If you start with a piece of bacon...

[Captante]

turkey bacon is not bacon, and chicken fajitas are not fajitas.

Mirriam-Webster takes issue with this claim.


fajita


fa·ji·ta | \ fə-ˈhē-tə , fä- \
Definition of fajita

: a marinated strip usually of beef or chicken grilled or broiled and served usually with a flour tortilla and various savory fillings —usually used in plural

 

[dullard]

Mirriam-Webster takes issue with this claim.


fajita


fa·ji·ta | \ fə-ˈhē-tə , fä- \
Definition of fajita

: a marinated strip usually of beef or chicken grilled or broiled and served usually with a flour tortilla and various savory fillings —usually used in plural

The word "fajita" is a fairly recently invented word. People used skirt steak (very appetizingly described in this thread as diaphragm muscle) for a century in Tex Mex cooking without a well-known recognized name for it. But then in ~1970, the "fajita" was invented as a name in a cooking competition since "taco" was already being used in that competition. The word was never meant to refer to a specific cut of meat, but instead to describe a whole dish. Shortly later, any meat was used for this new food category of "fajita". Soon "Fajita" was used to describe a sizzling skillet of meat and veggies served with tortillas.

By the power not vested in me, my non-authoritative and non-binding conclusion is: ElFenix is half-correct. It originally was cooked using skirt steak, before it was called fajita.

 

[BudAshes]

Anyone remember way back when this thread was about bacon?

 

[IronWing]

Anyone remember way back when this thread was about bacon?

Great minds go where the conversation leads them.

 

[BudAshes]

Great minds go where the conversation leads them.

Are sure that is not just ADHD?

 

[Torn Mind]

The word "fajita" is a fairly recently invented word. People used skirt steak (very appetizingly described in this thread as diaphragm muscle) for a century in Tex Mex cooking without a well-known recognized name for it. But then in ~1970, the "fajita" was invented as a name in a cooking competition since "taco" was already being used in that competition. The word was never meant to refer to a specific cut of meat, but instead to describe a whole dish. Shortly later, any meat was used for this new food category of "fajita". Soon "Fajita" was used to describe a sizzling skillet of meat and veggies served with tortillas.

By the power not vested in me, my non-authoritative and non-binding conclusion is: ElFenix is half-correct. It originally was cooked using skirt steak, before it was called fajita.

Just Exactly What Is a Fajita?

The word "faja" is Spanish for belt or girdle and "fajita" is the diminutive form. In original Tex-Mex culinary parlance, fajitas are a dish with root

www.austinchronicle.com

Sounds like ElFenix is entirely correct.

The original Mexican laborers in Texas, like most humans, would know what cuts they were being given, and at the time, it was the some of what was deemed the shittiest parts of a cow.

 

[ponyo]

Just Exactly What Is a Fajita?

The word "faja" is Spanish for belt or girdle and "fajita" is the diminutive form. In original Tex-Mex culinary parlance, fajitas are a dish with root

www.austinchronicle.com

Sounds like ElFenix is entirely correct.

The original Mexican laborers in Texas, like most humans, would know what cuts they were being given, and at the time, it was the some of what was deemed the shittiest parts of a cow.

I can think of lot worse parts like tripe, intestines, and balls. If you're eating muscle part like skirt steak, you're eating good.

 

[BudAshes]

I can think of lot worse parts like tripe, intestines, and balls. If you're eating muscle part like skirt steak, you're eating good.

You not a rocky mountain oysters guy?

 

[ponyo]

You not a rocky mountain oysters guy?

I would eat it fried. I eat pig and cow intestines and those still have shit particles on it. I've been blessed with the ability to eat just about anything.

 

[Torn Mind]

I can think of lot worse parts like tripe, intestines, and balls. If you're eating muscle part like skirt steak, you're eating good.

I meant from an economic standpoint back in the day those cowboys were working for ranch masters.
Pretty sure even the ranch masters knew that intestines are not exactly parts that can be used to pay a laborer.

Fajita History

One of the most interesting facets of the American culinary revolution of the past 50 years is our growing fascination with culinary histor

www.austinchronicle.com

Out of cheap animals parts, I'll eat liver from pork or beef once in while. My mother only likes pork liver, hates beef or chicken.

 

[BudAshes]

I would eat it fried. I eat pig and cow intestines and those still have shit particles on it. I've been blessed with the ability to eat just about anything.

I'll pretty much up for eating anything that smells decent after a couple cocktails... unless it's still moving on its own. Then I'm out.

 

[nakedfrog]

Anyone remember way back when this thread was about bacon?

You know, I'm not sure I've ever had bacon in a fajita. But now, I think I will!

 

[MrSquished]

I wouldn't say bacon is an incorrect use of pork belly; though perhaps Squished meant actually intended to mean sub-optimal. Certainly though, it can get little tiresome if you eat it everyday or if something else that tastes better hits your mouth. If the brand manufacturer gets the seasoning mix wrong, it can also reduce the goodness in eating it, which is why I do not hold Applegate's bacon in high regard. I generally don't eat more than three strips when I do eat it but that's just my body's satiety limit, not an expression of of like or dislike.

