Chicken tortilla soup
In the 1930s, a Dallas cooking school advertised its course offerings, stating that it would be teaching how to make tortilla soup. This was the first mention in the Texas…
Soup recipes
Fideo loco
A few years ago, I was enjoying breakfast tacos at Pete’s in San Antonio and I spotted a sign advertising fideo loco. In Tex-Mex, when an item is qualified with…
Black-eyed pea gumbo
Black-eyed peas have long been the dish of choice for Texans on New Year’s Day. While this humble field pea was once considered poor-people food and not eaten by polite…
West Texas black beans with green chiles
When I first moved to Austin in my early 20s, one thing that struck me about the Tex-Mex on offer there was the prevalence of black beans. While the standard…
Hopkins County stew
In Northeast Texas, there’s a county called Hopkins that is famous for its stew. The tradition of making Hopkins County Stew harkens back to the late 1800s, when at the…
The Grape’s mushroom soup
Almost 24 years ago, I was in my kitchen on the Upper West Side talking to my mom on the phone. In those days, long distance calls were made sparingly…
Caldillo, West Texas beef and green chile stew
The first time I heard about caldillo, it was in a comment from a reader. The discussion was on how best to use up an abundance of green chiles, and…
Tex-Mex beef and bean stew, aka Lakemont chili
My family has a dear friend who moved from Houston to Georgia when she and her husband retired. She’s an excellent cook and from time to time, she and I…
Smoky chili beans
A few months ago, I was looking at grocer ads from the late 1800s and early 1900s. As expected, the offerings were provisions such as bacon, flour, butter, and coffee….
White chicken poblano chili
This White chicken poblano chili is a hearty, rewarding chicken stew made flavorful with green chiles and white beans.