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These recipes are unabashedly taken from my prized copy of
"Texas Home Cooking"
By Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, Authors
Paul Hoffman, Illustrator; Linda Ziedrich, EditorClick here, and you can get your own copy
Right here at Amazon.com!!
TRADITIONAL TEXAS TEA Texas Tea is the ONLY preferred accompaniment to most daily meals or by itself on a warm day. But there are the "sweeteners"--who add the sugar BEFORE it's served--and the "nonsweeteners" who will glare you down if you reach for the sugar! In Texas, it's almost a statement of moral character!
Yields About 1 quart
Prep.Time: 10 minutes
6 tablespoons loose black tea or 6 tea bags
1 quart fresh cold water
Ice
Sugar -- optional
Lemon wedge
Place loose tea or tea bags into a large teapot or similar pot. Pour water into a tea kettle or saucepan; bring to a vigorous boil and immediately pour it over the tea. (Don't allow water to boil more than 1 minute or tea could be cloudy.) Cover the pot and allow to steep about 5 minutes. The tea should get good and dark since it will be diluted by ice. Discard teabags or strain tea through a small strainer before serving. Let tea stand at room temperature until needed.
When pouring the tea, don't overdo the icecubes the way fast-food franchises always do. Serve it in a barrel-size plastic glass or a 1-quart Mason jar for an authentic touch. Add sugar if desired and a hefty wedge of lemon.
VARIATIONS:
1. MINTED ICED TEA: Make a simple syrup of 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water with 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, boiled until sugar is dissolved and clear, then cooled. Strain mint leaves; use instead of sugar to sweeten the tea. Garnish with more mint leaves.
2. SUN TEA: Put tea and cold water in a jar and set it out in the sun for about 2-4 hours.
3. KICKED-UP TEA: Lace the Minted Iced tea with a healthy splash of bourbon. (!!!)
Click here for printer versionTEXAS MANHATTAN Bourbon seems to be the sippin' stuff of most Texans' choice. This is the favorite bourbon drink of the authors, Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison.
Serves: 1
1/4 cup crushed ice
1 1/4 ounces dry vermouth
2 dashes bitters
3 ice cubes
2 1/2 ounces prime bourbon or sour-mash whiskey
1 fresh cherry
Put crushed ice into a 4-ounce cocktail glass. Stir in the vermouth and bitters, and swirl the mixture around the glass with an absorbed look on your face.
After 5-10 seconds, swirl everything in the glass down the sink. Put the 3 ice cubes in the glass and fill it with the bourbon. Pop the cherry into your mouth with the satisfaction of a born bartender, and then sip away!!
Click here for printer versionTEXAS LEAGUE CRAWFISH DIP Texans call this "Football Food". "Though football is a mania in Texas, the state's first professional team sport in the past was baseball! This dip is named by the cookbook authors not for the tepid Texas League of today but for its mighty predecessor of the early 20th century, when the stars included Tris Speaker, Rogers Hornsby, Dizzy Dean, Carl Hubbell, and Hank Greenberg. Those fellows could cook crawdad tails with anyone."
1/2 cup sour cream
3 ounces cream cheese -- softened
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons chopped celery
3 tablespoons minced onions
2 cloves roasted garlic -- minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1/2 pound cooked crawfish tails -- chopped
Combine all ingredients except crawfish in a medium bowl until they are well-combined. Fold in crawfish, cover the bowl and chill at least 1 hour. Serve with crackers, small pieces of firm bread, or celery sticks.
VARIATION (Mine): Substitute 1/2 pound chopped peeled and cooked small shrimp for the crawfish.
Click here for printer versionPEDERNALES RIVER CHILI The Texas Legislature made chili the official state dish in 1977. There are literally thousands of different recipes for chili in Texas, among them are "Hot Pants Chili"named after a lady who won the 1974 Terlingua Cookoff wearing hot pants, "Hornadillo Chili" made with armadillo meat by a Luchenbach Mayor, and "Old Buffalo Breath Chili" and "Howling Coyote Chili" by John Thorne. BUT----NONE of them have beans!!!
Lyndpon Johnson once loved the kind of greasy chili that Sam Pendergrast cooks. His doctor made him modify the recipe though when he suffered a heart attack during his tenure in the U.S.Senate. This recipe became the new reduced-fat version, graciousy provided the authors by Mrs. Ladybird Johnson.
Serves: 4-6
4 pounds chili-grind beef chuck or venison
1 large onion -- chopped
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
2 tablespoons chili powder, or more to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Coarse salt to taste
Tabasco sauce, 2-6 dashes or to taste
2 cups hot water
1 1/2 cups canned whole tomatoes with juice
In a large heavy frying pan or Dutch oven, cook meat, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is lightly browned. Add oregano, chili powder, cumin, salt and Tabasco; mix well. Pour in water and tomatoes; bring mixtrue to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook 1 hour. Skim off fat during cooking.
