I was wondering if anyone could tell me what distinguishes burritos,
chimichangas, enchiladas, fajitas, and quesadillas. I would really love
to know!
Thanks,
Joy
--
As far as I can tell, a burrito is a really large flour tortilla filled
and rolled with meat, beans, veggies and covered with some sort of sauce
(varies by region).
A chimichanga is a fried burrito, with or without sauce.
Enchiladas are usually made from corn tortillas and are filled and
rolled with cheese and/or meat/chicken/shrimp/etc and are covered and
then baked with a sauce (again, sauce varies by region). In some area
(New Mexico, perhaps others?), the tortillas and fillings are layered
and then served with a fried egg on top.
Fajitas are soft tacos using flour tortillas that are filled with skirt
steak meat which has been marinated to tenderize and then served with an
assortment of extras (cheese, onions, green peppers, sour cream,
salsa).
Quesadillas are flour tortillas that are filled with cheese and/or meat
and veggies and then heated in a skillet to brown the outside while
warming the filling.
Leigh in raLeigh
(Texas native)
Just to note that a few of the items described are more of southwestern
influence. However, I thought the person asking for those descriptions
was being a troll.... I dont' know, when I get questions like that
I rarely pay attention to them.
Cheers.
--
Victor M. Martinez, Jr. | The University of Texas at Austin
mar...@che.utexas.edu | Department of Chemical Engineering
http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv | Austin, TX 78712
If we knew what we were doing it would not be called research, would it?
Not necessarily. In fact, most mexicans (away from the north) will only
use flour tortillas to make quesadillas. Unless I have fresh masa to make
the quesadillas (put the cheese in it before cooking), I prefer flour
tortillas.
We always use flour tortillas to make quesadillas in NM, and the restaurants
that we've ordered them have used flour tortillas as well. (Cal, NM, Ariz)
Kona Mac Farmer
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Quesadillas are corn tortillas filled with something good, folded and
lightly fried until the inside cheese or whatever melts then the quesadilla
is either drained of its oil or patted to remove the excess oil and served
either with a sauce or by itself.
This is a reflection of my experience of living in Mexico, studying ancient
ruins, teaching in Mexico and traveling in Mexico since 1942 - That's
roughly 56 years from which one surely must learn something.
I'm sure your experience in those places are accurate. My point was that
North of the border, flour quesadillas have been my experience. BTW, in its
450+ year history, New Mexico has been either part of Mexico or Spain for
about 80% of the time (except of a short bout of Texasitis, which we of
breeding don't discuss...)
:-}
Heather A.
--
Heather Allen
sha...@macwhiz.com
Perhaps back when you lived in Mexico, but as I've been trying to tell
you... Mexico has changed a lot in the past 10 years. Bimbo started making
flour tortillas (under the Tia Rosa brand, called them "tortillinas") back
in the 80's. That's my first memory of a flour tortilla (at the time I was
living in Irapuato, Gto.)
Now flour tortillas are very common, but usually reserved for two things:
quesadillas and "gringas" (basically a quesadilla with al pastor meat).
>Quesadillas are corn tortillas filled with something good, folded and
That's the Mexico city definition, where they have quesadillas without
cheese. Elsewhere, if you order a quesadilla they will bring you a
grilled/fried cheese taco, usually made with flour tortillas.
>This is a reflection of my experience of living in Mexico, studying ancient
>ruins, teaching in Mexico and traveling in Mexico since 1942 - That's
>roughly 56 years from which one surely must learn something.
When was the last time you lived in Mexico? We are not the same country
we were 10 years ago, I've lived through the change...
As has been said again and again in the newsgroup - Mexican food consists
of part of the US and most of Mexico so who is to say what is legitimate or
not.
I sense Victor's frustration in that possibly, like me, we would very much
like to share central Mexican cuisine with those of you who grew up and are
used to northern Mexico foods. So we keep trying to share deep south stuff
but invariably we get told to be more eclectic in our opinions. OK, so be
it.
I would love to hear about the central Mexican cuisine.. however, I don't
want to exclude southwestern or any other kind of Mexican food because
it's "not *truly* Mexican"
Amen!
