Nachos are one of those dishes that have become degenerated a little by convenience. Most people making nachos will take a bowl of Doritos, put processed cheese on top, add some pickles, and nuke the lot in the microwave. While this is a great opener for a buffet party, it ignores a far more satisfying method that begins with fresh tortillas.
Nachos, like Caesar salad and spaghetti alla puttanesca, were invented when some hungry hippos wanted to order food from a completely depleted kitchen. In this case, it was the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico, in 1948, and the diners were a group of US military wives from nearby Fort Duncan. Out of food and out of time, chef Ignacio Anaya set himself to work cutting up tortillas to make chips and covering them with cheese and spicy, pickled chillis. He named the dish after his own nickname, ‘Nacho.’
The recipe was first published in a church cookbook from Eagle Pass, Texas, and a later attempt was made to patent it. The lawyers ruled that by 1960, the dish was public property, and no patent could be applied.
The Victory Club was at 28° 42′ 0″ N, 100° 31′ 23″ W. The site is now occupied by a chicken chop.
Nachos
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Loading...Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 corn or flour tortillas (see notes)
- About 100g grated cheese (see notes)
- 24 pickled jalepeno slices
Instructions
Heat an oven to 180˚C.
Brush the tortillas with the oil on both sides and cut into triangles. Arrange on a baking tray and place in the oven for about 10 mins until golden but not burnt. Sprinkle over with the cheese, add a slice of jalapeno to each and return to the oven until the cheese is melted (about 5 mins).
Notes
The original called for corn tortillas and longhorn cheese. You can use flour tortillas. For the cheese, any good melting cheese can be used, but we tend to avoid cheddar as it splits and becomes grainy. Longhorn cheese is not generally available outside the US. We used a blend of Gruyère and Jarlsberg.
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