5 Rules for Cooking and Serving Tex Mex

When it comes to cooking and serving Tex Mex dishes, we think you should make sure your sense of humor is working well. Tex Mex dishes are pretty easy to make, fun to serve and great to eat, so prepare yourself – and your tastebuds --- for fun!

1. When making fajitas, make sure the grill is hot, hot, hot!!!

Fajitas when served need to sizzle and they won’t sizzle unless your grill is extremely hot! You also need to remember to slice the skirt steak across the grain, get a plate that handles heat well and serve. And don’t forget to warn anyone to whom you pass a fajita meal that “Watch out; the plate is very hot.”

Queso and tortilla chips. A snack made in heaven!

2. Tex Mex is just not Tex Mex without a ton of melted cheese.

Traditional Mexican food tends to go easy on the cheese (as well as the beef), but Tex Mex has taken melted cheese to a whole new level. It’s poured on nachos, burritos, enchiladas, and even taquitos. It’s the main – sometimes only – ingredient aside from the tortilla in a quesadilla.

So never forget the cheese. Oh, you may say it’s not heart-healthy. Your guests may complain that just looking at that enchilada makes them gain five pounds, but ignore them.

In other words, never, ever, ever forget the queso! Just don’t

3. Sure, add spice and other flavors to your chili con carne, but don’t forget….

…it’s all about the meat! So many chili recipes require adding this spice here and that flavor there. But at its base, chili is chili con carne (chili with meat). So remember what you came for and don’t let a whole lot of other things get in the way. Chili? Check. Savory beef? Check. You’re in!

4. Speaking of a dish’s essence: consider the nacho.

When you think of nachos, what comes to mind? A platter piled high with warm tortilla chips, smothered in beef, cheese, chilis, sliced olives, lettuce, tomatoes, and more?

But what if you drilled down to the original nacho’s “recipe?” Tortilla chips, melted cheese, shredded lettuce, and ground beef. Or even just chips smothered in melted cheese. Simple? Yes. Perfect? Definitely.

5. Cook the beans you use for refried beans.

Do refried beans made with beans from a can taste great? Of course! But if you make this Southwestern comfort food by cooking fresh beans from scratch? Flawless!

You want lots of melted cheese? Mattito’s has it! Simply visit the location nearest you and indulge. We promise not to tell your waistline.

Image courtesy of joephotostudio/FreeDigitalPhotos.net