[1971: sharing cultures & cuisines]

"'What's this, do you know? I'd love to learn how to make it. Doesn't taste like the food in Mexican restaurants, does it?'...'If they're out of nopales and azado at that table, they're probably all gone. Last year the nopales didn't even last this long.' There was little doubt in anyone's mind about the stellar attraction at the Cinco de Mayo celebration. It was the home-cooked Mexican food, pungent and spicy and, as the lady said, is not like anything in a Mexican restaurant. This was Cinco de Mayo, north-of-the-border style, a second-year repeat project of the mothers with children in Westminster School District's Title 1 compensatory education program. American potluck, augmented by such gringo mainstays as macaroni salad and Boston baked beans. Rather fittingly, it took place at Sigler Park, third oldest public park in Orange County. Westminster also has one of the oldest Mexican-American communities in the county--most Chicano families have lived in the area four or five generations...Mississippi-born and an expert on 'way down South' cookery, Mrs. Easley had been intrigued with Mexican cooking and tried Mexican foods ever since she came west. 'When I came to California I thought cactus plants were weeds and I couldn't understand why so many Mexican-American families cultivated them--right along with the roses--in their gardens. 'Now I know--they're used to make nopales--a very delicious and traditional vegetable dish. You take a few of the smaller leaves and strip off the stickers with a sharp knife, then fry them with garlic and onion.'"

---"Fiesta Serves Culture on a Platter," Marjie Driscoll, Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1971 (p. E1)

[1972: industry promotion]

"Friday will be the Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo, and the way to celebrate is with a taco, says the National Taco Council. The council is an affiliate of the Mexican Food Institute, which is headquartered in San Antonio, Tex., and dispenses taco lore in connection with National Taco Week, held each year at this time...The taco is the most important use of the tortilla...The best known version of the taco is the crispy taco, a tortilla folded in half, fried and stuffed with meat or other filling. This taco is usually garnished with lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheese, or a combination of these. Another version is the soft taco. The tortilla is not fried but simply folded around a filling or mixture that includes gravy or sauce...The National Taco Council was established in 1964 by Roberto L. Gomez. It goals include creating in Mexican-Americans a greater pride in their own cuisines and enhancing the reputation of Mexican food and culture everywhere."

---"Everything You Wanted to Know About Tacos," Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1972 (p. K9)

[1974: American home party menu 1]

"Turn Sunday dinner this weekend into a fiesta in honor of Mexico's colorful holiday, Cinco de Mayo...An extravagant Cinco de Mayo dinner might feature mole poblano, a luxury dish of turkey in a sauce that includes a little chocolate...But mole is complicated...As an alternative, we recommend an informal party built around a buffet of simpler foods. The main dish will be tacos which the guests make themselves. These are not the typical tacos of the franchise stands around Los Angeles, but tacos more like those at stands in Mexico...They are made with tortillas heated until soft, then folded around meat and a choice of other ingredients. There's no deep-frying involved and no need for commercial taco shells so crisp they crack apart and spill their contents. In Mexico, a soft taco often includes nothing more than a little seasoned meat. A stand at the beach in Veracruz dispenses some of the best tacos in Mexico. They contain only slivers of barbecued pork and chopped onion mixed with a little chopped cilantro. Hot sauce is added only upon request. The meat for our Cinco de Mayo tacos is shredded pork, not the ground beef of American tacos. The condiments, set out in separate bowls, include chopped tomato, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce and salsa, either bottled or homemade. Chopped green onions can be combined with cilantro in one bowl or the cilantro served separately for those not accustomed to its distinctive flavor. The party starts with margaritas accompanied by Nachos, and appetizer of tortilla chips topped with cheese and sliced chile and heated until the cheese melts. We suggest ceviche or a shrimp cocktail, but in either case the sauce should be seasoned generously with lime juice. If preferred, a green salad could be substituted for this course. Along with the tacos there are refried beans, but flavored in a different way. The beans are mashed and mixed with bacon and onion and spiced with chili powder. It takes something cooling, like Sangria, t refresh palates form this meal. And something even cooler, Helado de Aguacate, or avocado ice cream, is the dessert. Far out? Not if you've spent any time in Mexico where the store sell ice creams made not only with avocado but with corn, cheese and chiles and such fruits as guanabana and mamey."

---"A Cinco de Mayo Menu for Your Very Own Fiesta," Barbara Hansen, Los Angeles Times May 2, 1974 (p. F1)

[Note: This article offers recipes for Nachos, Make-Your-Own Soft Tacos, Spice Frijoles, Sangria and Helado De Aguacate.]

