By Aaron Hutcherson

The Washington Post

Marisel Salazar is on a mission to improve our understanding of American Latino food. “This isn’t a Latin American cookbook,” the food writer and on-camera host wrote in the introduction to her debut cookbook, “Latin-ish.” “It’s a collection of dishes that people who came or whose families came from those countries to America eat here now.”

Much of the country is already familiar with Tex-Mex cuisine, such as fajitas and queso, but Salazar goes on to survey “the history and recipes of American Latino cuisines as a full gastronomic ecosystem,” she wrote, which also includes Southwest, Cal-Mex, Florribbean, Latino Southern, New York Latino and Midwest Latino cuisines. Taken in their entirety, “these are foods that have naturally and over time evolved into what we see now on our plate,” Salazar said on a video call from her apartment in New York.

The impetus for writing “Latin-ish” came from “a place of being indignant,” she said. While she was attending an event and enjoying a Tex-Mex dish, one of the other guests commented that it wasn’t real, authentic Mexican food. “It really just posed the question in my mind, like, how can people not see the difference between what is traditional Latin American food and what to me was clearly American Latino cuisine?” Salazar recalled.

For Salazar, the distinction had always been clear — and she wanted to help educate others about this segment of American cuisine.

“Yeah, there’s cookbooks about Tex-Mex food,” she said, “but no one had ever taken the effort that I’ve taken into uniting all of the different types of American Latino gastronomy into a cohesive cookbook and explaining their backstories and how these dishes that we all know and love came to be.”

After an “incredibly intensive” research process that included moving to San Antonio and traveling around the country to conduct interviews, that is precisely what she has done.

Take the taco pizza, for example. Its origins allegedly lie in Iowa, “a state you would not think would have any type of American Latino culture, but it does,” Salazar said. According to her research, the Happy Joe’s pizza chain claims credit for creating the dish in 1974, after its owner wouldn’t let a franchise sell tacos and they pivoted to selling a pizza topped with lettuce, tomatoes and crumbled taco shells. Another chain, Pizza Inn, tried applying for a national trademark and patent for taco pizza in 1979, but was blocked by Pizza Hut and Happy Joe’s. And then, of course, there’s Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza, which was introduced in 1985 under a different name.

“It’s just such a very homegrown American story,” she said. “And it’s very easy for people to make. Kids love it. My nieces adore it.”

This is just one of the recipes and stories included in “Latin-ish.” Salazar also explores the migration of Syrian Jews to Panama in the 1940s, which led to the country’s adoption of the red bell pepper and walnut dip called muhammara, which Salazar includes in a recipe for a breakfast sandwich; the possible origins of Arkansas Delta tamales; and the tale of the original nachos when maitre d’ Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya combined chips, Colby cheese and pickled jalapeños as a snack for restaurant guests.

“All of this information is out there, but it’s very fragmented,” Salazar said. So she took up the task of compiling it into one tome.

She joins a bevy of other cookbook writers, such as Khushbu Shah, Jon Kung and Eric Kim, who have used their work to educate Americans about third-culture cuisines and push us to expand the boundaries of what’s considered American food. Such authors are “introducing folks to the idea that, hey, no matter what culture your parents might come from or that you come from, when you’re in the United States, it’s only natural and it should be acceptable that you adopt and are influenced by the ingredients of the country that you’re now based in and by the cooking methods of your newly adopted country,” Salazar said.

Consider the banh mi, a sandwich that traditionally includes pate (among other ingredients) on a baguette. “That is a perfect example of the confluence of two different cultures,” French and Vietnamese, she said. “But it is something that’s still integrated in what we know as Vietnamese cuisine, and no one questions its authenticity.” Salazar wants people to do the same with dishes such as San Antonio’s puffy tacos and Cubano sandwiches (which actually originated in Florida) and their place in American gastronomy.

“It is an American cookbook about American food,” she said. “And so I want people to understand where American food comes from.”

Taco Pizza With Refried Beans and Ground Beef

Taco pizza is a mashup of two popular foods. This recipe from Marisel Salazar’s cookbook, “Latin-ish,” features a refried bean-salsa mixture spread on pizza dough along with cheese, seasoned ground beef, black olives and assorted toppings. “Different pizza joints vary the exact ingredients,” Salazar writes, but refried beans, cheese and crumbled tortilla shells or chips are common elements.

Makes 4 to 8 servings (two 12-inch pizzas)

INGREDIENTS

2 (1-pound) portions store-bought or homemade pizza dough

1 pound ground beef, preferably 93 percent lean

1 cup water

2 tablespoons taco seasoning (from one 1-ounce package), preferably reduced-sodium

All-purpose flour, for dusting

1 (15-ounce) can refried beans, preferably reduced-sodium

1/2 cup store-bought or homemade salsa, plus more for serving

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend

1/4 cup sliced black olives

Sour cream, shredded iceberg lettuce, pickled or fresh sliced jalapeños, sliced scallions and crumbled tortilla chips, for serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1: Position two racks in bottom and upper third of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator.

2: In a medium (10-inch) or larger skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef, breaking it apart with a spoon and stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink and has browned in spots, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the water and taco seasoning, bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat so the mixture gently simmers. Cook until most of the water has reduced, about 10 minutes, then remove from the heat.

3: Dust your work surface with flour and set two large sheet pans nearby. Using a rolling pin or wine bottle, roll out each pizza dough into a 12-inch circle, rotating and flipping the dough to form an even circle and adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking, and transfer to a sheet pan. If the dough resists stretching, let it rest for a few minutes, then try again. (Alternatively, once it’s in a flat disk, drape the dough over the back of your hands and knuckles, each hand formed almost as if you’re making a loose fist, and gently stretch the dough into a circle.)

4: In a medium bowl, stir together the refried beans and salsa until combined. Divide the mixture between the pizza crusts, spreading into an even layer and leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge. Top each pizza with 1 cup (4 ounces) of the shredded cheese, then divide the beef mixture and olives between the two pizzas.

5: Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the crusts turn golden brown and the cheese melts, switching the pizzas from top to bottom halfway through. Let cool for 5 minutes. Cut into slices, and top with sour cream, shredded lettuce, jalapeño slices, scallions, tortilla chips and more salsa, as desired. Serve warm.

Substitutions: Instead of ground beef, try ground chicken, turkey or a plant-based alternative. Mexican cheese blend can be replaced with Oaxacan, asadero, mozzarella or cheddar cheese. Don’t have black olives? Use other olives or capers, or omit them. Instead of canned refried beans, you can use 1 1/2 cups homemade refried beans.

Storage note: Refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Adapted from “Latin-ish” by Marisel Salazar (W. W. Norton, 2024).