Click here for printer versionTURKEY AND RAREBIT SANDWICH Rarebit dishes have been popular in Texas since around 1891. This is a treasured recipe of the lunchroom in the old Baker Hotel in downtown Dallas many years ago, replaced now with yet another glass tower.
Serves: 2
Prep.Time; 25 minutes
3/4 cup beer or half-and-half
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 egg yolk -- lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
4 slices sourdough white bread or other firm white bread
4 slices tomato
12 ounces sliced smoked turkey breast
4 slices slab bacon -- cooked crisp
In the top of a double-boiler, warm the beer or half-and-half with the butter. Add a tablepoon of the hot liquid to the egg yolk in a small bowl and mix well to temper. Stir the egg into the liquid. Add cheese, stirring until melted evenly. Mix in Worcestershire, mustard, paprika and salt. When sauce is hot and bubbly, remove from heat.
Heat the broiler and toast the bread lightly, or leave it soft if you prefer. Lay two slices on each of two heatproof plates. Arrange half of the tomato, turkey, and bacon over the bread. Spoon half of the rarebit sauce over each; pop under the broiler a few moments until sauce is bubbly. Serve hot, with knives and forks.
Click here for printer versionEAST TEXAS FRIED CHICKEN After sampling hundreds of fried chicken recipes all over Texas, the authors feel nothing tops this one. It's from Lula Mae Austin, a Dallas cook, and James Villas, author of "The American Taste".
Serves: 6
Prep.Time: 1 hour
3 - 4 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
3 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
4 pounds chicken parts
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups shortening, preferably Crisco
3 tablespoons bacon drippings
Between 3-12 hours before eating, combine buttermilk, Tabasco, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper in a large bowl. Add chicken, turning to coat well; cover and refrigerate.
Bring chicken to room temperature about 20 minutes. Put flour and remaining salt and pepper into a medium-size paper bag. In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet, melt shortening over high heat. Add bacon drippings to the skillet. When small bubbles form on the surface, reduce heat slightly.
Starting with dark pieces, remove one at a time from marinade, shake off excess liquid, drop into the paper bag, and shake well so that the piece is coated thoroughly. Remove from bag and lower gently into the skillet, skin side down. Repeat until all chicken is in the skillet, arranging so that all the pieces cook evenly (they should fit snugly but not stick to each other).
Reduce heat to medium and cover the skillet. Fry the chicken exactly 17 minutes. Reduce heat slightly, remove cover from skillet, turn chicken gently with tongs, and fry uncovered exactly 17 minutes.
Remove chicken with tongs and drain on the paper bag---it will be a deep, rich brown. Serve hot with Prime-Time Mashed Potatoes and Classic Cream Gravy (see below) made with the pan drippings.
Click here for printer versionNUEVO LAREDO CHICKEN-FRIED STEAK According to Gary Cartwright of his Texas Monthly article in 1983, "I Am The Greatest Cook In The World" ---"People who didn't grow up in Texas believe that chicken-fried steak is a put-on, like those Jackalope trophies you see in roadside souvenir shops. It is even possible, I suppose, for people born and reared in Texas to be suspicious of this ethnic creation---witness that renowned fop, Larry McMurtry, who once wrote that chicken-fried steak looks like an old piece of wood with the paint scraped off. For all I know, McMurtry has never eaten a real CFS; for all I know, McMurtry was born in New Hampshire, the illegitimate son of Noel Coward and Aimee Semple Mcpherson."
With CLASSIC CREAM GRAVY
RULES:
1. The meat should be round steak, pounded as if you're training for the boxing ring.
2. Use a cast-iron skillet; if you don't have one, go out to eat.
3. Use only cream gravy on CFS.
Serves: 4
Prep.Time: 40 minutes
2 pounds beef round steak, sliced 1/2" thick
12 ounces beer
2 cloves garlic
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup masa harina
2 teaspoons cumin seeds -- toasted and ground (or 1 teaspoon ground cumin)
1 teaspoon ground dried red chile (preferably New Mexican or Ancho)
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1 egg
Oil for deep-frying (corn or canola)
CREAM GRAVY:
1/4 cup pan drippings
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups evaporated milk
1 cup unsalted beef stock
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper or to taste
Coarse salt to taste
Have the butcher twice-tenderize the steak if possible, or pound it yourself with a notched meat mallet until about 1/3-1/4 inch thick; cut into 4 serving pieces. Arrange steaks in a glass baking dish with the garlic; pour all but 2 tablespoons of the beer over them. Marinate at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
Combine flour, masa harina, cumin, chile, salt and organo in a shallow dish. In another dish, mix the egg with the remaining 2 tablespoons beer. In a deep cast-iron skillet, put enough oil to reach about 2-3" up the side and heat to 325 degrees.