[1978: American home party menu 2]

"Parties are in order throughout the weekend to celebrate Mexico's colorful holiday, Cinco de Mayo...Here is a dinner menu tailored for the holiday. The main course is Mole Poblano, the dish invented in Puebla where the battle commemorated by Cinco de may took place. Mole Ponblano is ordinarily made with a variety of dried chiles that must be soaked and ground. This recipe simplifies the procedures by substituting chili powder and canned enchilada sauce. The the other ingredients--tomato, onion, raisins, nuts, sesame seeds,, spices and chocolate--are much they same as they would be in Puebla. Accompaniments include rice dotted with vegetables, a bright avocado-tomato salad and, for dessert, an almond-flavored flan."

---"Border Line: A Dinner Tailored to Cinco de Mayo," Barbara Hansen, Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1978 (p. J30)

[NOTES: (1) This article includes recipes for Mole Poblano, Arroz A L Jardinera, Avocado and Tomato Salad and Flan De Almendra (Almond Flan). (2) What is Mole poblano?]

Enchiladas

"Those foods which derived directly from Mexican traditions were...enchiladas...Enchiladas were identified as "corn fritters allowed to simmer for a moment in chili sauce, and then served hot with a sprinkling of grated cheese and onion."[31] In 1921 Louise Lloyd Lowber described the first process for making enchiladas: first a tortilla was placed in the center of a plate, "then a flood of rich, red chilee sauce from a near-by kettle, a layer of grated cheese, another tortilla, more chile and more cheese, sprinkled between in layer-cake fashion, and the whole topped with a high crown of chopped onions in which nestles an egg, which has been broken a minute into the hot lard. An artistic and cooling garnish of lettuce and behold an enchilada."[32]"

---Andrew F. Smith

http://food.oregonstate.edu/ref/culture/mexico_smith.html

Fajitas

"Fajita. A Tex-Mex dish made from marinated, grilled skirt steak...served in a wheat tortilla. The word derives from the Spanish faja, for "girdle" or "strip" and describes the cut of meat itself. There has been much conjecture as to the fajita's origins, though none has been documented. Grilling skirt steak over mesquite coals would be characteristic of Texas cooking since the days when beef became a dominant meat in the American diet. But the word "fajita" did not appear in print until 1975. In 1984 Homero Recio, a lecturer on animal science at Texas A & M University, obtained a fellowship to study the origins of the item, coming to the conclusion two years later that, ironically, it was his grandfather, a butcher from Premont, Texas, who may have been the first to use the term "fajita" to describe the pieces of skirt steak cooked directly on mesquite coals for family dinners as far back as the 1930s. Recio also hypothesized that the first restaurant to serve fajitas--though under the name "botanzas" (appetizers)--was the Roundup in McAllen, Texas. But Sonny "Fajita King" Falcon claimed to have opened the first "fajita stand" in Kyle, Texas, and in 1978 a "Fajita King" stand in Austin...The popularity of the dish certainly grew after Ninfa Laurenza introduced it on her menu at Ninfa's Restaurant in Houson Texas, on July 13, 1973, but that was under the name "tacos al carbon," and increased still further as a "fajita" after the item was featured at the Austin Hyatt Regency Hotel, which by 1982 was selling thirteen thousand orders per month."

---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 125)

Fajita timeline

[1970]

The Wide World of Texas Cooking/Morton G. Clark, makes no references to fajitas, skirt steaks, or any barbecued recipe approximating the modern fajita.

[1971]

The Oxford English Dictionary (online) cites this 1971 cookbook for the first print mention of the word "fajita" in the modern culinary sense: "A grilled strip of marinated steak. Usu. in pl.: a dish originating in Mexico or the southern United States, consisting of strips of such meat served with a variety of garnishes or sauces in a soft flour tortilla. Later also more generally: any dish (esp. of chicken) served in this manner. 1971 S. Huddleston Tex-Mex Cookbk. 29 After fajitas have been marinated they may be grilled. If barbecued, heat should be low so meat doesn't dry out."

Barry Popik shares the excerpt referenced above: Tex-Mex Cookbook by Sam Huddleston, part owner of Texas (self-published),1971 Pg. 29:

Until you visit Leonardo’s Fiesta Restaurant in Brownsville you have led a cloistered life. This likeable caballero’s humor will lay you on the floor. Texas literary dudes like Dick Hitt, Frank Tolbert, Leon Hale and Richard West have yodeled praises about Leonardo’s colorful place. Noriega*, a bon vivant, gourmet and traveler, recommends this restaurant as a good place to ward off malnutrition. Leonardo’s fajitas are succulent enough to get one spastic with jubilation. Fajitas are the solid lean meat from beef skirts. If you can’t get beef skirts, use a similar type of lean beef. They should be cut into small strips and marinated overnight. Leonardo suggests any good commercial marinate, but warns that one shouldn’t use more than one-fourth of the amount called for in most instructions. After fajitas have been marinated they may be grilled. If barbecued, heat should be low so meat doesn’t dry out. (p. 30)

Tacos al Carbon

This is a do-it-yourself procedure. When fajitas are cooked cut into small slices. Hold a fresh tortilla in hand and fill with meat and Alice Taylor’s Pica de Gallo. Perfect compliments for this divine composition are frijoles and Spanish rice. This inexpensive dish won’t paralyze your food budget."--- SOURCE.

