Cuban Sandwich & Turtleburger (1942); Lotta "Enchiladas"

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CUBAN SANDWICH & TURTLEBURGER

   More on the Cuban sandwich, plus another "-burger."


   11 June 1942, CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL (Charleston, West Virginia), pg.
   Only 90 miles from the northern coast of Cuba, Spanish is spoken in Key
West almost as much as English.  Cuban sandwiches, Spanish dinners and
"turtleburgers" are featured on every menu.

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ENCHILADAS

   I heard back from Andrew Smith ("the big enchilada").  See his paper and
citation below.
   An 1883 OUT WEST magazine "enchilada" has been on the Making of America
database for about five years now.  I'm surprised that Merriam-Webster didn't
change its 1887 date.
   If anyone wants, I can go to the Library of Congress to check for
"enchilada" in the WESTERN TEXAN (1848), the SAN ANTONIO LEDGER (1850), and the SAN
ANTONIO EXPRESS (1865).



<A HREF="http://food.oregonstate.edu/ref/culture/mexico_smith.html">http://food.oregonstate.edu/ref/culture/mexico_smith.html</A>


As I noted in my introduction to the facsimile of Estelle Woods Wilcox's
Centennial Buckeye Cook Book (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000), the
first known enchilada recipe published in the US appeared in the original of
this work (1876). The recipe is below.

Andy Smith


Enchiladas
Gov. Safford, Arizona, 1863.
Put four pounds of corn in a vessel with four ounces lime or in a preparation
of lye; boil with water till the hull comes off, then wash the corn (usually
done by Mexicans on a scalloped stone made for grinding corn as was practices
by Rebecca), bake the meal in small cakes called "tortillas," then fry in
lard; take some red pepper ground, called "chili colorad," mix with it sweet oil
and vinegar, and boil together. This makes a sauce into which dip the
tortillas, then break in small pieces cheese and onions, and sprinkle on top the
tortillas, and you have what is called "enchiladas." Any one who has ever been in a
Spanish speaking country will recognize this as one of the national dishes, as
much as the pumpkin pie is a New England speciality.

Source: [Estelle Woods Wilcox, comp.]. Centennial Buckeye Cook Book.
Marysville: J. H. Shearer & Son, 1876. 311.