Nachos are a
Mexican culinary dish consisting of fried
tortilla chip
A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veget ...
s or ''
totopos
''Totopo'', in Mexican cuisine, is a flat, round, or triangular corn item similar to a tortilla, that has been toasted, fried or baked, but it may be prepared with nixtamalized corn masa. Totopos are best known as originating from Zapotec peo ...
'' covered with melted cheese or
cheese sauce
Cheese sauce is a sauce made with cheese or processed cheese as a primary ingredient. Sometimes dried cheese or cheese powder is used. Several varieties exist and it has many various culinary uses. Mass-produced commercial cheese sauces are also ...
, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chicken), vegetables (such as chili peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, and olives), and condiments such as
salsa
Salsa most often refers to:
* Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments
* Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music
* Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music
Salsa or SALSA may also refer to:
A ...
,
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 ...
, or
sour cream
Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, wh ...
. At its most basic form, nachos may consist of merely chips covered with cheese, and served as an
appetizer
An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the ...
or
snack
A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home.
Traditionally, snacks are p ...
, while other versions are substantial enough as a main course. The dish was created by, and named after,
Ignacio Anaya
Ignacio Anaya García (15 August 1895 – 9 November 1975) was a Mexican maître d' who invented the popular Tex-Mex dish nachos at the Victory Club restaurant a couple miles from the border of Texas in Mexico in 1943. After nachos grew in p ...
, who created them in 1941 for customers at the Victory Club restaurant in
Piedras Negras, Coahuila
Piedras Negras () is a city and seat of the Piedras Negras Municipality, surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Coahuila. It stands at the northeastern edge of Coahuila on the Mexico–United St ...
.
History
Nachos originated in the city of
Piedras Negras, Coahuila
Piedras Negras () is a city and seat of the Piedras Negras Municipality, surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Coahuila. It stands at the northeastern edge of Coahuila on the Mexico–United St ...
, just over the border from
Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County in the U.S. state of Texas. Its population was 28,130 as of the 2020 census.
Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across th ...
.
Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya created nachos at the Victory Club in 1940 when Mamie Finan, a regular customer, asked if Anaya could bring her, and three other women on a shopping trip from Eagle Pass, a different snack than usual. In Spanish, "Nacho" is a common nickname for Ignacio.
Anaya went to the kitchen and spotted freshly fried pieces of corn tortillas.
In a moment of culinary inspiration, Anaya cut the tortillas into triangles, fried them, added shredded
Colby cheese
Colby is a semi-hard orange cheese made from cow's milk. It is named after the city of Colby, Wisconsin, US, where it was first developed in 1885 and quickly became popular.
Colby is manufactured in a similar process as cheddar cheese. Instead ...
, quickly heated them, added sliced pickled
jalapeño peppers, and served them. After tasting the snack, Finan asked what it was called. Anaya responded, "Well, I guess we can just call them Nacho's Special."
![Goettanachos](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Goettanachos.jpg)
Anaya also opened his own restaurant, Nacho's Restaurant, in Piedras Negras. Anaya's original recipe was printed in the 1954 ''St. Anne's Cookbook''.
The popularity of the dish swiftly spread throughout Texas and the Southwest. The first known appearance of the word "nachos" in English dates to 1950, from the book ''A Taste of Texas''.
According to
El Cholo Spanish Cafe
The El Cholo Spanish Cafe is a Los Angeles restaurant serving Mexican food. Founded in 1923, the restaurant is credited with the introduction of the burrito to the United States in the 1930s. The restaurant has expanded to a chain with six locat ...
history, waitress Carmen Rocha is credited with making nachos in San Antonio, Texas, before introducing the dish to Los Angeles at the cafe in 1959.
A modified version of the dish, with
cheese sauce
Cheese sauce is a sauce made with cheese or processed cheese as a primary ingredient. Sometimes dried cheese or cheese powder is used. Several varieties exist and it has many various culinary uses. Mass-produced commercial cheese sauces are also ...
and prepared tortilla chips, was marketed in 1976 by Frank Liberto, owner of Ricos Products, during
Texas Rangers baseball games at
Arlington Stadium
Arlington Stadium was a baseball stadium located in Arlington, Texas, United States, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It served as the home for the Texas Rangers (MLB) from 1972 until 1993, after which the team moved into The Bal ...
in
Arlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...
