Swiss Enchiladas

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   Greetings from Chicago--a city I've enjoyed so much, I'm staying an extra day!
   I looked a the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Herald-Examiner, Chicago Evening Post, Chicago Daily Journal, and Chicago American for December 1927.  Perhaps Walter Winchell's column was syndicated and appeared in Chicago in 1927, but I sure didn't find it.  So much for that W.W. "Bloody Mary" column.

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ROBERT McCORMICK

   Tonight's A&E Biography of the Chicago Tribune's Robert McCormick glossed over much.  Only at the very end did Harry Smith announce that McCormick also owned WGN--and "World's Greatest Newspaper" was never explained!
   The paper itself was hardly mentioned.  You'd never know that Bert L. Taylor's "Line o' Type" was the first "colyumn."  You'd also never know about the Tribune's strange spelling ideas--which actually began with Joseph Medill.

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MARGHERITA PIZZA

   Jesse Sheidlower wanted "Margherita," and I gave him something off the top of my head.  I looked at the food books in the Chicago Public Library, and this is from PIZZA, ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT (1998), by Charles and Michele Scicolone, pg. 45:

   Records dating to forty years before the queen's tasting indicate that pizza with mozzarella, tomato, and basil was eaten in Naples long before she tried it.  At any rate, Queen Margherita loved Esposito's three pizzas, especially the mozzarella version, so Raffaele named the pizza in her honor.
   Raffaele's pizzeria still exists, though now it is called Pizzeria Brandi.  On the wall is proudly displayed the letter dated June 11, 1889, that he received from the Royal House declaring his pizzas _buonissime_--the best!

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SWISS ENCHILADAS

  Way back in November 1999, I was in Mexico and wrote about Swiss Enchiladas.  This is from TRYPINGPANS WEST (1969) by Sam Arnold, pg. 9:

   Here is a recipe for an easy-to-make SWISS ENCHILADA.  It's called Swiss because it has dairy products in it.  Many foods in Mexico get the name Swiss becausethey have cheese and milk in them, but the similarity ends there.
Corn tortillas
1 cooked chicken or lobster or shrimp
onion
green chile strips, 5-6
Monterey Jack cheese
longhorn cheese
1/2 sour cream
2 cups miolk or cream
salt
oregano
   Line a large buttered casserole with corn tortillas.  Overlap them so as to cover the casserole completely.  Scatter small pieces of meat from one cooked chicken over thetortillas.  (Lobster or shrimp are also good meats to use and make a fine dish.)  Next scatter a layer of thin-sliced onion over all.  Then add five or six green chile strips cut into small pieces and cover with a half-inch layer of grated Monterey Jack cheese and grated Longhorn cheese.  Add one-half pint of sour cream spread over all, also 2 cups milk or cream.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and oregano.  Cover with another layer of corn tortillas...and if your casserole is large enough, repeat the whole process into a second layer of everything.  Bake is a hot 425-degree oven for about 45 minutes.  Before serving, place a layer of cheese over the top, and let it melt and brown well.  The consistency should be damp with the melted cheese and tortillas, but not sloppy.

   Don't know if the OED wants "Mexican Rice," "Mexican Salad," "Mexican Chocolate," and such other M's.