Mollete slices of jalapeño or serrano peppers. It is then grilled in an oven until the cheese melts. The frijoles refritos are "frijol mantequilla" known outside of the region as "pinto beans". The traditional cheeses used were the queso ranchero, asadero or queso menonita. The queso ranchero is most similar to Parmesan with less aging, the asadero is a creamy provolone and the menonita most closely resembles Havarti. "Molletes" in southern Mexico can be served with salsa or "pico de gallo" or topped with sliced ham, chorizo, bacon or mushrooms. "Molletes" are considered a distant cousin of the Italian bruschetta dish.
Tex-Mex between Mexican cuisine and Americanized Mexican food in her 1972 book "The Cuisines of Mexico". Robb Walsh of the "Houston Press" said the book "was a breakthrough cookbook, one that could have been written only by a non-Mexican. It unified Mexican cooking by transcending the nation's class divisions and treating the food of the poor with the same respect as the food of the upper classes." The term "Tex-Mex" also saw increasing usage in the "Los Angeles Times" from the 1970s onward while the Tex-Mex label became a part of U.S. vernacular during the late 1960s, '70s, and '80s. Tex-Mex