Texas Home Cooking

November 15, 1993
This undertaking by the authors of The Rancho Chimayo Cookbook ( LJ 11/15/92) offers more than 400 recipes from every region and subculture of their home state. A section on Texas classics includes recipes for "real" barbeque, lots of chili, Tex-Mex favorites, and chicken-fried steak and other cowboy fare; "Lone Star Specialties" covers breakfasts, desserts, and Super Bowl menus; and in between are lots of meat dishes, relishes and condiments, and side dishes. Headnotes and sidebars are fun and folksy (too much so at times). Stephan Pyles's The New Texas Cuisine ( LJ 4/15/93) provides an individual interpretation of Texas cooking; the Jamisons' book is a more wide-ranging version. For most collections.

Copyright 1993 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 1993
"Never eat anything bigger than your head" and other Texas-size nuggets of wisdom drip from the pens of the Jamisons. But what more could you expect from a native Texan and his wife who investigated the cooking--not cuisine--of this land of the tallest tales for two years? Perhaps 400 recipes, infused with wit and reflecting the blends of Anglo, Cajun, Czech, German, and Mexican heritages. Perhaps sidebars filled with expert tips (for example, buy neoprene gloves to handle a barbecue pit) and funny snips (Horno Couch's business card, for one). Perhaps the occasional fake dish with slap-your-sides directions (Hornadillo's chili, for example, calls for "one medium armadillo [save the shell] and other stuff"). Then, get ready to chow down on favorites and new tastes, including garlic-spiced turkey breast, "picadillo," tamale pie, sea-foam salad, German hot potato salad, rice fritters, George Bush dunk (sausage and broccoli!), and banana pudding. ((Reviewed Sept. 15, 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)