The Mexican-American Dish Michael Jackson Was Constantly Asking His Chef To Make

While Michael Jackson's iconic dance moves and ever-popular songs are undoubtedly what he was most famous for, fans have also learned about some of his favorite meals over the years. For instance, the King of Pop famously dined on fried chicken from KFC. If you look beyond the star's fast food preferences, you might find an account from his former private chef, who said Jackson loved a Mexican-American dish from the Southwest.

"I quickly realized his favorite was a smoky red chile sauce from New Mexico, slathered over enchiladas, nachos, and potato skins," Mani Niall shared in a piece for California Eating. He cooked for the megastar from 1982 to 1985. For a bit of relief from the dish's heat, he served the singer "honey vanilla ice cream and cookies" for dessert.

They crossed paths after Jackson visited a vegetarian restaurant in LA that Niall was working at. The King of Pop enjoyed his meal so much that he asked the eatery to bring meals to his recording sessions. "The next time Michael Jackson called, I dropped off his requested red chile enchilada, our popular ginger-miso salad, and blueberry bars at Quincy Jones' Westlake studios and was handed a cool $40 by the secretary," Niall recalled. Eventually, he was asked to cook for Jackson while he was on the road for the Victory Tour and became the celebrity's first private chef.

New Mexican enchiladas are usually filled with ingredients like beef, onion, and cheese. But instead of being rolled, the regional riff layers the tortillas and fillings into stacks. This assembly tends to make the dish more satiating, says the New Mexico Tourism Department. It's also often crowned with a fried egg.

The sauce is made from New Mexican chile peppers, which make up 77% of the country's chiles (via the National Agriculture Statistics Service). In New Mexico, you can find burgers, burritos, nachos, and more doused in green or red chile. Michael Jackson was partial to the warm, earthy red variety. These peppers become complex and slightly sweet as they ripen, unlike tangier green ones. Sometimes they're dried and ground for a smokier finish (Jackson was such a fan that Mani Niall brought "a bulk bag of the New Mexican red chile powder" on tour). However, they're usually roasted, dried, rehydrated, and incorporated into salsa.

The sauce is the key to New Mexican enchiladas. "The aim is to keep it really simple so the flavor of the red chile comes first and foremost," one Reddit user explained. "Whatever you do, don't add too [many] spices, it overpowers the chile flavor ... It's about purity since we're really proud of our chile."