The Texas Cowboy Cookbook

Cowboy cooking isn't fancy, but once you've had the real thing you don't forget it. Tom Perini cut his teeth in the ranching business and accumulated the kind of cooking know-how and recipe arsenal that just can't be taught. His authentic "chuck" bridges the gap between life on the trail and in the backyard. From Jalepeno Bites to Ranch-Roasted Ribeye to Tom's classic Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce, Texas Cowboy Cooking is chock full of recipes for everything from a light lunch to a holiday feast. And with each dish, he serves a generous helping of personality and more than a smattering of cowboy lore. Book jacket.

Texas cowboys are the stuff of legend — immortalized in ruggedly picturesque images from Madison Avenue to Hollywood. Cowboy cooking has the same romanticized mythology, with the same oversimplified reputation (think campfire coffee, cowboy steaks, and ranch dressing). In reality, the food of the Texas cattle raisers came from a wide variety of ethnicities and spans four centuries. Robb Walsh digs deep into the culinary culture of the Texas cowpunchers, beginning with the Mexican vaqueros and their chile-based cuisine. Walsh gives overdue credit to the largely unsung black cowboys (one in four cowboys was black, and many of those were cooks). Cowgirls also played a role, and there is even a chapter on Urban Cowboys and an interview with the owner of Gilley’s, setting for the John Travolta--Debra Winger film. Here are a mouthwatering variety of recipes that include campfire and chuckwagon favorites as well as the sophisticated creations of the New Cowboy Cuisine: • Meats and poultry: sirloin guisada, cinnamon chicken, coffee-rubbed tenderloin • Stews and one-pot meals: chili, gumbo, fideo con carne • Sides: scalloped potatoes, onion rings, pole beans, field peas • Desserts and breads: peach cobbler, sourdough biscuits, old-fashioned preserves Through over a hundred evocative photos and a hundred recipes, historical sources, and the words of the cowboys (and cowgirls) themselves, the food lore of the Lone Star cowboy is brought vividly to life.

A haute take on one of America's most traditional cuisines--that of the Texas ranch. Don't be thinking this book is just full of ribs, beans, and biscuits . . . . unless, of course, you're thinkin' South Texas Venison Ribs with Peanut Dipping Sauce, Black Bean Nachos with Chargrilled Chicken, and West Texas Biscuit Pudding with Southern Comfort en Glace. You see, at the Reata Restaurant in West Texas, hot chef Grady Spears is cooking cowboy cuisine with an emphasis on the cuisine. Filled with fresh, strong flavors, fascinating ranch memorabilia (these Texans take their history seriously!), gorgeous full-color food photography, and truly marvelous, utterly real food, this is American cooking at its kick-off-your-boots-and-get-down-to-business greatest.

Almost 100 recipes celebrating the cowboy lifestyle, plus cooking secrets, photos & stories from real cowboy cooks, ranchers & locals across North America. Life in the saddle, on the trail, and in the outback has forged a style of living that cowboy-turned-chef Grady Spears calls the Cowboy Way. In Cooking the Cowboy Way, he takes you on a journey around the country to amazing places full of food, history, and people who have an appreciation for the land. These places where life and living (and that always includes cooking and eating) come alive in the spirit of the cowboy. In Cooking the Cowboy Way, you’ll have a ringside seat at the rodeo as Grady wrestles down new recipes from some incredible cowboy cooks and kitchen wranglers who know what hungry cow folks want to eat. And in the process, you’ll be carried away by the magic of starry nights by the campfire and seduced by the heritage of the chuck wagon and ranch kitchens, where the menus are still stoked by the traditions of the Old West just as they have been for a century or more. Cowboys live life by a simple code that is shared through their rustic lifestyles and the delicious recipes found in Cooking the Cowboy Way. Cowboy cooks, ranchers, and locals from across North America share their recipes, cooking secrets, photos, and stories about their unique and proud way of life. From the Lone Star State to the Grand Canyon State, and from Florida to Alberta, Canada, cowboys have a way with the land and the food that comes form it. Each chapter focuses on a different location, including the Wildcatter Cattle Ranch in Graham, Texas; the Bellamy Brothers Ranch in Darby, Florida; the Homeplace Ranch in Alberta, Canada; Rancho de la Osa in Tucson, Arizona; and more. Praise for Cooking the Cowboy Way “Cooking the Cowboy Way is not a guide to old-fashioned ranch and trail grub. And that’s a good thing. The book is an homage to the cowboy legacy, which Spears finds evolving on the nation’s ranches.” —Dallas Morning News “[Grady Spears and June Naylor] went all over the country, with a heavy emphasis on Texas, of course, drawing inspiration from cooks on and around ranches large and small. They then took these recipes and adapted them for regular kitchens and modern uses (i.e., dinner parties and backyard cooking). The results sound great.” —Texas Monthly

Originally published: Austin, Tex.: Texas Monthly Custom Publishing, 2003.

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.

“[A] collection of barbecue memoirs, trivia and history . . . Walsh interviews the top pit bosses across the state and shares their secrets.” —Publishers Weekly If barbecue in Texas is a religion, this book is its bible. Originally published only in print in 2002, this revised and updated edition explores all the new and exciting developments from the Lone Star State’s evolving barbecue scene. The one hundred recipes include thirty-two brand-new ones such as Smoke-Braised Beef Ribs and an extremely tender version of Pulled Pork. Profiles on legendary pitmasters like Aaron Franklin are featured alongside archival photography covering more than one hundred years of barbecue history. Including the basic tools required to get started, secrets and methods from the state’s masters, and step-by-step directions for barbecuing every cut of meat imaginable, this comprehensive book presents all the info needed to fire up the grill and barbecue Texas-style. “In 2002, Robb Walsh’s Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook hit the sweet spot for lovers of smoked meat. The book was part travelogue, part instruction manual, with a side of history thrown in . . . If your old copy is worn, tattered and splashed, it’s time to trade up. If you are late to the barbecue and don’t know the likes of Bryan Bracewell, Vencil Mares and Lorenzo Vences, consider it an investment in your education.” —The Dallas Morning News “Robb Walsh has been there to help shape and document the evolution of Texas barbecue. This new edition is a must-have.” —Aaron Franklin, James Beard Award–winning pitmaster

Whether he's beating Bobby Flay at chicken-fried steak on the Food Network, catering for a barbecue, bar mitzvah, or wedding, or cooking for cowboys in the middle of nowhere, Kent Rollins makes comfort food that satisfies. A cowboy's day starts early and ends late. Kent offers labor-saving breakfasts like Egg Bowls with Smoked Cream Sauce. For lunch or dinner, there's 20-minute Green Pepper Frito Pie, hands-off, four-ingredient Sweet Heat Chopped Barbecue Sandwiches, or mild and smoky Roasted Bean-Stuffed Poblano Peppers. He even parts with his recipe for Bread Pudding with Whisky Cream Sauce. (The secret to its lightness? Hamburger buns.) Kent gets creative with ingredients on everyone's shelves, using lime soda to caramelize Sparkling Taters and balsamic vinegar to coax the sweetness out of Strawberry Pie.