![Carnitas flautas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Carnitas_flautas.jpg)
A taquito (,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
for "small
taco
A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...
"), tacos dorados,
rolled taco, or flauta (, Spanish for "flute") is a
Mexican food
Mexican cuisine consists of the cooking cuisines and traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its earliest roots lie in Mesoamerican cuisine. Its ingredients and methods begin with the first agricultural communities such as the Olmec and M ...
dish that typically consists of a small rolled-up
tortilla
A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of Me ...
that contains
filling
Filling may refer to:
* a food mixture used for stuffing
* Icing (food), Frosting used between layers of a cake
* Dental restoration
* Symplectic filling, a kind of cobordism in mathematics
* Part of the leather crusting process
See also
* Fi ...
,
including beef, cheese or chicken.
[Castro, Rafaela]
Chicano folklore: a guide to the folktales, traditions, rituals and religious practices of Mexican Americans.
Oxford University Press, 2000. p.217. The filled tortilla is then
crisp-fried or
deep-fried
Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Normal ...
. The dish is often topped with condiments such as sour cream and
guacamole
Guacamole (; (informally shortened to ''guac'' in the United States since the 1980s) is an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine, it has become part of international cuisi ...
.
Corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
tortillas are generally used to make taquitos. The dish is more commonly known as flautas when they are larger than their taquito counterparts, and can be made with either flour or corn tortillas.
History
The taquito or small taco was referred to in the 1917 ''Preliminary Glossary of New Mexico Spanish'', with the word noted as a "Mexicanism" used in New Mexico. The modern definition of a taquito as a rolled-tortilla dish was given in 1929 in a book of stories of Mexican people in the United States aimed at a youth audience, where the dish was noted as a particularly popular offering of railroad station vendors.
Taquitos were referred to, without definition, in a 1932 issue of the ''Los Angeles School Journal''.
Two Southern California restaurants are often given credit for their roles in the early development of the taquito. Cielito Lindo was founded by Aurora Guerrero in 1934 and located on
Olvera Street
Olvera Street (also ''Calle Olvera'' or ''Placita Olvera'', originally Calle de los Vignes, Vine Street, and Wine Street) is a historic street in downtown Los Angeles, and a part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, the area immediatel ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
Guerrero's daughter used her taquito recipe in opening chain restaurants in Los Angeles, and soon competitors were selling similar dishes.
In
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, what would become El Indio Mexican Restaurant, began selling taquitos during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when tortilla factory owner Ralph Pesqueria Sr. was asked by workers at the
Consolidated Aircraft Company
The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the subsidiary was ...
factory across the street for a portable lunch item. Pesqueria, who used a recipe developed by his Mexican grandmother, has claimed credit for introducing the word "taquito" for the dish.
Taquitos were among the early Mexican food items developed as a
frozen food
Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows decompositi ...
, with
Van de Kamp
A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...
introducing a successful frozen taquito offering by 1976. The United States government has determined that taquitos must contain at least 15% meat.
Crispy fried taquitos sold in Mexico are often called ''
tacos dorados'' ("golden tacos") or ''flautas''. Typical toppings and sides include
cabbage
Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...
,
''crema'' (Mexican sour cream), guacamole,
green chili
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combina ...
or
red chili
Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl ''Aztec cuisine, chīlli'' (), are varieties of the fruit#Berries, berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family ...
salsa and crumbled
Mexican cheese such as ''
queso fresco
Queso blanco (), literally ''white cheese'' in Spanish, can refer to many different kinds of cheeses whose only common trait is their white color. The specific cheese referred to depends on the region.
Production
Queso blanco is considered on ...
''.
"Taquitos" in the Mexican border cities of
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
and
Mexicali
Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...
refer to small tacos sold in stands, rather than the rolled taco dish.
[Ridgely, Roberta]
The Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada Guide.
J. P. Tarcher. 1975. p.155. "The Piggyback Taquito Stands of Mexicali A number of impromptu stands selling small tacos (taquitos) snuggle up to excellent established restaurants from which they have borrowed their names."
See also
*
Burrito
A burrito (, ) is a dish in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine that took form in Ciudad Juárez, consisting of a flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various ingredients. The tortilla is sometimes lightly grilled or steamed ...
*
List of Mexican dishes
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire occurred in the 16th century. The basic staples since then remain native foods such as corn, beans, squash and chili peppers, but the Europeans introduced many other foods, the most important of which were ...
*
List of stuffed dishes
This is a list of stuffed dishes, comprising dishes and foods that are prepared with various fillings and stuffings. Some dishes are not actually stuffed; the added ingredients are simply spread atop the base food, as one cannot truly stuff an oy ...
*
List of tortilla-based dishes
This is a list of tortilla-based dishes and foods that use the tortilla as a primary ingredient. A tortilla is a type of soft, thin flatbread made from finely ground corn or wheat flour. Originally derived from the corn tortilla (''tortilla'' in ...
*
Lumpiang Shanghai
''Lumpiang shanghai'' (also known as Filipino spring rolls, or simply ''lumpia'' or ''lumpiya''), is a Filipino deep-fried appetizer consisting of a mixture of ''giniling'' (ground pork) wrapped in a thin egg crêpe. ''Lumpiang Shanghai'' is re ...
*
Taco
A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...
References
External links
*
{{Street food
Fast food
Mexican cuisine
Street food
Stuffed dishes
Taco
Tex-Mex cuisine
Tortilla-based dishes