Начос: История и разновидности мексиканской закуски.

Tortilla chip dish

Nachos are a Tex Mex culinary dish consisting of tortilla chips or totopos covered with cheese or cheese sauce, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chicken), vegetables (such as chili peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, and olives), and condiments such as salsa, guacamole, or sour cream. At its most basic form, nachos may consist of merely chips covered with cheese (usually Cheddar or American Cheese), and served as an appetizer or snack, while other versions are substantial enough as a main course. The dish was created by, and named after, Mexican restaurateur Ignacio Anaya, who created it in 1943 for American customers at the Victory Club restaurant in Piedras Negras, Coahuila.

Nachos originated in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila in Mexico, across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas in the United States. Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya created nachos in 1943 at the restaurant the Victory Club when Mamie Finan and a group of U. S. military officers' wives, whose husbands were stationed at the nearby U. S. Army base Fort Duncan, traveled across the border to eat at the Victory Club. After tasting the snack, Finan asked what it was called. Anaya responded, "Well, I guess we can just call them Nacho's Special." Anaya also opened his own restaurant, Nacho's Restaurant, in Piedras Negras. Anaya's original recipe was printed in the 1954 St. Anne's Cookbook. A modified version of the dish, with cheese sauce and prepared tortilla chips, was marketed in 1976 by Frank Liberto, owner of Ricos Products, during Texas Rangers baseball games at Arlington Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This version became known as "ballpark nachos". During the September 4, 1978 Monday Night Football game between the Baltimore Colts and Dallas Cowboys, sportscaster Howard Cosell enjoyed the name "nachos," and made a point of mentioning the dish in his broadcasts over the following weeks, further popularizing it and introducing it to a whole new audience. Liberto died in 2017. Ignacio Anaya died in 1975. In his honor, a bronze plaque was erected in Piedras Negras, and October 21 was declared the International Day of the Nacho. Anaya's son, Ignacio Anaya, Jr., served as a judge at the annual nacho competition. A single serving of nachos also contains significant amounts of fat, sodium, and calcium. There are around 16 grams of fat, 816 mg of sodium, and 272 mg of calcium per serving of nachos. In other words, one serving contains 39% of the daily value for fat, 34% of the daily value for sodium, and 27% of the daily value for calcium.

A variation consists of a quartered and fried tostada topped with a layer of refried beans or various meats and a layer of shredded cheese or nacho cheese, topped with habanero hot sauce. Other variations include barbecue nachos (in which barbecue sauce is added, sometimes in place of salsa, hot sauce or cheese sauce) and poutine nachos (in which cheddar cheese is replaced with cheese curds and gravy). Although those variations use nontraditional ingredients, these versions are still classified as nachos. In the Southeastern United States, pulled pork nachos, also called barbecue nachos, are very popular. In this variation, the nachos retain their cheese and often jalapeños, but are also topped with pulled smoked pork shoulder served with or without barbecue sauce or hot sauce. Some Irish themed restaurants and bars serve "Irish Nachos" with toppings placed over potatoes (French fries) instead of tortilla chips. A Pacific Northwestern version of nachos called totchos, or Tot Chos is a variation in which tortilla chips are replaced with deep fried or baked tater tots. Traditional nachos consist of the tortilla chips topped with cheese and jalapeños, as done by Anaya. The modern form of nachos has several possible ingredients with the most common toppings being cheese, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, jalapeños, olives, refried beans, ground beef, chicken, and sometimes lettuce. Lettuce is a less common topping, if added at all. Toppings may be served buffet style to allow diners to create their own nachos. The topping of the greatest quantity is often the cheese. Nachos vary from the modern style served in restaurants to the quick and easy nachos sold at concession stands in stadiums. The nachos commonly sold at concession stands in the U. S. consists of tortilla chips topped with pump able cheese sauce. The cheese sauce comes in condensed form to which water or milk and pepper juice are added. What is contained in the condensed form itself is a trade secret. Another variation of nachos is "dessert nachos". These vary widely, from cinnamon and sugar on pita chips to "s'more nachos" with marshmallow and chocolate on graham crackers, and typically refer to a dessert consisting of scattered toppings on some form of crispy base.

A form of processed cheese sauce mixed with peppers and other spices is often used in place of freshly shredded cheese in institutional or large scale production settings, such as schools, movie theaters, sports venues, and convenience stores, or wherever using freshly grated cheese may be logistically prohibitive. Though originally formulated as a cheaper and more convenient source of cheese to top nachos, this dip has become popular enough in the U. S. that it is available in some Mexican themed restaurants, and at major grocery stores, in both name brand (Frito Lay, Tostitos, and Taco Bell) and unbranded versions.

In the United States, National Nacho Day is celebrated on November 6. The International Nacho Festival is held between October 13 and 15 at Piedras Negras, the birthplace of nachos, and features live music, art, cultural activities, and a contest for the biggest nacho of the world which is registered with the Guinness World Records. It weighed and contained of nacho chips, of salsa, of tomato, of meat and beans, and more than of cheese.