Tex-Mex

What it is

Tex-Mex is the cuisine that grew along the Rio Grande among Tejanos — Mexican-Americans in Texas — over more than two centuries. Interior Mexican cooks once dismissed it; today scholars treat it as its own legitimate American regional cuisine, with its own pantry (wheat flour tortillas, cumin, yellow cheddar) that diverges from inland Mexican kitchens.

How it tastes

Cumin, beef, and melted cheese are the trinity. Tex-Mex leans richer and more uniform than Mexican cooking — flour rather than corn tortillas, cheddar rather than queso fresco, and a chili-meat base rather than a tomato or tomatillo salsa.

Signature dishes & techniques

Fajitas — grilled skirt steak strips sizzled on a cast-iron platter with peppers and onions — were popularized in San Antonio in the 1970s. Chili con carne, the official state dish of Texas, predates them by a century. Nachos, invented in Piedras Negras in 1943 by Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, were arguably the first Tex-Mex dish to go global.