By José R. Ralat May 25, 2021
The litmus test for any great Tex-Mex restaurant is its enchiladas plate. That usually means cheese enchiladas drowned in chili con carne, also called chili gravy—but there are dozens of equally delicious, lesser-known varieties. The best enchiladas I’ve ever tasted didn’t contain cheese. A friend and I were driving the length of the Texas-Mexico border just before Christmas 2019, and we stopped at Mando’s Restaurant in Marfa for dinner. I was blown away by the deep flavor of the shredded chicken enchiladas, which were soaked in a woodsy guajillo chile sauce. They were so great, I didn’t want to share them. To my dismay, the owner told me that the restaurant would soon cease operations; she was also mum on the details of the recipe. But I still measure a Texas Mexican restaurant by those enchiladas. They remind me that there are myriad interpretations of the dish, each with its own regional flavor and history to explore.
Take, for example, the enchiladas mineras at Torres Mochas in Paris, lightly topped with perfectly cooked carrots and potatoes. The dish earned its name because it was a common meal of workers who stripped the mines of Guanajuato. Another example is the enchiladas suizas (Swiss enchiladas), invented at the Mexico City department store chain Sanborns in 1950. That dish—rolled, chicken-stuffed tortillas broiled in a bath of serrano-tomatillo sauce, cream, and melted white cheese—is a staple on both sides of the border.
Full article https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/tex-mexplainer-enchiladas/