[1982]

"[Skirt steaks]were stacked a foot deep in a six-foot wide display. But they don't call them skirt steaks in San Antonio--they call the fajitas. From what I was able to learn, it seems fajitas are something of a Southern Texas--or Tex-Mex-phenomenon. They have become popular only in the past few years, but they have become very popular. According to one meat buyer I talked to, "When I put fajitas in the ad, I'll go through between 100,000 and a quarter of a million pounds in a week...They even have fajita cooking contests in Southern Texas. I learned that the champion for the past five years was Red Gomez, a butcher from Brownsville, Texas. I called him to see if he would be willing to share his award-winning recipe with me. He was not."

---"The Butcher: The Skirt Steak is Still in Style," Merle Ellis, Los Angeles Times, November 11, 1982 (p. M23)[NOTE: article includes recipe.]

[1984]

"The original fajitas were created out of necessity, not a desire to have something new. Ranchers, who usually butchered their own meat, kept the steaks and roasts for themselves and gave their hands what they considered the less desirable cuts, including the so-called skirt steak, which is a section of the diaphragm. The long, narrow, beltlike strip would be marinated overnight in lime juice to tenderize it. The next day it was grilled over mesquite, a cheap, plentiful wood that itself has become a cooking fad. The meat was then cut into thin strips, each diner filling a flour tortilla with it and with pico de gallo, a spicy relish of onions, green chilies, tomatoes and cilantro. Those familiar with Mexican dishes may notice the striking similarity between fajitas and tacos al carbon and carne asada. But tacos al carbon, a fad that preceded fajitas, are made with a better cut of meat that does not need to be marinated and they reach the table already rolled in tortillas. As for carne asada, it is grilled meat and vegetables. The view around here is that fajitas made their way north from the border to Austin about five years ago and began arriving in Dallas two years ago."

---"De Gustibus: Fajitas-In Texas They Love Them," Marian Burros, New York Times, August 4, 1984 (p. 8)

[1985]

"The hottest dish in town, in more ways than none, is a Texas export called fajitas. For the uninitiated, fajitas...are strips of grilled skirt steak served with flour tortillas, guacamole and salsa and eaten wrapped in the tortillas, taco style. If they don't come to the table sizzling from the grill, they are not fit to be called fajitas. In a trend sense, they are even hotter. The Houston Restaurant Assn. celebrated Cinco de Mayo by staging its First Annual Fajita Meet Sunday. In Pasadena, a restaurant called Manana Mexican Food and Drink of Arroyo parkway has erected a large sign inquiring 'Have you had your fajitas today?'..'They used to be dirt cheap. They used to almost throw them away, like junk,' said Bud Smith, a Texan who grew up in Pharr, near the Mexican border...In Los Angeles, the fajitas trend is so new that the name is virtually unknown outside of restaurants...According to Texan sources, fajitas originated in San Antonio. However, others day the idea came directly from Mexico. Under a different name, arrechera, skirt steak has a venerable history in California. The late Elena Zelayeta, who popularized Mexican cooking in California, included a recipe for Arrechera Adobada in her first cookbook, 'Elena's Famous Mexican and Spanish Recipes,' published in 1944. 'I find skirt steak to be one of the best flavored, less expensive cuts of meat,' she wrote. In the early version of fajitas, Zelayeta marinated the meat with vinegar, oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, then added tomato sauce and broiled it. By 1958, when 'Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking' was published she dropped the tomato sauce and cooked the meat over the coals instead of under the broiler...Fajitas have crossed the ocean to Paris, where they are served in Tex-Mex restaurants along with flour tortillas shipped from Amsterdam. They are also popular in New York and San Francisco...Beer is a popular accompaniment to fajitas...Welche commented on the meteoric popularity of skirt steak. 'Five or six years ago, you couldn't find skirt steak in the market. They ground it into hamburger."

