Nacho’s Nachos – Guest Post

Would it surprise you to know that the first nachos were not piled high with toppings? Ignacio Anaya’s original Nacho’s Special had only three ingredients. That’s it!

The earliest cookbook I found with a nachos recipe is A Taste of Texas from 1949. Julian Cross, who was stationed on the Rio Grande during World War II, recommends “tortillas cut into small triangular pieces,” “a small hank of American cheese,” and “a small slice of pickled pepper.”

Rumor has it that another early recipe was published in Eagle Pass, Texas, in the Church of the Redeemer’s cookbook. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to track down a copy.

However, don’t despair. We have something better—a description by Ignacio Anaya himself. The day he invented the dish, he combined “freshly fried pieces of tortilla,” “grated cheese,” and “jalepeño strips.” In creating a recipe for Nacho’s Nachos, I used cheddar, rather than the American cheese Cross proposed. I did this because Anaya’s son and namesake, Ignacio Anaya Jr., said that his father used a round Wisconsin cheese. That sounds like cheddar to me.

One last piece of recipe trivia. Did you notice Anaya talked about jalepeño “strips,” not rounds? You’ll see the strips on the cover illustration of Nacho’s Nachos. Food writer Helen Rosner confirmed in Saveur that in the 1950s (and presumably before) “pickled jalapeños were sold whole or in strips; the now-familiar rings became available, not coincidentally, after nachos gained national popularity.” So, if you’re aiming for the authentic, go for jalepeño strips.

Now that you know it all, enjoy whipping up a batch of Ignacio Anaya’s original Nacho’s Special. ¡Buen provecho!