Businessweek
The Most Adventurous Nachos, From Caprese to Chicken and Waffles
These are nacho average nachos.
Caprese nachos (left) and, chicken + waffle “nachos.”
Photographer: Penny De Los Santos
When do nachos cease to be nachos?
Almost never, according to Dan Whalen, a cookbook author and expert on the subject. All you need are chips—or an ingredient that acts like chips—and just a single layer of melted cheese or some other sort of gooey topping. “When I was a poor college student,” he says, “I would put chips on a plate and top them with refried beans, and that’s nachos.” Whalen only draws the line at sauces, because the chips need an ingredient with heft to hold them together. Hot sauce on chips? “Not nachos,” he says firmly.