Innie or Outie

Sometimes when I create new dishes and come up with names to try and describe the dishes, I notice that not all basic food terms are understood equally by all. This may be because in most areas an original dish is slightly altered to match the local population’s taste buds. Limited food term recognization also probably has a small hand in the conflicting images of what each item represents. Since I grew up in Texas, I use many ethnic terms in the construction of the names of new Tex-Mex based dishes I create. To help clarify exactly what the original food terms refer to, I have composed a very brief dictionary-based glossary of the most commonly used Tex-Mex food terms:

bur·ri·to – A flour tortilla wrapped around a filling, as of beef, beans, or cheese.
cha·lu·pa – Corn tortilla dough fried in a boat shape and filled with shredded meat, vegetables, or cheese.*
chi·la·qui·les – Fried softened tortilla chips covered with salsa or mole and cheese and broiled.
chim·i·chan·ga – A deep-fried burrito.
em·pa·na·da – A turnover with a flaky crust and a spicy or sweet filling.
en·chi·la·da – A tortilla rolled and stuffed usually with a mixture containing meat or cheese and served with a sauce spiced with chili.
fa·ji·ta – A dish consisting of strips of marinated meat, poultry, or vegetables that are grilled over an open fire and served in a tortilla, usually with spicy condiments.
flau·ta – A corn tortilla rolled around a filling, such as beef, chicken, or cheese, into a thin cylinder and sometimes deep-fried.
na·cho – A small, often triangular piece of tortilla topped with cheese or chili-pepper sauce and broiled.
que·sa·dil·la – A flour tortilla folded in half around a savory filling, as of cheese or beans, then fried or toasted.
ta·co – A corn tortilla folded around a filling such as ground meat or cheese.
ta·ma·le – A Mexican dish made of chopped meat and crushed peppers, highly seasoned, wrapped in cornhusks spread with masa, and steamed.
tos·ta·da or tos·ta·do – A tortilla or tortilla chip deep-fried until crisp.

*NOTE: Where I was raised in Texas, a chalupa was basically the same as a flat deep fried open-faced taco topped with all the fillings (beans, beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, black olives) in other words – like a miniture Tex-Mex pizza.

For those who are interested in trying some homemade Tex-Mex recipes, this site has an extensive selection from which to choose.