Friday 21 October 2011

Yorkshire Saints and Nachos!

File:St John Thwing Window (NigelCoates) Aug 2007.jpg

The obscure saint for today is St John of Bridlington (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Bridlington ) depicted above in the Parish Church of All Saints Thwing (his hometown).  If you know anyone having a difficult labour (no, not Ed Milliband!) he's your designated intercessor.  It's also The International Day of the Nacho. It began in the 1990s in the United States and Mexico to celebrate the invention of nachos by Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya in 1943 in Piedras Negras, Coahuila.  So that'll be a very traditional Mexican dish then?  To be fair, it was aimed at tourists.

Piedras Negras is just over the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. One day in 1943, the wives of ten to twelve U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort Duncan in nearby Eagle Pass were in Piedras Negras on a shopping trip, and arrived at the restaurant after it had closed for the day. The maître d', Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya, invented a new snack for them with what little he had available in the kitchen: tortillas and cheese. Anaya cut the tortillas into triangles, added longhorn cheddar cheese, quickly heated them, and added sliced jalapeño peppers. He served the dish, calling it Nachos especiale - "Special Nachos".

Anaya went on to work at the Moderno Restaurant in Piedras Negras, which still uses the original recipe. He also opened his own restaurant, "Nacho's Restaurant", in Piedras Negras. Anaya's original recipe was printed in the 1954 St. Anne's Cookbook.The popularity of the dish grew throughout Texas. The first known appearance of the word "nachos" in English dates to 1949, from the book A Taste of Texas.  

Never minds nachos - after quiche for tea I want some real food before bedtime.  Ho to the Chinese!

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