---"Fajitas," Barbara Hansen, Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1985, (p. K1)

Who was Elena Zelayeta? [1897-1974]

[1944]

"Guided by her fingertips, Elena Zelayeta moves with assurance through a world of complete darkness. Besides keeping house for her family of four, she teaches cooking, gives lectures and writes on cooking. Baking a cake requires precise knowledge of the exact location of everything in the kitchen. The recipe is memorized and special measuring cups are used, one for one third cup, another for one-fourth cup, another for one-half cup. Eggs are broken into her hand and then the white drains through her spread fingers into the bowl while the yolk remains in the palm of her hand. After ingredients are mixed, the cake is popped into the oven. After two 15-minute radio programs the cakes is done. Her daily routine includes cleaning her own house, darning, cooking and washing. Her delicate sense of touch tells her where there is dirt or dust. Stockings are darned over a china egg, her spools of colored thread being marked in Braille. She know foods by their odors, and spices by taste. In one year., Elena Zelayeta canned 225 quarts of fruits and tomatoes. That year, also, she made her own Christmas presents--50 pounds of Mexican pressed quince paste, cut and wrapped in cellophane. Mrs. Zelayeta believes that it is fear that prevents many accomplishmebnts, and that a handicapped person is slowed down by never defeated."

---"Blind Woman's Courage Makes Her Culinary Artist," Los Angeles Times, October 29, 1944 (p. C5)

[1945]

"Elena Zelayeta, expert in Mexican cuisine, author and teacher of the blind, returns for a 'comman performance' at the Times College of Wartime Cookery...Since her first appearance here in October, Elena has obtained a guide dog, and Chulita will appear at The Times with her new mistress...Elena, although blind for 10 years, conducts a cooking school in San Francisco in addition to caring for her home and family. She is a charming, vivacious woman who has become popular as a lecturer because of her vivid personality and gayety. Watching her grace and sureness as she goes about preparing delightful Mexican and Spanish food in The Times stage kitchen, it is difficult to believe that she is guided only by her amazing sense of touch...She has a talent for teaching others how to duplicate her masterpieces, and at The Times class wil show how to mix and cook such favorites as tamales, chili rellenos, tacos de gallina, enchiladas and ante. Ante is a delectable custard, cake and fruit dessert concoction."

---"Food Class Again Books Blind Expert," Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1945 (p. B10)

[1968]

"Elena Zelayeta, well-known for her cookbooks on Mexican food, lrelated of few of her recipes for happy living during a recent luncheon in the Costa Mesa County Club. The 71-year-old blind authoress and food consultant delighted about 100 members of the Friends of the Costa Mesa Library by revealing an ability to be light-hearted about tragedies she has experienced. 'There is little we can do about our problmes,' she explained, 'but I have learned there is a great deal we can do about ourselves.' Mrs. Zelayeta lost her sight when her youngest son was 1 year old. After experiencing a normal amount of self-pity she decided to start serving her family. She discharged a housekeeper and cooked her first meal since the loss of her sight. 'I looked for a scouring pad just before sering the meal and coulnt' find it, she said. 'I put the ladle in the soup and up it came full of scouring pad. I won't tell you what I did next but we're all still alive.' She relearned cooking techniques...She makes sure tortillas don't burn by turning them until they 'smell' done. Mrs. Zelayeta began tacing cooking to other blind adults at the San Francisco Center for the Blind. 'I learned that serving others is living,' she said. 'When we stop doing things for other people we stop existing.' Ten years later her husband was killed in an automobile accident and 'I took inventory of what I could do. It was cooking so I wrote my first cookbook with the intention of buying a seeing eye dog with the profits.' Mrs. Zelayeta was born in Mexico of Spanish descent and all her cookbooks deal with the Mexican food with which she is so familiar...Soon she was asked by the U.S. Government to teach a course in 'practical living' at a Lion's Club camp in Montana. 'I was certain I couldn't do it. I never had a course in psychology.' The she read some and decided. 'Why not? Each of the ones I read disagreed with the others and I thought no one would be able to tell if (what I taught) was right wrong anyway.' But, she was afraid. 'How do you deal with fear?' the woman--who stands about 4 feet 6 inches--asked the group. 'It's done by trusting that your needs will be met if you take the human footsteps to find the hapiness you're seeking.' The happiest person, she said, it the one who entertains the most interesting thoughts...Mrs. Zelayeta is consultant for a large food- seasoning concern and has served as food adviser for a New York restaurant."

