burritos/ fajitas/ enchiladas/ tacos/ wtf?

Disco Boy

Disco Boy

Disco Boy

Soldato
Joined
4 Aug 2009
Posts
5,310
Location
London
So what's the difference? I know that fajitas are the "some assembly required" fried veg and meat in spices with no sauce that you roll in tortillas at the table. There's one (enchiladas?) where it is stuffed and cooked in a sauce in the oven. And that they all involve tortillas, but which is what?

The reason I want to know is because I often make the following:
fry chicken and veg (onion, peppers, courgettes) in spices and cook through
add a little passata and cook for a little longer so there is some sauce
put in tortillas and bake in the oven on a baking tray for ~10-15 minutes until the tortilla is slightly crisp in places.

So which term best describes that?
 
I'd say that was still a fajita - you can actually buy/make fajita sauce (which is basically passata and spices together IIRC) rather than just the spices so the only thing you've really done extra is crisp them up.

I agree that it's quite confusing. You haven't even mentioned chimichangas (deep-fried burritos) or tostadas (various fillings on one, or between two, fried tortillas)!
 
Are enchilladas not baked with sauce around them? Mine are filled and wrapped up so that no sauce escapes and there's no sauce on the outside of them.

Silly confusing Mexicans!
 
Yes, I'd say an enchilada had to be eaten with a knife and fork as it's cooked in sauce, or covered in it at least. A fajita can be picked up to eat as it's all packed inside.
 
Enchilada = knife and fork as it's saucy.
Fajita is a wrap, essentially, but mexican stylee.
Taco is a tortilla which is open and has more salad in it, usually salsa etc on top
Burrito = more beans than anything else, wrapped with both ends closes
 
It also has to do with whether or not the tortilla is corn or flour. Tacos and taquitos are corn tortillas, burritos and fajitas are flour tortillas.
 
A mexican restaurant owning buddy of mine tells me that fajita is from the mexican word for skirt steak, the traditional filling for that type of food.
Enchilada's are baked wrapped packages.
Burritos are unbaked wrapped packages typically containing meat, rice and beans.
Not sure what they're trying to achieve with taco's other than heart disease :D
 
Fajita is tex-Mex, meat in a tortilla traditionally beef skirt
Enchilada is a filled tortilla covered in a tomato and chilli sauce
Taco is a traditional Mexican dish similar to fajita but much wider range of fillings
Burrito - Handheld food, filled steamed/grilled tortilla stuffed with only retried beans, Mexican rice or meat, American style Uses combination of fillings.

Yours cant be really called any of them. But closer to fajita.

Wiki is a wonderful thing.
 
Differences in all of these between Tex-Mex and Mex.

Take the taco as an example, I was used to the tex mex version with a folded fried corn tortilla. This was topped with salad and meet and salsa.

images


I was in Mexico a few years ago and I discovered the original version of a taco. It was really closer to a shwarma kebab than anything else. The meat was cooked on a spit and shaved off. It was then placed on soft warm tortillas and topped with salsa and salad.
450px-Mexico.Tacos.02.jpg

images
 
Last edited:
You've made 'baked fajitas' which as far as I know are your own concoction and not something that I've heard of before which is why there is no official name for them. :D
 
Taco shells are whack. The second you bite into them they split down the spine and release delicious filling and shrapnel everywhere. When I make taco filling I use tortillas every time. Maybe there's a little Mexican in me.

'Señor! Let me out of here!'

I'm in an odd mood today.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom