Taquito

{{Infobox prepared food

| name = Taquito

| image = File:Burros & Fries Clairemont Mesa - 1.jpg

| caption = Little rolled beef tacos with guacamole, lettuce, and cheese

| alternate_name = Rolled taco, flauta, taco dorado

| country = Mexico

| course =

| type =

| served =

| main_ingredient = Tortillas, beef or chicken

| variations =

| other =

}}

File:Carnitas flautas.jpg flautas with jack cheese, guacamole, salsa fresca, and cotija cheese]]

Taquitos ({{IPA|es|taˈkito}}, Spanish for "small taco"),{{cite book|last=Barcia|first=Roque|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TqdWAAAAMAAJ&q=taquito&pg=PA30|title=Primer diccionario general etimologico de la lengua espanola, Volume 5, Part 1|publisher=Establicimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos|year=1883|location=Madrid|page=30}} taco dorados,{{Cite web|url=https://www.mexconnect.com/articles/2091-wrap-it-up-a-guide-to-mexican-street-tacos-part-2-nighttime-tacos/#dorados |title=Wrap It Up - A Guide to Mexican Street Tacos – Part 2: Nighttime Tacos |date=9 June 2020 |access-date=2021-10-01|publisher=Mexico Connect}} rolled tacos,{{cite book |last=Arellano |first=Gustavo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mbUwNDfOBxQC&q=rolled+taco|date=2012 |title=Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=153}} or flautas ({{IPA|es|ˈflawta}}, Spanish for "flute") are a Mexican dish that typically consists of small rolled-up tortillas that contain filling,{{cite book | title =Jumping beans: stories and studies about Mexicans in the United States for junior boys and girls |publisher = Friendship Press |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=lopaAAAAMAAJ&q=taquito | date = 1929 | page = 144 | access-date = 18 April 2012 | author = Robert Norris McLean & Mabel Little Crawford }} including beef, cheese or chicken.Castro, Rafaela. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5h2BAAAAMAAJ&q=taquito Chicano folklore: a guide to the folktales, traditions, rituals and religious practices of Mexican Americans.]

Oxford University Press, 2000. p.217. The filled tortillas are then shallow-fried or deep-fried.{{cite magazine | title=Arroz is Arroz is Arroz | magazine=New York | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=leICAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24 | date=August 1, 1983 | access-date=March 20, 2018 | page=24}} The dish is often topped with condiments such as sour cream and guacamole. Corn tortillas are generally used to make taquitos. The dish is more commonly known as flautas when the little tacos are larger than their taquito counterparts, and can be made with either flour or corn tortillas.{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Cecelia Hae-Jin |date=2011 |title=Quick & Easy Mexican Cooking: More Than 80 Everyday Recipes |page=107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZgVV7r2_fwC&dq=taquito&pg=PA107}}

History

The taquito or little taco was referred to in the 1917 Preliminary Glossary of New Mexico Spanish, with the word noted as a "Mexicanism" used in New Mexico.{{cite journal |last=Kercheville |first=F. M. |date=September 1917 |title=A Preliminary Glossary of New Mexico Spanish |journal=Bulletin of the University of New Mexico, Whole No. 88, Language Series |volume=1 |issue=3 |page=56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLJFAQAAIAAJ&dq=taquito&pg=RA4-PA56}} The modern definition of a taquito as a rolled-tortilla dish was given in 1929 in a book of stories of Mexican people in the United States aimed at a youth audience, where the dish was noted as a particularly popular offering of railroad station vendors. Taquitos were referred to, without definition, in a 1932 issue of the Los Angeles School Journal.{{cite journal |last= |first= |date=1932 |title=Title missing|quote="On a plate before us is a 'taquito' on shredded lettuce. On the table is a generous dish of well-cooked 'frijoles' and there are plates piled high with 'tortillas de maiz', the National bread." |journal=Los Angeles School Journal |volume=16 |issue=1-18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TkdAQAAIAAJ&q=taquito}}

Two Southern Californian restaurants are often given credit for their roles in the early development of the taquito. Cielito Lindo was founded by Aurora Guerrero in 1934 and located on Olvera Street in Los Angeles.{{cite book | title=Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America| last= Arellano | first= Gustavo | year= 2012 | publisher= Scribner | location= New York, NY (USA) | isbn= 978-1-4391-4861-7 | pages= 53 and 57–58 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=avFXqIIomuwC&q=taquitos+olvera+street&pg=PT69 | access-date = 7 July 2012 }} Guerrero's daughter used her taquito recipe in opening chain restaurants in Los Angeles, and soon competitors were selling similar dishes. In San Diego, what would become El Indio Mexican Restaurant began selling taquitos during World War II, when tortilla factory owner Ralph Pesqueria Sr. was asked by workers at the Consolidated Aircraft Company factory across the street for a portable lunch item.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0m4JEyDFu4sC&dq=taquito&pg=PA182|last1=Fieri |first1=Guy |last2=Volokwein |first2=Ann |title=Diners, Drive-ins and Dives |page=182}}{{cite news |last=Bedford |first=Ed |date=March 1, 2007 |title=Lunch with the Gods |work=San Diego Reader|url=http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2007/mar/01/lunch-gods/}} Pesqueria, who used a recipe developed by his Mexican grandmother, has claimed credit for introducing the word "taquito" for the dish.{{cite book |last1=Bates |first1=Colleen Dunn |last2=LaTempa |first2=Susan |last3=Ridge |first3=Menasha |date=2010 |title=The Unofficial Guide to California with Kids |page=53|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OlcqpYS5jJUC&dq=taquito&pg=PA53}}

Taquitos were among the early Mexican food items developed as a frozen food, with Van de Kamp's introducing a successful frozen taquito offering by 1976.[https://books.google.com/books?id=wFPVAAAAMAAJ&q=taquito Quick Frozen Foods.] Volume 38. 1976. The United States government has determined that taquitos must contain at least 15% meat.[https://archive.org/details/uniformlawsregul1301butc Uniform laws and regulations: in the areas of legal metrology and motor fuel quality as adopted by the 80th National Conference on Weights and Measures, 1995.] Joan A. Koenig, National Conference on Weights and Measures, United States. National Bureau of Standards, National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. 1996. p.182.

Crispy fried taquitos sold in Mexico are often called tacos dorados ("golden tacos") or flautas. Typical toppings and sides include cabbage, crema (Mexican sour cream), guacamole, green chili or red chili salsa and crumbled Mexican cheese such as queso fresco.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mexconnect.com/articles/2098-wrap-it-up-a-guide-to-mexican-street-tacos-part-i/ |title=Wrap It Up - A Guide to Mexican Street Tacos – Part 1 |date=7 June 2020 |access-date=2021-10-01|publisher=Mexico Connect}}

"Taquitos" in the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali refer to small tacos sold in stands, rather than the rolled taco dish.{{cite book |last=Ridgely |first=Roberta |date=1975 |title=The Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada Guide|chapter=The Piggyback Taquito Stands of Mexicali|quote=A number of impromptu stands selling small tacos (taquitos) snuggle up to excellent established restaurants from which they have borrowed their names.|publisher=J. P. Tarcher |page=155|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0NjAAAAMAAJ&q=taquito}}