---"Blind Cook Tells Happiness Recipes," Anne La Riviere, Los Angeles Times, October 24, 1968 (p. H5)

[1974]

"Elena Zelayeta was blind, but she opened many eyes to the delights for her native Mexican cookery. More than that, she inspired others to overcome a handicap which once had plunged her into months of despair. And she won the affection of countless admirers, to whom she is known simply as Elena. Mrs. Zelayeta died in San Francisco March 31 at the age of 76...Although Elena is gone, her recipes and happy philosophy will live on in her four cookbooks and other writings...Born in in Mexicto City, Elena was raised in the mining town of El Mineral del Oro, where her parents were innkeepers. Her mother and the employes at the inn taught her to cook. The family moved to San Francisco when Elena was a young girl. The came marriage and economic troubles caused by the Depression. When her husband, Lawrence, lost his job as an assistant superintendent in the power department of Bethlehem Steel, Elena sought a way to help. She began by serving lunch in her apartment. And the response was so great, she opened a restaurant in the King George Hotel in downtown San Francisco. Called Elena's Famous Mexican Restaurant, it was a great success bu kept Elena working 16 to 18 hours a day. She had been operated on for a cateract and had suffered a detached retina. And in 1934, shortly before the birth of her second son, Bill, she went blind. Despair, depression and helplessness followed until Elena realized that no one was about to cook and care for her family as she could. Without the aid of Braille implements, she learned how to measure ingredients, how to separate eggs...how to judge the temprature of hot oil by its smell and how to measure cooking time by 15-minute radio intervals. In six months, Elena was again ahppy and functioning. 'If you learn to be useful and keep busy, no handicap can hold you down,' she was once quoted as saying. Elena spoke to high school and college groups and to many organizations. She gave cooking demonstrations and she taught cooking at the San Francisco Center for the Blind...Elena was name California Mother of the Year in 1963...Twenty-three years ago, Elena wnt into the fozen food business. Her son, Lawrence, is now president of the business which is called Elena's Food Specialties Inc. The firm distributes frozen Mexican products to retail and institutional customers in Northern Calfiorina...Elena also served for about 10 years as a consultant to Lawry's Foods Inc. in the development of its Mexican products. Her last appearance in Los Angeles in this capacity was at a Cinco de Mayo party held at Lawry's California Center in 1972."

---"Border Line: Legacy of Elena Zelayeta," Barbara Hansen, Los Angeles Times June 6, 1974 (p. G26)

Elena Zelayta's cookbook legacy

"Her philosophy will live on in her four cookbooks and other writings. The first book, 'Elena's Famous Mexican and Spanish Recipes,' was edited by a group of San Francisco home economists and published in 1944. At least half a million copies have been sold... Her second book, 'Elena's Fiesta Recipes,' was published by the Ward Ritchie Press in Los Angeles in 1952. 'Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking' appeared in 1958 with an introduction by the late Helen Evans Brown, an authority on Western cookery. Her last cookbook, 'Elena's favorite Foods California Style,' with an introduction by James Beard, came out in 1967. Elena also wrote an inspirational book, 'Elena's Lessons in Living,' following a stay at a camp for blinded war veterans at the request of the government."

---"Border Line: Legacy of Elena Zelayeta," Barbara Hansen, Los Angeles Times June 6, 1974 (p. G26)

Helen Evans Brown on Elena Zelayeta

"Elena (everybody calls her that) is the gayest, dearest bundle of energy I have ever known. She is interested in everything and everybody. Her eyes twinkle, as does her laugh. She moves quickly and surely in her kitchen, her tiny hands skillfully preparing the wonderful dishes for which she is so famous. To watch her work, to see her quick smile as she looks at you, to hear her merry chuckle, you'd swear she had not a trouble in the world. Yet Elena is blind...First she learned to conquer fear. The kitchen was full of terror--fire, sharp knives, hot fat, can openers. She had to learn all over again how to handle them."

---Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking, Elena Zelayeta, introduction by Helen Evans Brown [Prentice Hall, Inc.:Englewood Cliffs NJ] 1958 (p. xv-xviii)

James Beard's tribute

"One is at a loss to describe that quality, except to say that Elena combines unusual warmth with a striking creative instinct. Few people who meet her fail to fall under her spell...Cuisine Zelayeta is distinctive as well as distinguished. It has imagination along with a fine alance of flavor and texture. In a sense, Elena is a traditionalist, but she can also pull an inspired new combination of foods out of the air--and make you feel it is the most authentic dish you ever ate...In shot, she has greatness." ---"Elena's Favorite Foods California Style," Elena Zelayeta, introduction by James Beard [Prentice-Hall, Inc.:Englewood Cliffs NJ] 1967 (unpaged introduction)

