Texas Home Cooking

The definitive book on Texas cooking-which has been influenced by cuisines around the world, including Eastern Europe and Mexico-by distinguished food writers Cheryl and Bill Jamison, who traveled for two years around the state talking with home cooks, chefs, barbecue experts, fishermen, and farmers. Chapters include "Real Pit-Smoked Bar-B-Q," "Tamed Game," "Farm-Fresh Vegetables," "Eye-Popping, Heart-Thumping Breakfasts," "Football Food," and "Y'All-Come-Back Desserts."

“Reflects the great ethnic diversity of the contemporary Texas table, offering everything from Sauerbraten . . . to Crawfish Etouffee.” —The Austin Chronicle Whether you’re hungry for down-home barbecue and Tex-Mex, or you want to try more exotic dishes such as Paella Valenciana and Thai Pesto, Texas Highways has long been a trusted source for delicious recipes that reflect wide-ranging Lone Star tastes. The state’s official travel magazine published its first Texas Highways Cookbook in 1986. Responding to the public’s demand for a new collection of the magazine’s recipes, the editors compiled Cooking with Texas Highways, a collection of more than 250 recipes that are as richly diverse and flavorful as Texas itself. Cooking with Texas Highways samples all the major ethnic cuisines of the state with recipes from home cooks, well-known chefs, and popular restaurants. It offers a varied and intriguing selection of snacks and beverages, breads, soups and salads, main dishes, vegetables and sides, sauces and spreads, desserts, and more. A special feature of this cookbook is a chapter on Dutch-oven cooking, which covers all the basics for cooking outdoors with live coals, including seventeen mouthwatering recipes. In addition, you’ll find dozens of the lovely color photographs that have long made Texas Highways such a feast for the eyes, along with tips on cooking techniques and sources for ingredients and stories about some of the folks who created the recipes. If you want to sample all the tastes of Texas, there’s no better place to start than Cooking with Texas Highways. “Texas culture in all its multi-ethnic variety is well represented.” —Texas Cooking

An informal view of dining and entertaining the Texas way.

When Lisa Fain, a seventh-generation Texan, moved to New York City, she missed the big sky, the bluebonnets in spring, Friday night football, and her family's farm. But most of all, she missed the foods she'd grown up with. After a fruitless search for tastes of Texas in New York City, Fain took matters into her own hands. She headed into the kitchen to cook for her friends the Tex-Mex, the chili, and the country comfort dishes that reminded her of home. From cheese enchiladas drowning in chili gravy to chicken-fried steak served with cream gravy on the side, from warm bowls of chile con queso to big pots of fiery chili made without beans, Fain re-created the wonderful tastes of Texas she'd always enjoyed at potlucks, church suppers, and backyard barbecues back home. In 2006, Fain started the blog Homesick Texan to share Texan food with fellow expatriates, and the site immediately connected with readers worldwide, Texan and non-Texan alike. Now, in her long-awaited first cookbook, Fain brings the comfort of Texan home cooking to you. Like Texas itself, the recipes in this book are varied and diverse, all filled with Fain's signature twists. There's Salpicón, a cool shredded beef salad found along the sunny border in El Paso; Soft Cheese Tacos, a creamy plate unique to Dallas; and Houston-Style Green Salsa, an avocado and tomatillo salsa that is smooth, refreshing, and bright. There are also nibbles, such as Chipotle Pimento Cheese and Tomatillo Jalapeno Jam; sweet endings, such as Coconut Tres Leches Cake and Mexican Chocolate Chewies; and fresh takes on Texan classics, such as Coffee-Chipotle Oven Brisket, Ancho Cream Corn, and Guajillo-Chile Fish Tacos. With more than 125 recipes, The Homesick Texan offers a true taste of the Lone Star State. So pull up a chair-everyone's welcome at the Texas table!

Homesick American, Parisian kitchen-- moving to Paris was the best bad decision that Texan Ellise Pierce ever made. Using French ingredients and techniques from both sides of the Atlantic, she created a unique style of cooking that's part Texas, part French, and all Cowgirl.

Who says cooking is for homebodies? Veteran Texas food writer Robb Walsh served as a judge at a chuck wagon cook-off, worked as a deckhand on a shrimp boat, and went mayhaw-picking in the Big Thicket. As he drove the length and breadth of the state, Walsh sought out the best in barbecue, burgers, kolaches, and tacos; scoured museums, libraries, and public archives; and unearthed vintage photos, culinary stories, and nearly-forgotten dishes. Then he headed home to Houston to test the recipes he’d collected back in his own kitchen. The result is Texas Eats: The New Lone Star Heritage Cookbook, a colorful and deeply personal blend of history, anecdotes, and recipes from all over the Lone Star State. In Texas Eats, Walsh covers the standards, from chicken-fried steak to cheese enchiladas to barbecued brisket. He also makes stops in East Texas, for some good old-fashioned soul food; the Hill Country, for German- and Czech-influenced favorites; the Panhandle, for traditional cowboy cooking; and the Gulf Coast, for timeless seafood dishes and lost classics like pickled shrimp. Texas Eats even covers recent trends, like Viet-Texan fusion and Pakistani fajitas. And yes, there are recipes for those beloved-but-obscure gems: King Ranch casserole, parisa, and barbecued crabs. With more than 200 recipes and stunning food photography, Texas Eats brings the richness of Texas food history vibrantly to life and serves up a hearty helping of real Texas flavor.

The first Texas-centric cookbook, with recipes tailored to our humidity, altitude and tastes, first published in 1883.

Treat yourself to a genuine taste of Texas with this collection of authentic and savory dishes as broad as the Texas sky and as hearty as a cowboy's laugh. James Stroman traveled the Lone Star State and collected the special recipes that have become traditional mealtime favorites with Texas families. These best-loved dishes include spicy Creole cuisine, splendid Tex-Mex offerings, classic Texas fare, and delectable Gulf Coast seafood. And for the carb-counters out there, a special icon has been added to draw attention to the low and no-carb recipes. From hors d'oeuvres to dessert, the recipes in Down Home Texas Cooking are as rich and varied as Texas itself.