Beef Nachos Supreme
Overview
Tortilla chips baked under seasoned beef and melted cheese, finished with raw onion, bell pepper and avocado. It is Tex-Mex and American, and it has an origin story that is unusually well documented for a snack food. In 1943, wives of American soldiers stationed at Fort Duncan in Eagle Pass, Texas, crossed into Piedras Negras, Mexico, on a shopping trip. They stopped at the Victory Club to eat and found the restaurant closed for the day. The maître d', Ignacio "El Nacho" Anaya, made something from what was left in the kitchen: tortillas, cheese and pickled jalapeños. The dish took his nickname. It sits in Worldwide Recipes under American, since nachos belong to Mexican, Tex-Mex and American cooking rather than to anything African. This particular version puts soy sauce in the beef seasoning, which is not conventional and points to a contemporary cook rather than a tradition. Africa's own layered snack dishes are different things: Nigerian gizdodo, South African bunny chow, Egyptian koshari. The technique worth knowing here is that the beef is seasoned and cooked before it goes on the chips, so the assembly only needs long enough to melt the cheese.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Season the beef with the cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, green onion, soy sauce and salt.
- 2
Add a little oil to a saucepan and cook the beef over heat for 10 minutes.
- 3
Cut the beef into cubes and return it to the pan.
- 4
Lay the tortilla chips on a baking sheet.
- 5
Spoon the beef over the chips.
- 6
Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.
- 7
Preheat the oven to 200°C and bake for 15 minutes.
- 8
Remove from the oven and scatter over the diced onion, red bell pepper and avocado.
- 9
Serve immediately.
Africook’s Notes
- Cook the beef fully before it goes on the chips. The oven time is only long enough to melt cheese, not to cook meat.
- Add the raw toppings after baking, not before. Onion, pepper and avocado all wilt or brown in the oven.
- Spread the chips in a single layer with the beef and cheese distributed evenly, or the middle stays bare and the edges burn.
- Serve immediately. Nachos go soft within a few minutes as the moisture from the toppings soaks in.
- The soy sauce in the beef seasoning is unconventional. Leave it out for a more standard Tex-Mex flavour.
- Pickled jalapeños are what the original 1943 version used, and they are still the most authentic topping.
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