Tex-Mex is one of the few American regional cuisines that was actively dismissed for most of its existence. Food writers from the coasts called it inauthentic, complained about cumin and yellow cheese, and acted as if it had nothing to do with real Mexican cooking. Then the historians caught up. Today we know that Tex-Mex is a continuous tradition that runs back to Tejano kitchens from before Texas was a state.
The cheese enchilada is a perfect example. The combination of corn tortillas, melty cheese and dried chile sauce is older than the border itself. The yellow cheese came later, but the structure was already there. The fajita started life as a cut of skirt steak that vaqueros took home as part of their pay because nobody else wanted it. Cumin came in through the Canary Islanders who founded San Antonio. Tex-Mex is not a knock-off of anything. It is its own thing, built by Tejano cooks adapting to the ingredients in front of them.
When you cook Tex-Mex at home, you are participating in that tradition. Char your tortillas a little. Toast your dried chiles before you blend them. Use cumin generously, the way Tejano grandmothers always did. And do not feel like you need to apologize for the cheese. The food is already authentic, on its own terms.
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