Drain the steaks and blot lightly with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Dredge steaks in the flour mixture, then in the egg mixture, then back into the flour mixture, patting well to absorb moisture. Fry steaks in hot oil 7-8 minutes or until they are medium brown. Drain steaks and transfer to a platter; keep warm while preparing gravy.
GRAVY:
Pour pan drippings into a fat-separator or through a strainer, and return 1/4 cup to the skillet. Over medium heat, add flour to drippings, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Add milk and stock; simmer until liquid is thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir gravy up from the bottom frequently, scraping up any browned bits. Add pepper and salt to taste (it should have a strong peppery flavor).
Serve steaks and mashed potatoes with gravy spooned over both, a green vegetable (usually green beans), buttermilk biscuits, and big glass of sweet tea.
Click here for printer versionPRIME-TIME MASHED POTATOES This is classic accompaniment to chicken-fried steak---no, it's a requirement!
Serves: 6-8
Prep.Time: 40 minutes
2 pounds baking potatoes,scrubbed -- half of them peeled
1 tablespoon salt
6 - 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup half and half
Salt & fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Place potatoes in a large heavy pan and over with water by at least 1 inch; add salt and bring to boil. Cook over medium heat until tender, about 25-30 mintues, depending on their size. Drain and set aside. Pour milk and half-and-half into a medium pan and scald (do not boil).
Rice or mash all but one of the potatoes back into their original pan. Cut the 1 reserved potato into chunks and add to the pan for lumpiness. Put pan over low heat and stir potatoes constantly 2-3 minutes to dry them out thoroughly. Add 6 tablespoons of the butter one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Pour in about 1 cup of the warm milk mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time, continuing to stir. Add more if needed without becoming soupy. Stir in all or part of remaining butter if needed. Taste and adjust seasoning, and serve hot.
VARIATIONS:
1. Add 8-12 peeled and sliced garlic cloves while potatoes are cooking.
2. Stir in some sauteed chopped onion after you add the butter.
Click here for printer versionYAM AND PORK CHOP SKILLET Sweet potatoes are a staple across the South, and this is a typically Texas skillet supper.
Serves: 4
Prep.Time: 20 minutes + 1 hour cooking
2 slices slab bacon -- chopped
4 pork shoulder chops
2 ribs celery -- chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes -- peeled and sliced
1 large onion -- sliced and separated in rings
1 green bell pepper -- sliced in rings
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 can whole tomatoes (14-1/2 oz.) -- undrained
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Several dashes of Tabasco sauce
Coarse salt & fresh-ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup unsalted chicken stock
In a cast-iron skillet large enough to hold the chops, fry bacon over medium heat; remove and drain and set aside. Brown chops in bacon drippings. Reduce heat to low; scatter celery around the chops; top all with layers of sweet potato, onion and bell pepper. Sprinkle with thyme and marjorm; pour tomatoes and their juice over all. Top with Worcestershire sace, Tabasco, salt and pepper.
Cover skillet and cook over medium-low heat about 1 hour or until cooked through and tender. Check during cooking and add a little stock if mixture becomes dry. Remove skillet from heat and let sit, covered, 10-20 minutes before serving sprinkled with reserved bacon.
Click here for printer versionQUACK IN A SACK Texas cooks have been using the paper-sack trick for decades.
Serves: 3-4
Prep.Time: 15 minutes + 1-1/2 hours roasting
1 medium size heavy brown paper sack
Oil to coat the sack
1 wild or domestic duck (about 4-1/4 to 5 lb)
Coarse salt & fresh-ground black opepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 apple, cored and quartered
1 onion, quartered
Preheat oven to 400 degrees; grease the rack of a roasting pan. Coat the paper sack with oil. Prick duck skin all over with a fork, being careful not to pierce the meat underneath. Rub duck inside and out with mixture of salt, pepper and ginger. Insert apple and onion quarters into duck cavity, transfer duck to the roasting pan, breast side up, and roast 30 minutes.
Remove duck from pan, pour off accummulated fat. Pick up duck by inserting a large sturdy spoon into cavity and transfer to the oiled bag, breast side up. Tie sack tightly with twine. Return the quack in its sack to the roasting pan; return pan to oven. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and roast an additional 45 minutes.
Remove from oven, open sack, and check with meat thermometer---should be between 155-160 degrees. Continue cooking if mot. Remove from oven, remove from sack, and let sit 5-10 minutes before carving.
