What does “fajita” mean, in reference to Tex-Mex food? Fajita originally referred directly to the beef skirt steak, and came to encompass chicken breast cut in strips and served in a manner similar to that in which beef fajitas are served. In a recent BAD gathering thread someone mentioned a place they could get vegetarian fajitas and I learned, after query, that these feature portobello mushrooms in place of the “fajitas.”
So I take it the dynamicism of our language is once again afoot. Fine with me. But does “fajita” mean anything in particular in the present? If so, what?
Well, I dunno, but you say “fajita”, and I expect something wrapped up in a soft tortilla. Usually chicken, sometimes beef. Haven’t personally encountered veggie fajitas yet, as I don’t eat out much, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
I think it’s turning out to be like the whole “What exactly is pizza?” thing–does it count as “pizza” if it’s on a flat tortilla instead of yeast bread dough, with shredded fresh spinach and no cheese?
Fajitas are getting there, I suppose.
Has anybody seen a dessert fajita yet? If not, it’s only a matter of time.
The word fajita refers to the cut of meat known as a skirt steak. The term was probably applied because of the cut’s resemblance to a strap or belt and its placement around the girth of the steer. (Perhaps its usual toughness promted comparisons to an old leather belt as well.) Although the ubiquitous dish served in many restaurants is laden with grilled onions and peppers, it is far more likely that the authentic dish merely consisted of marinated and grilled skirt steak wrapped in a warm tortilla. Again, the flour tortillas most commonly served with this dish are probably a contrivance. More likely it would be soft white corn tortillas that would accompany this meal. The humble nature of the lowly and often tough skirt steak point to a rather simple citrus marinade and a campfire grilling. Such a dish would be on the menu for the vaqueros during a cattle drive. The steaks would more likely end up on the plate of the drive’s master or the herd’s owner.
As is typical of modern food processing, this simple fare has been gussied up and inevitably smothered in the cheese and vegetables that more than likely never appeared in the original dish. I would think that a salsa cruda and perhaps, some cebolla y cilantro (chopped white onion and cilantro leaves) are about all that you would see accompanying the true version.
Even the fajitas in Mexico are becoming Americanized! The chain restaurants and the “nicer” places that I’ve been to in Leon and thereabouts always serve fajitas with all the fixin’s that we get here at Chili’s et al.
Actually, there is a dish in Mexico (well, Guanajuato anyway) that is pretty much identical to a fajita, but goes by a different name, which I can’t remember! It was great – the dive behind the GM plant would give you everything for MX$25 (pesos, that is), and it would be fajitas! FWIW, that’s about US$2.75, compared to the $12 or so at our (US) chain restaurants!
Fajita originally referred to the cut of meat. Literally, the word fajita means “little strip,” and is a reference to the appearance of the meat, as little strips.
Zenster I’ve never seen cheese and stuff added. Usually (at least the places I go and when I make it myself) the meat is grilled along with thinly sliced onions and peppers and served that way still in the skillet.
Balthisar I hate to break it to you but fajitas are not really Mexican food. They are Tex-Mex. So there is no reason why Mexican fajitas wouldn’t look American.
That explains a lot – but then what is the Mexican dish called that’s almost like a fajita in every respect? Damned if I want to go back down there just to find out…
