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Buried in a recent New York Times crossword puzzle, the hint for 58-across confounded some Texans.
The clue: “Tex-Mex condiment.” The newspaper’s answer: “Taco sauce.”
Among those puzzled was C. Andrew Doyle, bishop of the Texas Episcopal Diocese, who on Monday wrote an open letter gently chiding the newspaper of record on the history of the state’s beloved Tex-Mex cuisine and difference between taco sauce and salsa.
“It is not often that I may speak on behalf of all Texans,” Doyle wrote in response to the Dec. 29 crossword. “However, in this matter, I raise a loud shout from Texas on behalf of our people and from whence the term Tex-Mex finds its locus.”
Tex-Mex does not merely apply to food, as some might assume, Doyle wrote. The term was first used related to the Texas-Mexican Railway, which ran from Southern Texas in the 1870s and was purchased by Mexico in 1900. Over time, Doyle noted, the term was used to describe Texans of Mexican descent.
Eventually, thanks largely to cookbook authors and food critics, Tex-Mex became a descriptor of the food rooted in both Texas and Mexico. In 1963, Times food critic Craig Claiborne discovered the term and wrote, “In the Mexican border district, a dish of chili knows no season.”
An unlikely clash of Mexican and Texas cuisines “brought forth the miraculous gift of Tex-Mex,” Doyle wrote. “From this cultural mestizo, we have tasted Barbacoa, nachos, tortillas, and burritos.”
And that cuisine, Doyle said, has never used taco sauce as a condiment.
In much of the world, taco sauce is actually called burger sauce, a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise and sometimes mustard, with a few spices, he explained. “In America, it’s like what they put on In-N-Out Burger. It’s never put on tacos.”
An American version of taco sauce came from Emilio Carlos Ortega, the founder of the Ortega Chili Company who in 1897 made “Spanish chili sauce,” in his mother’s kitchen in California, not Texas.
Taco Bell does offer packets of taco sauce to drizzle on tacos, burritos and the like, Doyle said, but the fast food chain was founded by Glenn Bell in California, again not Texas.
“Condiments for Tex-Mex tacos may include guacamole, sour cream, and grilled vegetables, lettuce, onion, tomatoes, chiles and SALSA,” Doyle said. “There is indeed an enchilada sauce or gravy in Tex-Mex dishes, but that is different.”
Creators of the crossword might point out that salsa is translated into English as sauce, Doyle conceded. “However, by doing so, you have removed the mix of cultural expression that makes Tex-Mex a unique food group.”
If the desired answer was taco sauce, Doyle said, the appropriate clue should have been Cali-Mex condiment. The correct answer for Tex-Mex condiment is salsa.
“For neither is salsa created by Taco Bell or from California,” he said, before signing “Faithfully yours.”
This is not the first time The Times has galvanized Texans around its cuisine. In 2015, the newspaper suggested adding fresh peas to guacamole, stunning the internet and uniting politicians in horror.