I mean sure, I do find hong shao rou(紅燒肉）is just as decadent and yummy to eat as bacon, and hong shao rou is better than bacon alone when eaten with white rice. But bacon gives me plenty of pleasure as well, so something is done right with bacon.

Yes. It's just not the best way to use pork belly. Use the sides for bacon, save the pork belly for tastier stuff.

Turkey bacon is an abomination.

 

[dullard]

Sounds like ElFenix is entirely correct.

The original Mexican laborers in Texas, like most humans, would know what cuts they were being given, and at the time, it was the some of what was deemed the shittiest parts of a cow.

My point is that yes, they were given cheap nearly-unsellable cow meat, but they certainly did NOT call it fajitas. A dish was decades later inspired by that meat, started out using that meat, and was called fajitas, but by the time it hit the mass public it contained any meat.

I can just picture all these hard working laborers asking for some little belts to eat.

 

[BudAshes]

You know, I'm not sure I've ever had bacon in a fajita. But now, I think I will!

Smoked pork belly burnt ends fajita.

 

[Torn Mind]

My point is that yes, they were given cheap nearly-unsellable cow meat, but they certainly did NOT call it fajitas. A dish was decades later inspired by that meat, started out using that meat, and was called fajitas, but by the time it hit the mass public it contained any meat.

I can just picture all these hard working laborers asking for some little belts to eat.

Given the root meaning of the word, it's pretty likely the workers did use it to refer to the that specific part of the cow since that steak does look like a belt.

My mom has no higher education but she was schooling me on how to identify where in the pig a pork chop comes from(the differentiating part being a small little round piece of tenderloin being present), or how to find and remove lymph nodes from a turkey before cooking.

When it comes to valuable food like meat, humans are exceptionally specific and analytical about what is going down into their stomachs but the names they use can be rather simple. And they know context. For Chinese terms, context is often the only thing disambiguating a term. "rou"(肉) just means meat when translated literally but hong shao rou(紅燒肉）is always understood to be braised pork belly in soy sauce, and not any other "red cooked meat"(that is its literal translation).

 

[Torn Mind]

Smoked pork belly burnt ends fajita.

That might actually work.

 

[ElFenix]

I can think of lot worse parts like tripe, intestines, and balls. If you're eating muscle part like skirt steak, you're eating good.

they got the tripas and the cabeza as well.
skirt wasn't eating well until someone in austin started serving it to the texas exes before football games.

 

[dullard]

Given the root meaning of the word, it's pretty likely the workers did use it to refer to the that specific part of the cow since that steak does look like a belt.

The only problem with your line of reasoning is that they instead called it "tacos al carbon", meaning cooked over coals. https://thelocalpalate.com/articles/eatymology-fajitas/

The word fajita wasn't around until 1971. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fajita

First Known Use of fajita

1971, in the meaning defined above

Definition of fajita

: a marinated strip usually of beef or chicken grilled or broiled and served usually with a flour tortilla and various savory fillings —usually used in plural

 

[JEDI]

pie.
i like pie...
...from costco
especially when on sale

 

[nakedfrog]

pie.
i like pie...
...from costco
especially when on sale

They had some huge pumpkin pies when I was there last.

 

[nakedfrog]

That might actually work.

Well, burnt ends are inherently smoked, and I'm not putting them in a tortilla

 

[ElFenix]

The only problem with your line of reasoning is that they instead called it "tacos al carbon", meaning cooked over coals. https://thelocalpalate.com/articles/eatymology-fajitas/

The word fajita wasn't around until 1971. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fajita

let's ask robb walsh:

A few years ago, under a tent set up on Auditorium Shores for the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival in Austin, Juan Antonio "Sonny" Falcon, the man who calls himself "The Fajita King," addressed a Tex-Mex panel discussion. Falcon claims that during the 1960s, while working as a butcher at Guajardo's Cash Grocery in East Austin, he gave "fajitas" their name while he experimented with the diaphragm muscle. Falcon can document the first time he sold fajitas to the public. It was at a Diez y Seis celebration in Kyle in September of 1969.

Falcon's fame drew a big crowd to the tent, including a couple of hecklers. Some fellow Tejanos from the Lower Rio Grande Valley loudly contended that their grandmothers were making fajitas before Falcon was born.

"I like Sonny Falcon, I went to school with him. But he didn't invent fajitas," said Liborio "Libo" Hinojosa, whose family owns H&H Meat Products in Mercedes, one of the Valley's biggest meat suppliers. "The Lion Mart in Brownsville was selling fajitas at their meat counter way before 1969."

An archival search of Brownsville newspapers turns up a grocery store display ad featuring fajitas from 1971, which would suggest that fajitas weren't a new item in Brownsville. But the most remarkable thing about the ad is the fact that fajitas were selling for 99 cents a pound, while T-bone steaks were going for 79 cents a pound. Maybe outside skirt steak never was all that cheap.

The first restaurant to popularize fajitas in Austin was the Hyatt Hotel. The beef was served on a sizzling comal with onions and peppers, and the signature spread of flour tortillas, guacamole, salsas and condiments. But the hotel chef at the Hyatt balked at serving chewy skirt steak. Instead, he substituted sirloin. It wasn't long afterwards that chicken fajitas made their debut. The fact that chickens don't have skirt steaks didn't seem to bother anyone.