires and Abu Dhabi.
Tortilla chips, margaritas, and chili con carne are now well-known TexMex staples around the world. The cuisine is found in many independent and chain restaurants in the state of Texas, as well as the rest of the country. TexMex restaurant chains include Chili’s, Ninfa’s, Casa Olé, Chuy’s, El Fenix, El Chico, and Taco Cabana. While Chili’s does serve some TexMex items, it is considered to be more Southwestern cuisine. And of course there is the ubiquitous Taco Bell; a conglomerate of fast food versions of Mexican and TexMex dishes, owned by Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, KY.
If you love spicy dishes, you’ll love the variety of entrees that TexMex cuisine offers. But as good as TexMex is, it should be everything in moderation. Because, as you will discover, what you put into your body now will affect your health in the future. And your health, good or bad, will eventually affect your bank account. So, if you’re a young adult watching what you eat and trying to maintain a healthy condition, you should take a look at the revolutionary, comprehensive and highly affordable individual health insurance solutions created by Precedent specifically for you. For more information, visit us on our website, [http://www.precedent.com]. We offer a unique and innovative suite of individual health insurance solutions, including highly competitive HSA-qualified plans and an unprecedented real-time application and acceptance experience.