‘Magnolia Table’: Joanna Gaines Makes ‘Controversial’ Substitute in Mexican Enchilada Recipe
On Magnolia Table, Joanna Gaines shares family recipes as the host and chef. Gaines’ charm shines through in each episode as she has the spotlight on herself and the delicious meals she prepares. In season 2 episode 4, Gaines cooks up her favorite Mexican dishes that her kids enjoy. However, there’s one thing about her sour cream enchiladas that she says is quite controversial.
What is the controversial aspect of Joanna Gaines’ enchiladas?
Gaines starts off the episode by going to a tortilla factory in her town. She reveals that she will be making chicken enchiladas for her family. Enchiladas are usually made with corn tortillas, but Gaines oddly orders flour tortillas.
“For the Gaines family, Mexican food is our favorite,” Gaines says at the beginning of the episode. “We cook Mexican food once or twice a week.”
The interior designer says this recipe is something she has made for over 10 years — and it’s something her family loves. When Gaines starts to assemble the enchiladas, she acknowledges that traditionally they are made with corn tortillas.
“I grabbed a handful of fresh tortillas from Jesse’s today. In traditional enchiladas, sometimes it’s corn tortillas, but I like to use flour tortillas, and it’s quite controversial,” she said. “This is called Tex-Mex; this is called Jo-Mex. I don’t know. I hate saying Tex-Mex because Texans are like, ‘Don’t blame us for your problems.'”
The history of the enchiladas
Enchiladas date back to the Mayans when they were believed to have dipped corn tortillas and covered them in tomato sauce, according to History Today. Corn tortillas were a staple in Mesoamerican cuisine for thousands of years. Tortillas were said to be edible plates or spoons.
The enchilada as we know it today was modernized by the Aztecs when they called it chīllapīzzali, which means “chili flute” in Nahuatl. What made this plate different was that it included chili pepper and the tortilla was rolled and stuffed with some sort of protein.
With its roots in Mesoamerica, corn tortillas are how enchiladas were first created. Flour tortillas were introduced later and are the most popular in Mexican states including Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, and Sinaloa. These northern Mexico states are close to Texas, and the intersection of cultures has created the “Tex-Mex” cuisine.
It is no wonder that the mixture of cuisines has influenced Gaines as a Texan resident.
Does Chip Gaines appear on ‘Magnolia Table’?
Chip Gaines does not appear on Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines regularly. However, he does pop in once in a while. In season 2 of the Magnolia Network show, the builder helps Joanna prepare an Italian feast. Chip is tasked with chopping the onions but soon finds himself getting teary-eyed.
“It reminds me of junior college, which was a very sad time for me,” Chip shares.
Chip says “a lot of people wanted to fight me” when he attended junior college on a baseball scholarship. The HGTV star also says that his teammates “did not take lightly to the new guy.”
“After about 6, 12 months of that I was like, ‘Man I gotta get out of here,'” he recalls. “You know, a shark probably wouldn’t do too well in a pond. So I needed to find my right body of water, and once I did those two things came together and I found this lovely lady.”
Ultimately, the move seem to have benefitted him as he was able to meet Joanna, get married, and have a family and a successful business.
When Chip joins Joanna on Magnolia Table, he drops these little nuggets of insight that fans appreciate. The show is streamable now on the discovery+.