.
This version became known as "ballpark nachos". During the September 4, 1978 ''
Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...
'' game between the Baltimore Colts and Dallas Cowboys, sportscaster
Howard Cosell
Howard is an English language, English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (disambiguation), Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defe ...
enjoyed the name "nachos," and made a point of mentioning the dish in his broadcasts over the following weeks, further popularizing it and introducing it to a whole new audience.
Liberto died in 2017.
Ignacio Anaya died in 1975. In his honor, a bronze plaque was erected in Piedras Negras, and October 21 was declared the International Day of the Nacho.
Anaya's son, Ignacio Anaya, Jr., served as a judge at the annual nacho competition.
Nutritional information
The nutritional breakdown and total calorie count for a serving of nachos typically depends on the type of nacho, type of cheese, and additional toppings (such as beef, jalapeños, etc.) that are included in the serving. Most typical corn tortilla chips contain about 15 calories per chip. Baked corn tortilla chips have about 6 calories per chip, making them a healthier alternative option to the usual fried chip. Mexican-style cheddar cheese contains about 110 calories per ounce. Adding an additional source of protein, such as chicken or beef, increases the calorie count by about 100 calories or so. All in all, a single serving of nachos can contain from 300 to 600 total calories.
A single serving of nachos also contains significant amounts of fat, sodium, and calcium. There are around 16 grams of fat, 816 mg of sodium, and 272 mg of calcium per serving of nachos. In other words, one serving contains 39% of the daily value for fat, 34% of the daily value for sodium, and 27% of the daily value for calcium.
Variations
![Nachos](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Nachos.2.jpg)
A variation consists of a quartered and fried
tostada topped with a layer of
refried beans
Refried beans (from es, frijoles refritos, ) is a dish of cooked and mashed beans that is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular ...
or various
meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
s and a layer of shredded
cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
or nacho cheese, topped with
habanero
The habanero (; ) is a hot variety of chili. Unripe habaneros are green, and they color as they mature. The most common color variants are orange and red, but the fruit may also be white, brown, yellow, green, or purple. Typically, a ripe haba ...
hot sauce.
Other variations include barbecue nachos (in which cheese is replaced with barbecue sauce) and
poutine
Poutine () is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec, in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain and there are several competing claims regarding it ...
nachos (in which cheddar cheese is replaced with cheese curds and gravy). Although those variations use nontraditional ingredients, these versions are still classified as nachos. In the US Southeast, pulled pork nachos, also called barbecue nachos, are very popular. In this variation, the nachos retain their cheese and often jalapeños, but are also topped with pulled smoked pork shoulder served with or without barbecue sauce or
hot sauce
Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist.
History
Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years ...
. Some Irish-themed restaurants and bars serve "Irish Nachos" with toppings placed over potatoes (French fries) instead of tortilla chips. A
Pacific Nortwestern
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
version Of nachos called totchos, or Tot-Chos is a variation in which tortilla chips are replaced with deep-fried or baked
tater tots
Tater tots are grated potatoes formed into small cylinders and deep-fried, often served as a side dish. The name "tater tot" is a registered trademark of the American frozen food company Ore-Ida, but is often used as a generic term. "Tater" is s ...
.
Traditional nachos consist of the tortilla chips topped with cheese and jalapeños, as done by Anaya. The modern form of nachos has several possible ingredients with the most common toppings being cheese, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, jalapeños, olives, refried beans, ground beef, chicken, and sometimes lettuce. Lettuce is a less common topping, if added at all. Toppings may be served buffet-style to allow diners to create their own nachos. The topping of the greatest quantity is often the cheese.
