Re: El Chico Spinach Enchiladas
From: Teresa
Date: 11/17/2021, 10:50 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
On 11/17/2021 12:01 AM, Teresa Reynolds wrote:
Hello Uncle Phaedrus. My name is Teresa and I used to frequent the El Chico's
in Mobile, Sadly, they shut down years ago. I traveled to their Jackson, MS
restaurant twice to eat, but they also shut down. Now, the closest El Chico's
to me is Shreveport, LA. Twice I planned our vacations so that we would either
pass through or stay in a city with an El Chico's.
My favorite is their Spinach Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce.
Here it is listed on their current menu:
Mama's Favorite Enchilada Dinner
Spicy beef with chili con carne, cheese & onion with chili con carne, spinach
with sour cream sauce or chicken with sour cream sauce. With rice & refried beans.
You can order a two or three enchilada dinner. I also love their Cheese Enchiladas.
I have emailed their corporate office in Dallas, TX suggesting that they market
these products in grocery stores as a frozen dinner, particularly those areas they
left. They have not yet responded.
I have made a copycat El Chico's cheese enchilada and it's pretty decent. They do
use American cheese and onions. But, I can find nothing for their spinach enchiladas.
Nada.
Also, I wanted to let you know that any Morrison's Cafeteria salad recipe is made
with their homemade mayonnaise. A Morrison's Cafeteria line worker told me that
years ago.
Thank you very much for your efforts. You are a Culinary Super Sleuth!
Teresa
Hi Teresa,
Mobile & Jackson? You are from my part of the country! I grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and lived in Jackson
for five years and I made many trips to Mobile and Pensacola.
Teresa, it appears that El Chico has managed to maintain the secrecy of their recipes quite well. There are many requests on the web, particularly for their sour cream sauce, but no one claims to have the authentic recipe.
I did find a copykat recipe for the cheese enchiladas here: El Chico Cheese Enchiladas
I also found a spinach enchiladas recipe here: Spinach Enchiladas (No beef in this recipe.)
There is a spinach enchiladas video here: Spinach Enchiladas (No beef in this recipe.)
There is a recipe here for chicken and sour cream sauce enchiladas (not El Chico's) here: El Chico Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
You might be able to omit the chicken and make a copycat for the sour cream sauce if you start with that recipe.
Teresa, I am not claiming that any of these is the actual El Chico recipe or even a real copycat recipe. Except for the cheese enchiladas recipe linked above, the recipes themselves don't claim to be a copycat for the El Chico enchiladas. I'm just trying to give you a starting point to make your own copycat for them. Start with these recipes and adjust them to taste. I am not optimistic that anyone outside the company has the actual recipes.
I will post this for input from my readers.
I have the Morrison's mayonnaise recipe here: 3-19-2010
However, I have an acquaintance who was an actual Morrison's manager during the later years of the cafeteria's
operation, and he informed me that in the later years before they closed, they switched to buying food service mayonnaise. See: 2-27-2017
Phaed
