Jailhouse chili, Dallas County style
In 1962, Dallas Morning News columnist Frank X. Tolbert published an article titled, “That Bowl of Fire Called Chili” in the Saturday Evening Post, which was a popular magazine that…
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Table salsa, North Houston style
If you’ve ever been to Soto’s Cantina in the North Houston suburb of Cypress, then you may be familiar with their table salsa. It’s a blend of chunky tomatoes, peppers,…
Tallow flour tortillas
When life gives you too much tallow, perhaps it’s time to make flour tortillas. At least that was my conclusion, after successfully using this rendered beef fat in bread and…
Shrimp scampi
“Please pick up some linguine,” said my friend Jeff as my friends and I headed to a grocery store in the Florida Panhandle. “And get two pounds of local Gulf…
Fried mushrooms
My friend Wendy was full of surprises. For instance, take the time we met for a college reunion. Wendy and I had been freshman roommates at Austin College, a small…
King Ranch hominy casserole
There are several ways to make a cheesy, creamy hominy casserole, and my grandma’s is the simplest method of all. While some recipes have you make a roux and others…
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…
Apple crisp with green chiles
While my grandma was a cobbler person, somehow my mom turned into a crisp person. Instead of a buttery, flaky crust on top of a sweet and thick fruit filling,…
Hatch chile creamy rice casserole
In the mid-1990s, some Texan friends and I made the trek to the Upper East Side of New York City to eat at Zarela Martinez’s namesake Mexican restaurant. Zarela is…
Mushroom stroganoff
A few years ago, my publisher approached me about doing a one-pot cookbook. After writing the proposal, they decided that they didn’t like it and passed on the project. My…