Nachos vary from the modern style served in restaurants to the quick and easy nachos sold at concession stands in stadiums. The nachos commonly sold at concession stands in the US consists of tortilla chips topped with pump-able cheese sauce. The cheese sauce comes in condensed form to which water or milk and pepper juice are added. What is contained in the condensed form itself is a trade secret. Another variation of nachos is "dessert nachos". These vary widely, from cinnamon and sugar on pita chips to "s'more nachos" with marshmallow and chocolate on graham crackers, and typically refer to a dessert consisting of scattered toppings on some form of crispy base.
Ingredients
![NachosAtAngelStadium](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/NachosAtAngelStadium.jpg)
Common toppings include:
*
Black beans,
pinto bean
The pinto bean () is a variety of common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''). In Spanish they are called , literally "painted bean" (compare pinto horse). It is the most popular bean by crop production in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United Stat ...
s, or
refried beans
Refried beans (from es, frijoles refritos, ) is a dish of cooked and mashed beans that is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular ...
*
Chile con queso
Chile con queso (Spanish (language), Spanish for "chile with cheese"), sometimes simply called queso, is an appetizer or side dish of Cheese sauce, melted cheese and chili peppers, typically served in Tex-Mex cuisine, Tex-Mex restaurants as a Dip ...
or
chili con carne
Chili con carne (also spelled chilli con carne or chile con carne and shortened to chili or chilli; ), meaning " chili with meat", is a spicy stew containing chili peppers (sometimes in the form of chili powder), meat (usually beef), tomatoes an ...
*
*
Chives
Chives, scientific name ''Allium schoenoprasum'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers. Their close relatives include the common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and ...
or
scallion
Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus ''Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, ch ...
s
*
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
, usually
ground beef
Ground beef, minced beef or beef mince is beef that has been finely chopped with a knife, meat grinder (American English), mincer or mincing machine (British English). It is used in many recipes including hamburgers, bolognese sauce, meatloaf, ...
, sliced
steak
A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patties, ...
,
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
,
chorizo
Chorizo (, from Spanish ; similar to but distinct from Portuguese ) is a type of pork cured meat originating from the Iberian Peninsula.
In Europe, chorizo is a fermented, cured, smoked meat, which may be sliced and eaten without cooking, or ...
, or ''
carne asada
Carne asada is grilled and sliced beef, usually chuck steak (known as Diezmillo in Spanish), though skirt steak or flank steak can also be used. It is usually marinated then grilled or seared to impart a charred flavor. Carne asada can be served ...
''; occasionally
bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...
,
pepperoni
Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chili pepper.
Prior to cooking, pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red. Thinly sliced pepperoni is one ...
,
corned beef
Corned beef, or salt beef in some of the Commonwealth of Nations, is Salt-cured meat, salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. Sometimes, sugar and sp ...
, or
Spam
Spam may refer to:
* Spam (food), a canned pork meat product
* Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages
** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages
** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...
*
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 ...
*
Jalapeño
The jalapeño ( , , ) is a medium-sized chili pepper pod type cultivar of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. A mature jalapeño chili is long and hangs down with a round, firm, smooth flesh of wide. It can have a range of pungency, with Scovi ...
or other ''
Capsicum
''Capsicum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the Solanum, nightshade family Solanaceae, native to Americas, the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their chili pepper or bell pepper fruit.
Etymology and names
The generic name may come f ...
'' peppers, or
hot sauce
Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist.
History
Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years ...
*
Lettuce
Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...
*
Lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
*
Olives
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...
*
Onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...
s
*
Garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...
*
Pickles
Pickles may refer to:
Dogs
* Pickles (dog) (died 1967), a dog that found the stolen World Cup trophy in 1966
* Pickles (pickleball), a dog often cited as the name origin for the sport of pickleball
* Mr. Pickles, the titular demonic dog in an ...
*
Pico de gallo
''Pico de gallo'' (, ), also called ''salsa fresca'' ('fresh sauce'), ''salsa bandera'' ('flag sauce'), and ''salsa cruda'' ('raw sauce'), is a type of salsa commonly used in Mexican cuisine. It is traditionally made from chopped tomato, onio ...
or
salsa
Salsa most often refers to:
* Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments
* Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music
* Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music
Salsa or SALSA may also refer to:
A ...
