A crunchy Mexican snack consisting of tortilla chips covered with cheese, sliced jalapenos, olives, cheese-based sauce, and salsa. Nachos have gained popularity in india as well. This dish is relished in restaurants, coffee shops, as bar snack, in cinema halls. There are many businesses manufacturing nachos in various flavors. The origin of Nachos is really interesting.
This dish originated in the year 1943 in the Northern Mexican city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Chef Ignacio Anaya, also known as “Nacho” was running a restaurant. One day some wives of U.S Army soldiers stationed at Fort Duncan in nearby Eagle Pass were in Piedras Negras on a shopping trip. While they were shopping they spotted this restaurant but Anaya had closed it for the day. The time when army wives entered Anaya had nothing to serve. A chef can never back out serving food to guests, so Anaya cut leftover tortillas into triangles, fried them and topped with a lot of grated cheddar cheese, slices of pickled jalapeno peppers and served to the Army Wives. The Army wives loved it and when asked what the dish was Anaya just said ‘Nacho’s Especiales’ Nacho’s special. In 1959, a young woman named Carmen Rocha moved from San Antonio to Los Angeles with her husband. Since San Antonio is less than a three hour drive from Piedras Negras, she had grown up with nachos. When Rocha got a job serving at El Cholo Mexican Restaurant on Los Angeles’ Western Avenue, she told the chef’s about the easy, tasty snack she used to eat as a kid. She would also make the nachos for the café and this new snack in the menu became a hit, people started loving this new snack. The word kept on spreading till it reached the ower of Ricos products , Frank liberto. He created a modified version of nachos, He used cheese sauce and pre-made tortilla chips, and this version was dubbed “ballpark nachos.” These nachos got national airtime when a sportscaster Howard Cosell mentioned enjoying them during Monday Night Football games. Nachos became more and more popular, and now you can find them practically everywhere.
Traditional nachos consist of the tortilla chips topped with cheese and jalapenos, as done by Anaya who created “nachos”. The modern form of nachos has several possible ingredients with the most common toppings being, cheese, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, jalapenos, and sometimes lettuce. Lettuce is a less common topping, if added at all. The topping of the greatest quantity is often the cheese.
Other variations include barbecue nachos (in which cheese is replaced with barbecue sauce) and poutine 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.