In any case I enjoy learning and only hope that those of us who remain in
the group will give and take with a little more grace and less name-calling
or lectures on newsgroup protocol as they see it.
Mexchican food evolved from Toltec which evolved from Mixteco, Zapoteco,
Maya, Totonaca, and a dozen other civilizations which evolved from Olmec
and Tlatilco which evolved from some inspired person or persons who were
smart enough to spot a corn cob larger than the one they saw the last time
they were at that particular camp site and who invented hybridization. But
that was just the beginning. Sometime later some inspired genius - and
don't say there is not an infinite intelligence at work here - they
discovered that corn could be stored and would feed the tribe during scarce
times by soaking the dried corn in lime treated water and mashed into a
dough then cooked.
It just so happens that the cradle of the American continent civilizations
appeared almost simultaneously in the high valley in which Mexico city now
exists, and in the jungles of Veracruz in La Venta, Tres Zapotes and
elsewhere. So 'real' Mexican food has it's origins in central Mexico.
Could it be possible to establish this as a simple fact of truth and then
perhaps explore where and how the zillion variations came into being?
There is a huge amount of talent on this newsgrup - we see wonderful
flashes of intelligence and insight between the cyberpunchers and I sure
would like to see more talent and fewer punches.
Cheers from Tijuana and Chula Vista!
>Mexchican food evolved from Toltec which evolved from Mixteco, Zapoteco,
>Maya, Totonaca, and a dozen other civilizations which evolved from Olmec
>and Tlatilco which evolved from some inspired person or persons who were
>smart enough to spot a corn cob larger than the one they saw the last time
>they were at that particular camp site and who invented hybridization. But
>that was just the beginning. Sometime later some inspired genius - and
>don't say there is not an infinite intelligence at work here - they
>discovered that corn could be stored and would feed the tribe during scarce
>times by soaking the dried corn in lime treated water and mashed into a
>dough then cooked.
Just a little trivia here...Does anyone know the origin of the lime
treatment for corn (maize actually)? This from an
archaeologist/anthropologist - in any maize based culture, that is one which
uses corn (maize) as a primary food resource, one finds the maize used in
conjunction with squash and beans and/or treated with limewater/lye (from
wood ashes)...The reason is that the enzyme lysine is needed by the body
human to extract the nourishment from the maize kernels...Normal body levels
of lysine is insufficient for this process and must be supplemented. Squash
and beans contain high levels of lysine, naturally...Lime water/lye water
treatment starts to breakdown the covering of the maize kernel so that the
nutrients can be extracted by the body more easily...
Just a bit of totally useless info....
DaveD
> On 3 Sep 1998 15:59:45 GMT, "Wayne Lundberg"
> <Wayn...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
> >For the past three years I traveled from Tijuana, Ensenada, Monterrey,
> >Guadalajara, Mexico D.F., Puebla, Veracruz, Cancun, Zacatecas,
> >Aguascalientes, Torreon and that's just the start of the list. I was
> >teaching management principles to all the managers and directors of the
> >sixth largest company in Mexico who have 197 retail outlets dealing with
> >food and general merchandise. Each manager received 110 hours of training
> >over a period of one year. Part of my training was in researching the local
> >consumer tastes, needs and wishes then converting them into solutions.
> ObMexicanCooking: Rosa's Salsa Verde from Austin, Texas, is a delight
> to the (my) mouth and I believe usually makes a good showing in the
> annual salsa competition there, or used to. Does anyone have a recipe
> which duplicates this exact product? Not a yummy green sauce recipe,
> but *that* recipe?
>
I couldn't really tell you the recipe because I have no access to this
brand here. However, if you want to send me a jar I'd be glad to taste it
and get you a recipe that way (it's a gift I have, got it from my
grandmother). It may not be their recipe, but it will taste identical. :)
This is such an important discovery. Without it there would not have been
the great civilizations whose ruins continue to fascinate us today.
Are you serious? Can I send you one too?
Dave Dodson wrote:
>
> (interesting stuff snipped only for space)