*
Sour cream
Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, wh ...
*
Salada dressing
*
Ranch dressing
Ranch dressing is an American salad dressing usually made from buttermilk, salt, garlic, onion, mustard, herbs (commonly chives, parsley and dill), and spices (commonly pepper, paprika and ground mustard seed) mixed into a sauce based on ma ...
*
Tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
es
See also the common cheeses used:
*
Nacho cheese
Nachos are a Mexican culinary dish consisting of fried tortilla chips or ''totopos'' covered with melted cheese or cheese sauce, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chicken ...
*
Cheddar cheese
Cheddar cheese (or simply cheddar) is a natural cheese that is relatively hard, off-white (or orange if colourings such as annatto are added), and sometimes sharp-tasting. Cheddar originates from the English village of Cheddar in Somerset.
Ched ...
*
Mozzarella cheese
Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method.
Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anima ...
*
Cotija cheese
Cotija is an aged Mexican cheese made from cow's milk and named after the town of Cotija, Michoacán. White in color and firm in texture, its flavor is salty and milky. "Young" (or fresher) cotija cheese has been described as akin to a mild feta ...
*
Oaxaca cheese
Oaxaca cheese ( es, queso Oaxaca) ( ), also known as quesillo and queso de hebra, is a white, semihard, low-fat cheese that originated in Mexico. It is similar to unaged Monterey Jack, but with a texture similar to mozzarella or string cheese.
H ...
*
Swiss cheese Swiss cheese may refer to:
Cheese
* List of Swiss cheeses (from Switzerland)
* Swiss-type cheeses or Alpine cheeses, a class of cooked pressed cheeses now made in many countries
* Swiss cheese (North America), any of several related varieties o ...
*
Provel cheese
Provel () is a white processed cheese product particularly popular in St. Louis cuisine, that is a combination of cheddar, Swiss, and provolone cheeses. Provel has a low melting point, and therefore has a gooey and almost buttery texture at room ...
*
Monterey Jack
Monterey Jack, sometimes shortened to Jack, is a Californian white, semi-hard cheese made using cow's milk, with a mild flavor and slight sweetness. It has been called "an American original" and "as a vestige of Spanish rule in the early nineteen ...
*
Pepperjack cheese
Monterey Jack, sometimes shortened to Jack, is a Californian white, semi-hard cheese made using cow's milk, with a mild flavor and slight sweetness. It has been called "an American original" and "as a vestige of Spanish rule in the early ninetee ...
*
Cheese curd
Cheese curds are moist pieces of curdled milk, eaten either alone or as a snack, or used in prepared dishes. They are consumed throughout the northern United States and Canada. Notably, cheese curds are popular in Quebec, as part of the dish po ...
Nachos with an abundance of toppings are sometimes called "loaded nachos". This type of dish is usually served as an
appetizer
An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the ...
at bars or restaurants in the United States and elsewhere. Typically, the tortilla chips are arranged on a platter, meat and refried bean toppings are then added, and the entire platter is smothered with shredded cheese. The platter is then put into a broiler or
microwave
Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...
to cause the cheese to melt. The platter is then covered with the cold toppings (shredded lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, jalapeños, etc.) and served immediately.
In
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
,
barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...
nachos are served in most barbecue restaurants, and also at sporting events. Generous portions of barbecued
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
shoulder are placed atop tortilla chips, then covered with melted cheese or nacho cheese,
barbecue sauce
Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting (cooking), basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork or beef ribs (food), ribs and chicken as food, chicken. I ...
, and sliced jalapeño peppers.
In
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
,
kalua pork and
pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...
nachos are served in many restaurants and bars. Generous portions of kalua pork and pineapple bits are placed atop tortilla chips, then covered with melted cheese or nacho cheese, and varied toppings.
A similar dish that involves tortilla chips and cheese is found in
Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine, American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the Tejanos, ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others i ...
restaurants. Small bowls of
chili con queso
Chile con queso (Spanish for "chile with cheese"), sometimes simply called queso, is an appetizer or side dish of melted cheese and chili peppers, typically served in Tex-Mex restaurants as a dip for tortilla chips.
