From the mesquite fires of the Spanish vaqueros to the taco trucks of modern taqueros, no American regional cuisine has contributed more to the nation’s grilling style than Tex-Mex. And no one is more fanatical about grilling and barbecueing than the people who inhabit the bicultural borderlands of Texas and northern Mexico.
Grilling has long been a part of the lifestyle of the cattle raisers who settled this region. And while it was mostly replaced by frying and stewing in early Tex-Mex, grilling has experienced a revival. Since the 1970s, fajitas and other grilled meats and seafoods have slowly replaced combo platters as the most popular food in Tex-Mex restaurants and cantinas.
At the same time, the American love affair with the grill has been rekindled. In the twenty-first century, the backyard barbecue has become emblematic of American cookery. It is our connection to the memory of what makes our food American. The word “barbecue” comes from the Spanish barbacoa; both are words derived from the name that native Americans gave their grills. The barabicu of the indigenous Americans was a grate of green sticks used to suspend meat or fish over smoldering coals.
In the 1600s, European explorers on the island of Hispaniola marveled at this unfamiliar cooking method and were baffled by its inefficiency. They couldn’t figure out why the Native American hunters and fishermen were content to lie in their hammocks for hours watching the meat and fish cook slowly over smoldering coals. From the perspective of those of us who cook outdoors for recreation, the simultaneous use of the hammock and the barbecue makes perfect sense.
Whether it burns propane, charcoal, or wood, the modern backyard grill is directly descended from the barabicu of the first Americans. And every twenty-first-century tailgater, cook-off competitor, and backyard barbecuer who grills for the sheer joy of it is an heir to that tradition.
Over the last half century, Tex-Mex grilling has evolved into an eye-popping spectacle of grilled meats and seafoods served on sizzling comals. And the bold-flavor signature of dried chili powder rubs and fresh chile pepper salsas has inspired legions of backyard barbecuers to adopt the borderland grilling style.
I hope this book encourages you to get out your grill. I also hope it puts you in closer touch with the foodways of Texas and northern Mexico and brings some exciting new flavors to your table. Most of all, I hope it makes your next fiesta a lot of fun.