As many people know, the phrase “the whole enchilada” means the whole thing. But no one knows where this phrase originated from. I mean, why enchilada? Why not, “the whole kumquat” or something?
I’m usually pretty good at Googling, but this one got me stumped. If Google don’t know, then no one knows. The closest I found was this entry on Random Misantrope. Somehow it has something to do with Nixon tapes — so I don’t want to dig further.
Sorry, don’t know the answer to your question. You probably had the same question and found this page by Googling.