Conejo colorado (rabbit stewed in red chile sauce)
I have been a longtime reader of Robb Walsh. Starting when I lived in Austin in the early ’90s and he was the food critic at the Austin Chronicle, I’ve…
Tex-Mex recipes
Refried beans recipe: a life pursuit
I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and it was filled with a heaping serving of refried beans. OK, the spoon may not have been exactly silver,…
Flour tortillas: an end to my quest
White bread was forbidden in my household as a child. We only ate whole-grain bread, the coarser, tougher and browner the better. I hated it. Especially since all the other…
Pressing matters: making corn tortillas
I forgot I had a tortilla press. When I was recently riffling through my cabinet on the hunt for an errant springform pan, I came across it buried under a…
Sopapillas with a side of honey
Sopapillas are total decadence for me. You’d think after concluding a stomach-swelling multi-course meal of chips and salsa, queso, guacamole, tamales, rice, refried beans. and enchiladas that it would be impossible to find room for just one…
Chocolate Frito pie
I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I seldom order desserts when dining out, and when as kids we’d ride our bikes to 7-11, while the others would spend…
On mole and matrimony
My dear, food-loving friend Monica recently announced that she and her fiancé John eloped to Oaxaca, Mexico. How appropriate, I thought, as Oaxaca is the land of seven moles. Mole…
Salsa salvation: Ninfa’s green sauce
When I was a small kid in Dallas, my parents and I often ate Mexican at Herrera’s, a charming hole in the wall where you had to walk through the…
Mexican hot chocolate and a molinillo
Growing up, visits to San Antonio were always a cause for celebration. Sure, the River Walk was lovely and the Alamo was historic, but my favorite part of the trip…
Let’s make tamales: part 2
You have pots of stewed meat simmering on the stove, bowls overflowing with cheese, green chiles and refried beans, a huge lump of masa and a kitchen filled both with…