Background
Chile con queso ( ...
or, more commonly, salsa are served with baskets of warm
tortilla chip
A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veget ...
s as appetizers.
Nacho cheese
![Flickr jennerosity 3399911471--Nachos](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Flickr_jennerosity_3399911471--Nachos.jpg)
A form of processed cheese sauce mixed with peppers and other spices is often used in place of freshly shredded cheese in institutional or large-scale production settings, such as schools, movie theaters, sports venues, and
convenience store
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
s, or wherever using freshly grated cheese may be logistically prohibitive. Though originally formulated as a cheaper and more convenient source of cheese to top nachos, this
dip has become popular enough in the U.S. that it is available in some Mexican-themed restaurants, and at major
grocery store
A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...
s, in both name-brand (
Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavor ...
,
Tostitos
Tostitos is a brand of Frito-Lay that produces different tortilla chips and a range of accompanying dips.
Varieties
There are many varieties of Tostitos chips:
* Tostitos ''Gold'' (and bite size ''Gold'') - a thicker and larger version of t ...
, and
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, includi ...
) and unbranded versions.
In popular culture
In the United States, National Nacho Day is celebrated on November 6.
The International Nacho Festival is held between October 13 and 15
at Piedras Negras, the birthplace of nachos, and features live music, art, cultural activities, and a contest for the biggest nacho of the world which is registered with the ''
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
''.
On April 21, 2012, the world's biggest serving of nachos was made by
Centerplate
Centerplate, Inc. is a food and beverage corporation serving entertainment venues in North America, and the UK.
Centerplate, formerly known as Volume Services America, Inc., was originally a division of Canteen Corp. In 1995, it was sold to Flags ...
at the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
in
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...
.
It weighed and contained of nacho chips, of salsa, of tomato, of meat and beans, and more than of cheese.
See also
*
List of hors d'oeuvre
This is a list of notable hors d'oeuvre, also referred to as appetisers or starters, which may be served either hot or cold. They are food items served before the main courses of a meal, and are also sometimes served at the dinner table as a part ...
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List of maize dishes
This is a list of maize dishes, in which maize (corn) is used as a primary ingredient. Additionally, some foods and beverages that are prepared with maize are listed.
Ingredients
Corn can be Food processing, processed into an intermediate form t ...
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Mexican cuisine
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 ...
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Cuisine of California
The cuisine of California reflects the diverse culture of California and is influenced largely by Hispanic American roots (Mexican, Latin American, Spanish), alongside Eastern Asian and Oceanian influences ( Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, ...
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Nacho cheese
Nachos are a Mexican culinary dish consisting of fried tortilla chips or ''totopos'' covered with melted cheese or cheese sauce, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chicken ...
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Nacho Cheese Doritos
Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced since 1964 by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The original Doritos were not flavored. The first flavor was Toasted Corn, released in 1966, followed by Taco in ...
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Tex-Mex cuisine
Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United ...
Notes
:1.Anaya's son, Ignacio Anaya, Jr., is quoted as saying "My father was maître d' and he said 'Let me go quick and fix something for you.' He went into the kitchen, picked up tostadas, grated some cheese on them—Wisconsin cheese, the round one—and put them under the
salamander
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...
(a broiling unit that browns the top of foods). He pulled them out after a couple of minutes, all melted, and put on a slice of jalapeño."
References
Further reading
* Dunne, Mike. (January 28, 2004). "One spicy tale: 'Macho Nachos'". ''
Sacramento Bee
''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
'', p. F1.
* Nickel, Sandra and Oliver Dominguez. (2020). Nacho's Nachos: The Story Behind the World's Favorite Snack.
External links
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{{Mexican cuisine
Appetizers
Cheese dishes
Dips (food)
Maize dishes
Mexican cuisine
Tex-Mex cuisine
Tortilla-based dishes
American snack foods
Cuisine of the Southwestern United States