Flaquito

What is a “flaquito” (little skinny one)? And how is it any different from a “flauta” (flute”) or a “taquito”?
 
A “flaquito” is a flour tortilla rolled around a filling (usually chicken or beef) and deep fried. A “flauta” is is flour (or corn) tortilla rolled around a filling and deep fried. A “taquito” is a corn (or flour) tortilla rolled around a filling and deep fried. Flaquitos are much less popular than the very similar (some would say identical) flautas and taquitos.
 
Flaquitos were served by Karam’s Mexican restaurant in San Antonio by at least the 1970s.
   
 
Mesa Rosa restaurants (TX)
Flaquitos -Three flour tortillas filled with chicken and topped with Suiza Sauce and jack cheese ........7.99
 
El Arroyo (Austin, TX)
Flaquitos
Chicken rolled into a flour tortilla, deep-fried, quartered and served with Chipotle sauce, cheese, sour cream and guacamole. We don’t really like this one, but it’s the owner’s wife’s favorite and we can’t take it off the menu. 
 
About.com: Mexican Food
Q. Is it a Flauta or a Taquito?
From Chelsie Kenyon,
 
A. Flautas and Taquitos are very similar and the terms are used interchangable depending on what your location is.
The Tortilla Difference
Most of the time Flautas, which mean “flutes,” usually refer to a flour tortilla that is rolled up around a filling and deep fried. A Taquito is a corn tortilla rolled in a similar fashion with a filling of beef, chicken or cheese and fried until crisp. Sometimes the Flautas are rolled to be narrower on one side then the other to create a long, narrow cone shape. But the main difference is that usually Flautas are flour torillas, and Taquitos are made of corn tortillas. However, you can also find Taquitos made from flour tortillas and Flautas made from corn. 
 
Cookadvice.com 
Cooking Flaquitos recipe
Flaquitos ingredients
1 small Onion, grated
1 tsp. Cooking oil
1/2 lb Ground Beef, Lean
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cumin
1 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. Hot sauce, to ½ ts.
18 Tortillas, fresh
2 cup Cheese, shredded
Shortening, hot
 
Cooking Flaquitos
1. Cook onion in cooking oil in heavy skillet.
2. When onion is wilted, add meat and cook until mixture turns white.
3. Add salt, cumin, garlic, and hot sauce; cook about 5 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
4. Put 2 or more tablespoons meat mixture on one edge of tortilla; add 2 to 3 tablespoons shredded cheese.
5. Roll carefully; fasten edges with a toothpick.
6. Place flaquitos in a wire basket; plunge into hot shortening and cook until crips.
7. Do not overcook.
 
13 July 1972, Dallas (TX) Morning News, section E, pg. 11:
Our menu was a drink, and margaritas seemed to be most popular, with comidas, hot and varied appetizers, including the house specialty the flaquito, a fried, rolled tortilla filled with meat, cheese and hot sauce.
(Karam’s restaurant in San Antonio—ed.)
 
Recipe Feed
Flaquitos
Category:  Appetizers
Directions:  1 sm Onion; grated
 
1 ts Cooking oil
1/2 lb Ground beef, lean
1 ts Salt
1 ts Cumin
1 Garlic clove; minced
1/4 ts Hot sauce; to 1/2 ts.
18 Tortillas; fresh
2 c Cheese; shredded
 
Shortening; hot Cook onion in cooking oil in heavy skillet. When onion is wilted, add meat and cook until mixture turns white. Add salt, cumin, garlic, and hot sauce; cook about 5 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Put 2 or more tablespoons meat mixture on one edge of tortilla; add 2 to 3 tablespoons shredded cheese. Roll carefully; fasten edges with a toothpick. Place flaquitos in a wire basket; plunge into hot shortening and cook until crips. Do not overcook.
SOURCE: Southern Living Magazine, June, 1974. Typed for you by Nancy Coleman.
   
Houston (TX) Chronicle
26 March 1987, Houston (TX) Chronicle, Casa Grande review, Weekend, pg. 8:
Casa Grande has a couple of creative twists on the traditional Tex-Mex menu. One is an appetizer called “flaquitos” ($3.95). These are rolled tortillas that are stuffed with either beef or chicken and deep-fried, then cut in half and topped with guacamole and sour cream. They’re an excellent alternative to nachos - crisper, meatier and less messy.
   
Google Books
Cooking in Texas: Tenth Anniversary Edition
by Candy Wagner and Sandra Marquez
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press
1993
Pg. 15:
Flaquitos
A close kin to Flautas, Flaquitos (flah-KEE-toes) have a savory beef filling. They can easily be used for a main course dish, allowing two or three per serving.
 
1 small onion, grated
1/2 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin (comino)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon hot sauce
oil for frying
18 corn tortillas
2 cups Longhorn or Cheddar cheese, grated
 
In a heavy skillet, saute onion and beef until the beef is browned and the onion wilted. Add salt, cumin, garlic, and hot sauce. Simmer over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.
 
Heat 1/2 inch oil in a small skillet over high heat. When oil is hot, dip each tortilla in oil, using tongs, just enough to soften them (1-2 seconds).
 
Place approximately 1 tablespoon meat mixture and 2 tablespoons grated cheese on each tortilla. Roll each in a cigar shape and place on an ungreased, shallow baking pan, seam side down. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until crisp.
YIELD: 18
     
Austin (TX) Chronicle (March 15, 2002)
Serrano’s
1111 Red River, 322-9922
12636 Research, 250-9555
12233 N. FM 620, 918-8181
321 W. Ben White, 447-3999
6406 N. I-35 (Lincoln Plaza), 323-2555
3010 W. Anderson, 454-7333
6510 W. Hwy. 290, 891-0000
Monday-Friday, 5-6:30pm
 
Select locations of this locally run Tex-Mex chain serve complimentary appetizers such as nachos, quesadillas, and flaquitos during happy hour along with the ubiquitous chips and salsa.
     
Chowhound
What restaurants shout “I am San Antonio”?
I tried Karams for the first time this weekend and have to say I was really surprised. I loved it. I went with a friend and we just wanted a snack so we got some outrageously good flaquitos that are pretty much picadillo and cheese fried pastries. So bad for you but who cares. 
(...)
jscarbor Apr 23, 2007 06:31PM
 
Google Books
The Stowaway
by Robert Hough
Arcade Publishing
2004
Pg. 117:
From where he sits, at the front of the stores, he can watch poor, dirty-faced children play—the Spanish call them flaquitos, or “little skinny ones.”