In Elena's own words

"I hope that the readers of this book will be as happy in using it as I have been in writing it...I was aksed to do it because of the growing interest in Mexican and Spanish food in this country. I hope that I have, in my small way, furthered that interest and that this new book will multiply it. In it I want to accomplish three things: To those who know nothing of Mexican cuisine except what they have heard--that it's always searingly not, exotically and overly spiced, and heavy--I hope to convince that it just isn't so! And to those who know something, but not everything, about South-of-the-Border food, I hope to show that tamales and enchiladas, good as they are, are not the only dishes Mexican cooks know how to prepare. And I wish to convince everyone that Mexican dishes may be served harmoniously with American ones, and that even one Mexican dish can do much to add interest to what might otherwise be a very dull meal...The dishes of Mexico, as well as the methods or preparing them and the names by which they are known, vary from state to state, from region to region. And to make it even more confusing, some Mexican dishes common in the Southwestern part of the United States, are little known in Mexico, and others, though known, bear different names. Thus you may not always find the recipe you want under the name by which you know it...I have tried, wherever possible, to give both names, or at least an accurate enough description so that you will recognize it...As for me, I have been an American for many years...my mother was a wonderful cook, one who knew food well and had a genius for bringing out the best in every dish. It was from her that I learned Spanish cooking. The Mexican cooks who worked at the inn taught me how to prepare their dishes. We came to San Francisco when I was a young girl, and because I...loved to cook, I soon learned how to do it in the manner of my new countrymen...Because of m many years in this country, I have learned what Americans like to eat. These recipes have been adapted to suit the palates of my American friends and my American sons."

---Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking, Elena Zelayeta [Prentice-Hall, Inc.:Englewood Cliffs NJ] 1958 (preface p. vii-xi)

"I love to cook. It's a way I can be creative withhout sight. I can't paint and have no talent for music, but give me a full refrigerator and my pots and pans, and I'm happy as an artist with a new canvas and palette. I raterh regret the great use of convenience foods these days--though I shouldn't, for I make a living selling frozen Mexican foods! But it's spoiled some of the most pleasant parts of homemaking for women. I hope the day never arrives when all food comes ready to pop into the oven."

---Elena's Favorite Foods California Style, Elena Zelayeta, introduction by James Beard [Prentice-Hall, Inc.:Englewood Cliffs NJ] 1967 (unpaged author's preface)

"Adios, Amigos. May your tables be filled with bounty, your days with sunshine, your hearts with joy. Elena."

---Elena's Famous Mexican and Spanish Recipes, Elena Zelayeta [Dettners Printing House:San Francisco] October 1944 (p. 127)

Segment from It's Fun to Eat with Elena, courtesy of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive, c. 1953.

"Elena's Favorte Dinner

Elena's Favortie Salad--Crab and Hard-Cooked Egg Garnish

Sesame Chicken Orange-Minted Peas

Sliced Summer Squash, Sauteed in Butter

Dutch Flat Potato Rolls

Strawberry Shortcake, California Stule

Tea." (p. 297)

Elena's Very Favorite Salad

It's always hard for met to choose my favorite dishes, because I love food--a food--and whatever I'm eating at the moment is the thing I like best. But the dinner salad I'd choose most times would be just crackling-crisp greens. Romaine is one of my favorites, though we have a choice of excellent varieties of lettuce, all good. I often combine two or more. The dressing I use most often is simply olive oil and wine vinegar, a touch of garlic and plenty of salt and pepper. But I like a few extras. Sometimes it's a sprinkling of crab, shrimp or lobster; another time it's slices of hard-cooked egg. Or some tomato or cucumber, or thin rounds of radish. Or a diced avocado. Or orange or grapefruit sections, or halves of crisp Todays. A topping of crisp pork cracklings is also interesting and delicious. So you see, my favorite salad is basic greens, but the costume jewelry gives it a different look from day to day." (p. 49)

---Elena's Favorite Foods California Style, Elena Zelayeta [Prentice-Hall, Inc.:Englewood Cliffs NJ] 1967

FoodTimeline library owns these Zelayeta cookbooks. Happy to share recipes. Let us know what you need.

[1944] Elena's Famous Mexican and Spanish Recipes (October)

[1947] Elena's Lessons for Living [1958] Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking

[1961] Elena's Fiesta Recipes (new & revised edition)

[1967] Elena's Favorite Foods California Style

"To most people in the United States, a taco is a tortilla bent in half to form a deep U shape, then fried crisp and stuffed to overflowing with ground beef, shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced tomato, and grated cheese. Throughout Mexico, however the simple taco consumed by millions of people daily is a fresh, hot tortilla rolled around some shredded meat or mashed beans and liberally doused with any one of the endless variety of sauces for which Mexico is justly famed, but which are sadly misrepresented this side of the border...Tacos are usually eaten as a snack between meals, in the evening with a bowl of soup for supper, or as an appetizer before the main meal of the day."

---The Tortilla Book, Diana Kennedy [Harper & Row:New York] 1975 (p. 53-4)

Why call them "tacos?"

