Lee Frank - Ultimate Nachos: 84 Creative and Flavorful Recipes to Go with Salsas, Guacamole, Quesos, Cocktails, and More

The brilliant Ignacio Nacho Anaya threw together a plate of cut tortillas, longhorn cheddar cheese, and jalapeo peppers when the wives of U.S. soldiers stationed nearby stopped by the Victory Club restaurant after the kitchen had closed. Ignacio put on his thinking cap and invented the dish, utilizing what ingredients were available to him. Thus, nachos were born. The word nachos first appeared in the Texan cookbook A Taste of Texas in 1949. These nachos will help El Capitan soon he will forget his troubles for nachos make one romantic.

In 1959, Carmen Rocha took nachos to California. They were loved so much by everyone who visited her Los Angeles restaurant El Cholo that she is often falsely credited as the creator. It took another fifteen years for nachos to make it big-time, when concessions genius Frank Liberto reformulated nachos to chips with ooey-gooey cheese. He knew that if he served a snack this delicious at Arlington stadium, he would be considered a visionary. Despite Libertos ingenuity, nachos still needed an extra boost to make it to the mainstream. That unexpected assistance came from national sportscaster Howard Cosell.

During Monday night Football broadcasts, Cosell loved how the word nachos rolled off his tongue so much that he proceeded to talk about them all night long. Adding our own pages to the history of cho, Nachos NY began in the winter of 2009. Spawned from the obsession of Lee Frank, Lee along with Rachel Anderson began their nonstop quest to find the best nachos New York has to offer. Genetically predisposed to love cilantro, tolerate lactose, and handle jalapeo, Nachos NY will not stop until the United States of America is a Nachos Nation. Four Guactaculars (our annual guacamole-making competition), three Guac Rock boat cruises (the event where Guactacular winners re-create their guacamoles for fans to gorge on while listening to bands rock out), and six Nachos Crawls (an improvement on the bar crawl) later, Nachos NY continues to carve out a name for itself in nacho infamy. Now, in 2013, nachos have been beaten down by 7-Eleven, AMC movie theaters, and Major League Baseball stadiums.

This is the most important time to bring nachos back to their delicious beginnings. Let us proceed. WHAT ARE NACHOS? Like the hot daughter of the local minister, nachos have a terrible reputation. Blame the pink neon sign above the tiny cardboard boxes full of stale chips at your local convenience store. Blame the scary heat lamp at the movie theater. Blame the wiggly pump at the ball park that oozes glue-like yellow goo that should not legally be called cheese.

Whomever you blame, the truth hurts: The nacho, like Hollywood, isnt what it used to be. Good people of Nacho Nation, we cannot let this stand. From our pedestal of pico pride, we offer, at this early stage in your nacho education, these official guidelines for what can (and cannot) be properly called nachos. Herewith, your ten Commandments. 1. Nachos are not tortilla chips.

This is a common misnomer. This is as if someone picked up a hot dog bun and said, What a gorgeous frank! 2. Nachos are not that thing you eat at the movie theater. That is nothing more than chips and dip. You dont call pita and hummus nachos, do you? 3. Know your setting.

We used to think that nachos were meant to be piled high and that individually plating nachos was heresy. However, over the past few years, weve realized that every nacho construction has its time. The mountain of nachos now lives in the realm of the outmoded high-five, while the individual nacho trades in the paper napkin for a linen napkin. 4. Nachos are not served on apple slices. Its exciting that you want to be healthy.

Good for you. Your mom will be proud. Have yourself some apple slices! Drizzle honey on top! Toss in some walnuts if youre feeling crazy. Just dont call them nachos, please. If someone looks at them and cannot guess theyre nachos, they are not nachos. 5.

Ingredients are key. Nothing ruins nachos more than stale chips and poor ingredients. Do not use dry chicken breast left over from yesterdays rotisserie chicken. Do not use gooey, droopy refried beans from a bin. Nachos are a thing of beauty, not an excuse to clean your refrigerator. 6. 6.

Not all cheeses are created equal. If your cheese glows in the dark, that is a nacho deal breaker. If your cheese comes in a jar that says contains real cheese, run for cover. 7. Taco salad is not nachos. Theres a difference.

A big, leafy green difference. Keep the lettuce out of this equation and there wont be any problems. Well come back to this later on (see ). 8. Nachos dont always require meat. Chorizo is amazing, everyone obviously knows that.

But nachos do not need meat to be incredible. So when a vegetarian says they cant eat nachos, slap them. Some of the worlds best nachos are no more than chips, cheese, pico de gallo, guacamole, and jalapeos. 9. Get down and dirty. Nachos are meant to be eaten with your hands.

When the fork comes out, its just not fun anymore. Lick your fingers, wipe them on your pant leg, and dig in. Stains are the new black. 10. Share with others. This is the absolute most important edict to follow.

Friends who cho together, bro together. Friends who cho together, grow together. Friends who cho together well, you get the idea. TORTILLA CHIPS CHIPS YOU CAN USE These chips are always up for using: white corn, yellow corn, and blue corn, sometimes red corn chips, when the corn is actually red. CHIPS YOU CANT USE AND WHY Round chips This gripe has less to do with the chips than with what they represent. Circle chips are a reminder of movie theater nachos as well as being illogical.

Unless you have an adorable-size tortilla press, youre not making tortillas in a circle that small. Tortilla chips are meant to be triangles so you can make the chips smaller without wasting any delicious corny goodness. Scoops, strips, and colored chips These are all silly gimmicks. One is an edible bowl, one is too narrow to hold nachos, and the last is a chip that has no place in nature. Flavored chips This is an obvious one, right? I would hope so. But Im finding people tell me that they love making nachos with nacho cheese-flavored chips.