Eddie Hernandez Doesnt Care if His Food Isnt Authentic.'

[elleng]

ATLANTA — Eddie Hernandez, who runs a string of counter-service Mexican restaurants in Tennessee and Georgia, likes his chili con carne over vermicelli.

He puts cream and sugar in his shrimp and grits to counter the heat of jalapeños, a move that will get you kicked out of a lot of Southern kitchens, and makes his chilaquiles with Fritos because they don’t get as soggy as tortilla chips.

And his popular jalapeño cheese dip? It’s based on whole milk and a specific brand of processed American cheese: Land O’ Lakes Extra Melt.

“I am not food correct,” he says in his new cookbook, “Turnip Greens & Tortillas: A Mexican Chef Spices Up the Southern Kitchen,” which he wrote with the former Atlanta Journal-Constitution food editor Susan Puckett for Rux Martin, the cookbook editor who has her own imprint at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. “If the food police don’t like it, they can sue me!”'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/dining/taqueria-del-sol-eddie-hernandez-cookbook.html?

Pork Roast With Roasted Jalapeño Gravy
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019254-pork-roast-with-roasted-jalapeno-gravy

Green Peach Salad With Simple Lime Dressing
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019255-green-peach-salad-with-simple-lime-dressing

[trotsky]

1. What even is a pure, "authentic" food anyway?

Some of the best dishes seem to have come about when population A met population B and swapped ingredients.

[Saviolo]

2. Authenticity is overrated

I love super authentic food when it tastes good. I also love super inauthentic food when it tastes good. If it tastes good, I'll put it in my face, no question. We've met lots of chefs who have put twists on original authentic recipes from their past, their family, or their culture, and I'll tell you what: If it's delicious, it's delicious, regardless of how authentic it is.