"The [National Taco Council] reports this theory of the origin of the word taco: 'It is popularly believed that taco came from the word ataco or atacar, which means stuff--and stuff they have."

---"Everything You Wanted to Know About Tacos," Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1972 (p. K9)

When did tacos become popular in the United States?

"1931--The Los Angeles restaurant El Cholo opens at 1121 South Western Avenue in a courtyard with a mission-style fountain. Proprietress Rosa Borquez serves enchiladas, chiles rellenos, Sonoran-style chimichangas, burritos, tacos and green-corn and cheddar tamales..."

The Food Chronology, James L. Trager [Henry Holt:New York] 1995 (p. 467)

According to El Cholo this restaurant opened in 1927. The history portion of the site does not mention tacos.

Taco soup

Our survey of magazine and newspaper articles reveals recipes called "taco soup" began appearing in American publications in the early 1990s. They were promoted as quick family soups composed primarily of canned items and packaged taco mixes. Ingredients are similar to standard American chili. Presumably, the end-product is thinner (aka soupier) than the traditional chili counterpart. There are several variations.

Given the timing, it is quite possible the "inventor" of the contemporary American recipe is an innovative marketing team promoting its company's products. It may not be a coincidence that the oldest recipe we find for taco soup was published by Campbell's Soup [1993]:

"Taco soup

1 can Campbell's condensed Tomato Soup

1 soup can water

1/4 cup salsa or taco sauce

Crumbled tortilla chips

Shredded Cheddar or Monterey jack cheese

Sliced green onion (spring onion)

Sour cream,

In a 1 1/2-quart saucepan, combine soup, water and salsa. Over medium heat, heat through, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle each serving with tortilla chips, cheese and onion; top with a spoonful of sour cream. TIP: To add zip to this Mexican-style soup, substitute shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeno peppers for the Cheddar cheese. Makes about 1 1/2 cups or 2 side-dish servings."

---Campbell's Simply Delicious Recipes, Patricia Teberg editor [Crescent Books:New Jersey] 2003 (p. 48)

The oldest recipe we find in a magazine is from 1994:



"Quick & Easy Can-Do Soups. September's return to car pools, classrooms, and living by the clock needen't be an uphill climb. If you can operate a can opener, you've practically mastered these super speedy soups. Hearty Taco Soup satisfies with its generous assortment of toppings. Shredded cheese and lettuce from a deli salad will give you a head start on preparation."

---"Can-do soup," Southern Living, September 1994 (p. 160)

Related dishes? Tortilla soup, Gazpacho, Taco salad, & Seven layer taco dip.

Tortilla soup

We are finding several varations on the Mexican culinary theme of Tortilla Soup. Stock, meat, vegetables and spices vary according to region and period. The common thread for all recipes is the inclusion of crisp tortillas. This crispness is achieved purposely by frying (in fat) or exposing to air (stale). Essentially, tortillas provide the grain component, commonly found in soups throughout the world. European soup grain equivalents are pasta, rice, barley, and dumplings. Food historians generally tell us soup is ancient. It is consumed by all segments of society. Recipes have been shared, imported, adopted and adapted whenever peoples of divergent cuisines meet. This explains why many of the ingredients listed in traditional Mexican Tortilla Soup are from the Old World. Tortillas are generally the foods of the common Central American peoples.

Except for the tomatoes, the other ingredients [chicken, beef, onions, oil, spinach, salt, pepper and cheese are "Old World" foods introduced to Mexico by Spanish settlers. The use of tortillas, in this recipe, more likely descends from European practice of adding crisped bread to soup (think croutons & crackers) rather than ancient Mayan/Aztec customs. Taco soup is the the same idea, a shortcut promoted by commerical food companies. Tortilla soup, a tomato and chicken-broth based recipe topped with tortillas, is more closely aligned with authentic Mexican cuisine:

"Ten years ago, you had to head to Mexico if you wanted to find a warming bowl of tortilla soup. Today, many people are enjoying Mexican fare and they're searching for authentic dishes, hence, classics like tortilla soup are becoming easier to find on the menus of neighborhood and upscale Mexican restaurants. It's no wonder. This elemental chicken and tortilla brew is like Mexican soul food-almost a national soup. It has been cooked for generations across Mexico by the upscale and humble alike, with each cook-and region-giving it a slightly different twist. Americans' first acquaintance with tortilla soup can be traced to a restaurant in the Zona Rosa, a popular nightlife and restaurant district in Mexico City. Fonda El Refugio started serving authentic interior and coastal Mexican cooking to tourists in the 1960s. Although some will argue that authentic tortilla soup possesses certain characteristics, there's no wrong way to make it. At its most fundamental, tortilla soup, or sopa de tortilla, consists of chicken broth flavored with roasted chilies and served with strips of fried tortillas. Cooks may add what they wish-from bits of chicken and avocado to elegant squash blossoms and vegetables, especially tomatoes. Some purists insist that epazote, a Mexican herb, also is an essential ingredient. Ellen Brown, author of Southwestern Tastes (HPBooks, $19.95), sees tortilla soup as a uniquely southwestern dish that is especially popular in Texas. Several Chicago restaurants serve versions of tortilla soup, including Frontera Grill, 445 N. Clark St. An unequivocal fan, Brown said that, "When I think of tortilla soup, "I think of the Mansion's.""

