Tex-Mex cuisine

For the musical style, please see Tejano music.

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Tex-Mex is a term for a type of American food which is used primarily in Texas and the Southwestern United States to describe a regional cuisine which blends food products available in the United States and the culinary creations of Mexican-Americans that are influenced by the cuisines of Mexico. A given Tex-Mex food may or may not be similar to Mexican cuisine, although it is common for all of these foods to be referred to as "Mexican food" in Texas, the United States and in some other countries. In many parts of the country outside of Texas this term is synonymous with Southwestern cuisine.^[1][2][3]

History

"Tex-Mex" first entered the language as a nickname for the Texas-Mexican Railway, which was chartered in 1875.^[4]

In the train schedules published in newspapers of the 1800s, the names of railroads were abbreviated. The Missouri Pacific was called the Mo. Pac., and the Texas-Mexican was abbreviated Tex. Mex. In the 1920s, the hyphenated form was used in American newspapers in reference to the railroad and to describe people of Mexican descent who were born in Texas.^[5]

In the mission era, Spanish and Mexican Indian foods were combined in Texas as in other parts of the Northern Frontier of New Spain.^[6]

This cuisine that would come to be called Tex-Mex actually originated with the Tejanos (Texans of Hispanic descent) as a hybrid of Spanish and native Mexican foods when Texas was part of New Spain and later Mexico.

From the South Texas region between San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley, this cuisine has had little variation and from earliest times has always been influenced by the cooking in the neighboring northern states of Mexico. The ranching culture of South Texas and Northern Mexico straddles both sides of the border. A taste for cabrito (kid goat), barbacoa (barbecued cow heads), carne seca (dried beef), and other products of cattle culture are common on both sides of the Rio Grande. In the twentieth century, Tex-Mex took on such Americanized elements as yellow cheese, as goods from the United States became cheap and readily available.

Diana Kennedy, an influential food authority, first delineated the differences between Mexican cuisine and Americanized Mexican food in her 1972 book The Cuisines of Mexico. The first use in print of "Tex-Mex" in reference to food occurred in the Mexico City News in 1973.

Award-winning Texas food writer Robb Walsh updated Kennedy and put her comments regarding Tex-Mex cooking into historical and sociopolitical perspective in The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos (New York: Broadway Books, 2004).

The ingredients used are common in Mexican cuisine, although ingredients unknown in Mexico are often added. Tex-Mex cuisine is characterized by its heavy use of meat (particularly beef), beans, and spices in addition to Mexican-style tortillas (maize or flour), fried or baked (most traditional Mexican cuisine is not so heavily starch-based as Tex-Mex). Texas-style chili con carne, crispy chalupas, chili con queso, chili gravy, and fajitas are all Tex-Mex inventions.^{[citation needed]} Serving tortilla chips and a hot sauce or salsa as an appetizer is also an original Tex-Mex combination.^{[citation needed]} Moreover, Tex-Mex has imported flavors from other spicy cuisines, such as the use of cumin (common in Indian food), but used in only a few authentic Mexican recipes.

Tex-Mex restaurants

Tex-Mex cuisine is found in many independent and chain restaurants in the state of Texas and the country. Chain restaurants include Chili's, Chico's Tacos, Ninfa's, Casa Olé, Chuy's, El Fenix, El Chico, Taco Cabana and the now-defunct Chi-Chi's. While Chili's serves some Tex-Mex foods, it is considered to be more Southwestern cuisine by many.‹The template Weasel-inline is being considered for deletion.›  ^{[weasel words]}

Notes

See also

• Cuisine of the United States
• Cuisine of Mexico
• Chili con queso

External links

• How to make Hot Tamales
• A Six Part History of Tex-Mex
• On Line Tex-Mex Mexican Food Recipes
• Pronunciation Guide to Mexican and Tex-Mex Food
• Tex-Mex Video Recipe

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