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Joan in Valley, Nebraska, says her family of Russian immigrants make cabbage rolls they call hot tamales, which are filled with hamburger, bacon, and rice and baked in tomato juice. This recipe doesn’t come from Latin America, so why are they...
While in a cooking class in Mexico, Travis from Orlando, Florida, was told by the instructor that the word quesadilla comes a supposed Nahuatl word, quesaditzen. That’s not the case, although many other food words derive from that indigenous...
Cathy from San Antonio, Texas, notes that many Spanish words come from the Nahuatl language, including the words for “tomato,” “sweet potato,” and “avocado,” which are tomate, camote, and aguacate, respectively...
In and around Sheboygan, Wisconsin, barbecues are known as fry outs even though nothing’s fried. And a hot tamale is more like a sloppy joe sandwich. This is part of a complete episode.
We asked you to tell us about odd regional food names, and boy did you oblige! Martha reads some of your letters about whoopie pies, hot tamales, pretzel salad, coolers, and the frappe vs. milkshake controversy.
tamalada n.— «It’s time for the annual tamalada.…“Making tamales during Christmas is a family tradition and a chance for us girls to get together …even if I get stuck cleaning the leaves, as always.”…For...