Tex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas

History & Origin

Tex-Mex enchiladas are possibly the dish that best illustrates the fundamental difference between authentic Mexican cookery and its evolution in Texas. The traditional Mexican enchilada is bathed in a sauce made exclusively from ground dried chillies, tomatoes, spices and sometimes chocolate or stock, a sauce that is essentially a puree without thickeners. The Tex-Mex enchilada, by contrast, is bathed in what Texans call chilli gravy, a sauce thickened with plain flour or cornflour that gives it a consistency more reminiscent of a gravy or roast sauce than any Mexican salsa. This roux-thickening technique is of French-American origin, adopted by south Texas cookery when Anglo-American cooks began adapting Mexican food to their tastes in the 19th century. The pure cheddar filling is also a Tex-Mex innovation: in Mexico cheese enchiladas would use fresh cheese, Oaxaca or Chihuahua cheese, never yellow American cheddar. Tex-Mex restaurants in San Antonio have been serving this version since the 1900s, and there are records in the Texas Cookery of 1883 describing a version with Anglo-American elements. Today Tex-Mex cheese enchiladas are the most-ordered dish in Texas Mexican restaurants.