..................................................INSTRUCTIONS..........................................................

1. Brown 2 lbs of lean ground beef in a large saucepan.

2. Add 1 chopped onion, 2 cloves, and a smidgeon of minced garlic. Cook for 3 minutes or so, until just tender and whimpering. Drain excess fat.

3. Add salt to taste, 1 tsp oregano, and 1 cup of Chimayo red powdered chile. It doesn't have to be Chimayo, but substitute at your own risk. Stir until blended.

4. Add 3 cups water slowly. Simmer 15 minutes.

5. Prepare tortillas by coating a frying pan with cooking spray. Heat pan for 3 minutes then place one tortilla at a time into the pan. Cook tortilla until soft. When tortilla is soft place it in the saucepan of chile and soak slightly. Remove tortilla to a plate. Ladle chile meat over the tortilla--enough to allow some overflow from tortilla to plate. Sprinkle liberally with grated Monterey Jack cheese. Repeat this process to "stack" tortillas.

7. Heat in oven at low heat for approximately 2 minutes to melt cheese.

8. Top enchilada with with an egg fried "over easy." Garnish with chopped tomatoes and chopped lettuce.

9. And now for the most important step, and an essential ingredient that brings a mere enchilada to life--a dollop of Tabasco sauce. Voila.

Paul Bernal, the Official Historian of San Jose, offers the following extraordinary comments regarding the bizarre connection between The Jose theater and Monterey Jack Cheese:

"Monterey Jack cheese was named for entrepreneur and financier David Jacks of Monterey. This is the same David Jacks who commissioned the construction of the Jose Theatre vaudeville house in 1904, which still stands at 64 South Second Street in San Jose. In 2002, it was reopened following a multimillion dollar restoration, renovation, and retrofit."

"David Jacks had an eye for developing someone else's product into a huge business. In the 1880s, Juana Cota de Boronda needed to support her family. Her husband became crippled and she had 15 children. At her Rancho de Los Laureles in Carmel Valley, Monterey, she prepared high moisture cheese by using a method brought from Spain to Mexico and then California by the Franciscan padres. The cheese was known as Queso de Pais. She sold it in local markets. It became a much wanted item, but Senora Boronda could not mass produce it given the limited number of milk-producing cows on her Rancho."

"David Jacks took the idea, and created a conglomerate of about 15 dairies to compete with Boronda. He called his product Jacks Cheese. Some consumers looking for Boronda's cheese would ask for the "jack" cheese (cheese made with a press or jack). Some would ask for Monterey Cheese. Capitalizing on the confusion of terms and producers, David Jacks cleverly renamed his brand "Monterey Jack Cheese" so all buyers would gravitate toward his cheese. Of course, Boronda was wiped out and Jacks became wealthy, enabling him to build the Jose Theatre, among other enterprises."
Tenga una comida buena !"
Paul Bernal
Official San Jose City Historian, Superior Court Judge
and former P.W. grocery clerk.