Sizzling Mexican and Tex-Mex Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What are 3 common Tex-Mex dishes? ›

For many us, Tex-Mex comfort foods such as tamales, tacos, and fajitas are filled with nostalgia.

Other tell-tale differences between Tex-Mex vs. Mexican food include sweet corn, which is a Tex-Mex thing. In contrast, Mexican food features whole corn cobs or corn tortillas. Yellow cheese is an American influence that indicates Tex-Mex, while chefs creating Mexican dishes use white cheese.

Boost Flavor with Dry Roasting

Many Mexican recipes include a step that involves roasting tomatoes, chiles, tomatillos, onions, cloves of garlic, or other ingredients on a comal or in a skillet over low to medium heat. This is called dry roasting because it does not involve oil or any other fat.

Today, Tex-Mex can be found in nearly any Mexican restaurant throughout the country. If the restaurant serves chimichangas, fajitas, nachos, chili, hard shell tacos, and ingredients such as black beans, yellow cheese, cumin, and wheat flour, it's Tex-Mex.

The Mexican restaurants in Texas started adding more ingredients preferred by Texans to accommodate their tastes, resulting in what we call today “Tex-Mex.” Examples of Tex-Mex food include fajitas, nachos, and any dish that uses beef, black beans, canned vegetables, wheat flour, or yellow cheese.

Steak Flautas. Spanish for “flutes”, flautas in traditional Mexican cuisine are made with corn tortillas, filled with a variety of ingredients, then rolled and fried. In Tex-Mex cuisine, flour tortillas are used and at Tijuana Flats we offer the option of flour or wheat tortillas.

Condiments. Tex-Mex opts for shredded yellow cheese, sour cream, and jarred salsa, while Mexican cuisine features crumbly queso fresco, Mexican crema, and freshly made salsas. The contrast in dairy choices and condiments reflects the distinct flavor profiles of each culinary tradition.

Even fajitas are a Tex-Mex invention (offered to tourists in Mexico now because so many Americans associate fajitas as authentic). Tex-Mex is a cuisine only very loosely related to Mexican cuisine.

How do Mexican restaurants get their plates so hot? ›

To ensure your plate stays warm on busier days, the plates with your meal can be placed under a heating lamp to ensure your food stays nice and hot and fresh. Not only are some plates heated, often the plate and meal might be placed in a boiler or oven.

One of the major differences is that Tex-Mex tends to use beef, which is readily available in Texas, whereas authentic Mexican uses pork. Tex-Mex may also use other ingredients not typically found in Mexican dishes, such as: Yellow cheese.

Spanish immigrants to the area brought cumin from the Canary Islands, and the seasoning was incorporated into local dishes. Savory chili con carne, made with slow-cooked beef, tomatoes, and dried chili powder, was one of the first Tex-Mex sensations.

A mortar and pestle—also known as a molcajete—is a great tool for crushing garlic, herbs and other soft veggies to make guacamole, salsa, purees and sauces.

Tex-Mex cuisine leans on yellow cheese, beef, canned tomatoes, and flour tortillas, creating a hearty and flavorful combination. In contrast, authentic Mexican cuisine emphasizes fresh, locally sourced ingredients such as corn, diverse chilies, and indigenous vegetables, capturing the essence of regional flavors.

Throughout Texas and the entire United States, the use of beef, yellow cheddar cheese, sour cream, canned tomatoes, wheat tortillas, crispy-shelled tacos, and dried chili powders like Gebhardt's distinguish Tex-Mex cuisine from traditional Mexican fare.