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…
Chicken-fried steak with red chile gravy
One summer day, while driving along the Rio Grande from Laredo to McAllen I began to get hungry. As I passed through the…
Spicy applesauce cake
My great-grandma Blanche loved applesauce cake. In fact, her recipe collection has no less than five versions of this classic snack cake, all…
Felix queso
So, first things first. I never had the famed Felix queso at its original home, a Southeast Texas regional chain of restaurants owned…
Texas turkey chili
The other day someone asked me what I always keep in my refrigerator. After going through the usual list of things such as…
Chilaquiles with ancho tomatillo salsa
When I first moved to New York, one of the dishes that was lacking was migas. That Texan breakfast staple of eggs scrambled…
Ancho chile shrimp quesadillas
For me, driving through Texas is therapeutic. Seeing the big sky, the wide-open spaces, the cattle, the trees, and the cacti out my…
Cactus casserole with rice, ancho chiles and cheese
Every year at this time, I face the same problem. See, I’m a bit lackadaisical when it comes to buying my plane ticket…
Frito pie with one-hour Texas chili
When my grandparents were in graduate school at the University of Kentucky, they were—of course—homesick Texans. But they soon figured out that they…
