The mother-in-law is a

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

dish of Chicago, consisting of a tamale topped with chili, served in a

hot dog bun A hot dog bun is a type of soft bun shaped specifically to contain a hot dog or another type of sausage. The side-loading bun is common in most of the United States, while the top-loading New England-style hot dog bun is popular in that regio ...

. The mother-in-law is made with Chicago's unique style of tamale, a machine-extruded

cornmeal Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) or a cell membrane ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'' ...

roll wrapped in paper instead of corn husks, which is typically cooked in a hot-dog steamer.Zeldes, Leah (December 18, 2009)
"The Unique Chicago Tamale, a Tuneful Mystery"
''Dining Chicago''. Retrieved January 23, 2016.

History

Mexican-Americans brought the tamale to Chicago, and African-Americans from the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...

area brought the hot tamale to the city. But no one knows how the mother-in-law sandwich developed. Some speculate it may have had its beginnings in Mexico City's '' torta de tamal,'' a tamale on a

bolillo A ''bolillo'' () (in Mexico) or ''pan francés'' (in Central America) (meaning "French bread") is a type of savory bread made in Mexico and Central America. It is a variation of the baguette, but shorter in length and is often baked in a stone ...

. The precise origins of the Chicago-style tamale are also obscure.

References

{{Sandwiches American sandwiches Cuisine of Chicago Fast food

History

See also

References