Click here for printer versionTEXAS THREE-BEAN SALAD Most Texans were raised on beans and barbecue, so this one fits right in! Oh yes, canned beans are just fine.
Serves: 8
Prep.Time: 30 minutes
2 cups cooked red kidney beans
2 cups cooked garbanco beans
2 cups cooked cut green or yellow wax beans
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 slices slab bacon -- chopped
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
3/4 cup unsalted chicken stock
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
2 rib celery -- chopped
1/2 medium green bell pepper -- chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
Combine beans in a large bowl; set aside. Warm oil in a saucepan over medium heat; add bacon and cook until brown and crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove cooked bacon, drain and set aside. To drippings and oil, add onion and garlic; cook until just soft. Mix in flour. Pour in vinegar and stock, stirring; add sugar, mustard and paprika. Simmer the dressing about 10 minutes, adding celery and bell pepper the last 2 minutes, just to soften slightly. Remove pan from heat, stir in parsley and season to taste. Stir dressing into beans; cover and refrigerate about 2 hours. Stir in reserved bacon before serving.
Click here for printer versionCREAMY PEANUT COLESLAW Since peanuts are a huge Texas crop, and coleslaw is a staple in the diet, whats better than to combine the two?
Serves: 6
Prep.Time: 30 minutes
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 clove garlic -- minced
1/2 teaspoon Beau Monde Seasoning or celery salt
1 medium cabbage head -- shredded
2 carrots -- shredded
2 tablespoons minced onion
3/4 cup finely chopped roasted salted peanuts
Kosher salt to taste
In a lidded jar, shake together mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, milk, garlic and seasoning until well blended. Place cabbage, carrots and onion into a large bowl; pour dressing over all and toss to coat well. Cover and refrigerate about 1 hour. Before serving, stir in peanuts, taste and adjust seasoning.
Click here for printer versionPOPEYE NOODLES German and Czech settlers, not Italians, introduced pasta in Trexas. They began making old world noodles as soon as flour became widely available in the state in the mid-19th century. This is only one of many dishes that became immediately popular.
Serves: 4
Prep.Time: 30 minutes
2 cups milk
2 cups uncooked egg noodles
1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped onion
10 ounces fresh spinach -- washed and chopped
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Pinch ground nutmeg
1 hard-boiled egg, grated or sliced -- optional
Place milk, uncooked noodles, salt and butter into a large heavy saucepan; cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until noodles are softened and milk is almost completely absorbed. Noodles should be soft and creamy in texture. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat; add onion and cook until just soft. Stir in spinach and cook until leaves are just wilted. Mix spinach into noodles; heat through. Before serving, sprinkle with pepper and nutmeg; top with egg if desired.
Click here for printer versionTEXAS PILAF Texmati rice and pecans are two of Texas' top crops, so this dish is a natural!
Serves: 4
Prep.Time: 20 minutes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup Texmati brown rice
2 1/4 cups unsalted chicken or beef stock
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste
6 green onions -- sliced thin
Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat; add pecans and saute 2 minutes. Stir in rice, coating with the butter; saute 2 minutes. Add stock, Worcestershire sauce and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover rice and cook 45-50 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Open pan just long enought o sprinkle in onions. Cover pan again and allow rice to steam a few more minutes. Serve hot.
NOTE: To prepare with Texmati white rice, cook only about 15-20 minutes.
Click here for printer versionGREER GARSON'S GARLIC MUFFINS Yes, Greer Garson IS from Dallas, and is well known around there for her muffins. (And if you don't know who Greer Garson is, shame on you *LOL*.)
Yields: 12 Muffins
Prep.Time: 20 minutes + 20 minutes baking
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic -- minced
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 ounces cream cheese -- softened
2 eggs -- slightly beaten
2 tablespoons minced chives
2 tablespoons sesame seeds -- toasted
Preheat oven to 400 degrees; grease muffin tins. In a small skillet, warm butter and garlic over low heat until garlic is tender; set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. In another bowl, beat together milk, oil, cream cheese and eggs; stir in chives and reserved garlic. Add to flour mixture; stir gently to just combine. Spoon batter into prepared pan; sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 20 minutes or unti lightly browned.
Click here for printer versionBUTTERMILK PIE Buttermilk pie evolved as a makeshift dessert when the cellar and cupboards were bare of fruit.
Serves: 8
Prep.Time: 15 minutes + 35 minutes baking
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pie crust for 9-inch pie -- baked
Ground nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat together sugar and eggs until light yellow and fluffy. Briefly mix in flour. Add buttermilk, butter, lemon juice and zest. amd vanilla; mix well. Pour filling into prepared pie crust; top with a generous sprinkling of nutmeg. Bake 30-35 minutes or until filling is well-set. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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