Nacho Average Teacher Shirt
People in Mexico have been flattening balls of masa and cooking them to make tortillas for thousands of years. And for many of those years, cooks would fry up extra hunks of tortillas to make chilaquiles. The fried tortilla pieces are covered in salsa and served with delicious toppings like cotija cheese and meat. It may be one of the closer analogues to nachos you’ll commonly find in Mexico.When whole corn tortillas are fried in fat, they’re called tostadas—which literally translates to toasted in Spanish. Tostadas are often topped with tasty ingredients, from seafood to beans, but at their core, they’re basically giant tortilla chips. And the history of fried tortillas probably goes way back. According to a doctoral thesis written by Vanessa Fonseca, there is an account from the 16th century of pedazos fritos de tortilla, or fried tortilla strips, though those may have been dry-toasted, rather than fried in oil.
Nacho Average Teacher Shirt
(Fun fact: A 1997 article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine suggested that pellagra could’ve been responsible for the rise of vampire myths. As corn became a major part of European diets, many peasants consumed un-nixtamalized corn as if it was any other grain that could be treated with powerful mills. This led to widespread niacin deficiencies and rampant cases of pellagra. The article’s authors suggest that the disease‘s symptoms, such as the sensitivity to light that accompanies dermatitis, could be tied to the rise of vampire legends.)Nixtamalized corn comes with one more perk—one that’s of particular interest to us. When it’s nixtamalized, corn can be made into masa—basically a corn dough. It’s the basis for tacos, tamales, and pupasas, along with many other amazing dishes. And in the modern era, that includes Tex-Mex favorites like nachos.
