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…
Tex-Mex recipes
Spinach enchilada casserole
When I was growing up in Houston, we lived out in the suburbs, closer to Tomball than downtown. While I enjoyed my school, my classmates, and my home, my friends…
South Texas barbacoa
On weekend mornings in South Texas, people stop by their local taqueria or market to pick up a container of beef barbacoa and a stack of warm tortillas. They’ll then…
Texas pulled pork queso
My cousin married a woman from Kansas City. We’ve become good friends and the other day when she was doing work in Marfa, she sent me a text discussing the…
Tostadas espadas
When I pulled into Rio Grande City, I was hungry. I’d been driving all morning and after a hearty breakfast taco in Laredo, it was time to get some lunch….
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…
Fritoque, bean and corn chip casserole
My first encounter with fritoque was in Robb Walsh’s “The Tex-Mex Cookbook.” He described it as a bean and corn chip casserole that was popular in San Antonio in the…
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…
Brisket chile rellenos
A friend from New Mexico asked me one day which chile pepper I preferred to use in my chiles rellenos. I replied that I usually go with poblano chiles and…
El Paso-style chile con queso, 1947
El Paso has long been one of my favorite cities. When I considered where to live upon my return to Texas, El Paso was high on the list, and eliminated…