---Tortilla Soup of Mexico," Kim Pierce, Chicago Tribune February 25, 1988 (p. 2)

[1944]

"Sopa de Tortilla (Tortilla Soup)

4 tortillas

1/4 cup oil

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup tomato puree

3 quarts broth, chicken or beef

1 teaspoon cilantro (coriander)

Sprig mint leaves

Grated cheese

Cut tortillas into strips about the size of macaroni. Fry tortillas in oil until crisp, then rmove from pan and drain on absobent paper. Place in pot and add boiloing broth wich has been prepared in the followin manner: Fry onion and tomato puree in the oil which was used in frying the tortillas. Add stock. Mash the cilantro, add a little broth, and strain into the stock Cook half an hour, adding the mint leaves during the last 10 minutes. Serve with grated cheese. Serves 6."

---Elena's Famous Mexican and Spanish Recipes, Elena Zelayeta [Dettners Printing House:San Francisco] 1944 (p. 16) "Sopa Seca de Tortilla (Dry Tortillas Soup)

6 tortillas

1/2 cup oil

1 onion, minced

2 cups tomato puree

6 hard-cooked eggs

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated cheese

Cut tortillas into strips like macaroni. Fry in oil until crisp. Set aside to drain on brown paper. Fry minced onion in oil in which tortillas were fried. Add tomato puree. Season and cook, covered, 30 minutes. Butter a casserole. Place in layers, tortilla strips, sauce, grated cheese, and round slices of hard-cooked eggs. Follow same procedure until all ingredeints are used, having round of eggs for last layer. Cover with remaining sauce. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) 30 minutes. Serves 6."

---ibid (p. 17) [1958]

"Sopa de Tortilla (Tortilla Soup)

It's worth rounding up some fresh cilantro (coriander) for this soup. If you haven't a Mexican store nearby, go to a Chinese one and ask for Chinese parsley (or yinsoits'oi), or plant some seeds from your spice cabinet and wait a month for your soup.

6 tortillas

1/4 cup oil

1 onion, chopped

1/4 cup tomato puree

2 quarts broth, chicken or beef

1 teaspoon fresh cilantro (coriander)

Sprig of mint leaves

Grated cheese

Cut tortillas into strip about the size of macaroni, fry in oil until crisp, then remove from pan and drain on absorbent paper. Place in pot and add boiling broth withc has been prepared in the following manner: Fry onion and tomato puree in the oil which was used in frying the tortillas. Add stock. Mash the cilantro, add a little broth, and strain into the stock. Cook half an hour, adding the mint leaves during the last 10 minutes. Serve with grated cheese. Serves 6."

---Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking, Elena Zelayeta [Prentice-Hall:Englewood Cliffs NJ] 1958 (p. 21) [1964]

"Sopa Mexicana (Mexican Soup)

At first glance it may seem presumptious for this simple soup to denominate itself the essence of Mexican soupery, as its name implies. However, the ingredients and methods add up to what our neighbors refer to as netamente Mejicana--netly or one hundred per cent Mexican. This unpretentious, but savory poor man's soup contains the basic recaudo and tortillas; sprinkling cheese over the soup is a national custom...

1 tsp. chopped onion

1 large, ripe tomato, chopped

1 tsp. chopped parsley

Oil for cooking

2 qts. soup stock

1 cup cooked spinach, well chopped

10 tortillas

Salt and pepper

1 cup shredded white cheese, as crumbly as possible.

Saute the onion, tomato and parsley until the onion is tender. Add the soup stock and chopped spinach and bring to boil. Drop in the tortillas which ahve been quartered and lightly fried in deep fat; don't get them too hard. Serve the soup in bowls and sprinkle on cheese at the last second. Stays eight appetites."

---The Food and Drink of Mexico, George C. Booth, facsimile 1964 edition [Dover Publications:New York] 1975 (p. 40)

Related dishes? Taco soup, Gazpacho, Taco salad, & Seven layer taco dip.