Dishes From the Wild Horse Desert - Melissa Guerra

Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert:

Norteño Cooking of South Texas.

By Melissa Guerra. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. ISBN: 0-7645-5892-7 Hardcover 288 pages colored and rose & white photos, map, bibliography, index. US $29.95 http://www.wiley.com/

Melissa Guerra (http://www.melissaguerra.com/) is deep in family culinary traditions of the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas and Northern Mexico. Her PBS series and book “The Texas Provincial Kitchen” has attested to her reliability and popularity.

This beautifully designed and lovingly written volume mixes history, cultural anecdotes with a hundred recipes fit for the common Wild Horse Desert kitchen, a part of Tex-Mex in general. The food originates from the ranch tradition rather than the city, but some springs from coastal restaurant inspirations, geographically outside the Desert but nearby. Most Tex-Mex, as well as most American Mexican cooking, first came up through this region that was a lush area until only a few centuries ago, and this book takes cook and diner home again. Local tea brews are included without particular reference to the curanderas. The chapter introductions and topical notes throughout are graceful and filled with accessible, detailed information. Guerra has been touring at the October Texas Book Festival, Common Market grocery outlets, and elsewhere.

The background for masa, tortillas, and tamales provides a basic lectionary for the northern corn and flour kitchen. The section on “Beverages” is just inspirational; get your blender and head for the fruit market. The “Enchilada Norteñas” are straightforward: ancho chiles, beef, onion, flour, and spiced with garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin, wrapped in corn tortillas, and topped with Cheddar. I’ve never tried cactus in my cornbread, but now adventures await me. The “Tortilla Soup” recipe is refreshing just to read and set my jowls watering. Pork is the proper flavoring for the frijoles. The section on “Game and Goat” will be attractive for those wishing to re-capture the days of the Wild Horse Desert range life.

Although she uses some lard, Guerra introduces the increasing use of corn oil. Beyond the expected fare, one finds recipes for “Whole Wheat Pancakes with Fresh Peach Syrup,” “Chile Con Carne,” “Traditional Bacalao (prepared salted cod),” “Speckled Trout Ceviche,” and “Chicken-fried Steak with Cream Gravy.”

Whether as cook or guide or conversationalist, Melissa Guerra is one to treat you well.

Gone to Texas Heritage Recipes

Gone to Texas: Heritage Recipes, volume II.

Victoria: The Texas Settlement Region (PO Box 1132, 77902), 2004. three-ring binder under hard cover. 379 pages. $17.00 http://www.texas-settlement.org/

The Texas Settlement Region is an organization of counties “Dedicated to protecting our region's history, culture, and natural attractions while promoting our region as a heritage tourism destination.” The 18 counties compose the area of early American and European colonization, including, Aransas, Austin, Brazoria, Calhoun, Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Fort Bend, Goliad, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Jackson, Karnes, Lavaca, Matagorda, Refugio, Victoria, and Wharton Counties.

The webpage is a tidy, useful one. It has a hot directory of museums, historical markers (with narrative), Chambers of Commerce, and a lengthy “Visitors Guide” for history, culture, and natural attractions, with many color maps and photographs, arranged by county. Added to that is a portion of the “Indianola Trail Visitors Guide: From Indianola to New Braunfels” provided by the Texas Historical Commission.

The cookbook must have over 500 recipes of old and modern origins, interspersed with old sayings, historical notes, vintage photographs, and helpful hints. Most recipes are signed, with notes on family origin and some admission of out-right theft. There are 60 cookie and 50 cake recipes, but also find seven cobblers. Aside from sweets, there is a wide diversity of dishes. Expect strong representation of the German and Mexican food, but you will also find Polish, Alsatian, French, Czech, Danish, and if potatoes indict anything, Irish. When you visit the region, find a settler, you will not go hungry.

Cocina Ranchera - Bill Moran

Cocina Ranchera y Creationes.

By Bill Moran. San Diego, Texas: Moran, 2004. ebook, 152 pp. Moran can provide electronic or paper copy. Contact: texaschef@the-i.net, or go to his blog at http://texas-chef.blogspot.com

Bill’s been around Texas cooking for decades as part of his Food Service Food Broker career. He retired, left Houston, and moved to San Diego in the middle of Texas Mexican ranch country. He’s comfortable in the corn kitchen, talking masa, mole, atole and terra cotta pots. He suggests “Comino, garlic, and black pepper should be called the ‘Mexican Trinity’ just as celery, bell peppers, and onion is called the ‘Cajun Trinity’”. Readers may recall the basic “Mexican Trinity or Three Sisters,” corn, beans, and squash. This is his second cookbook, Texas Chef being the first and projects another Texas Chef Bakes. He calls the Columbian Exchange a “huge food processor.” The admirably long table of contents divides his recipes into “Traditional” and “Creations.” Some are his recipes.

He begins with a routine for making masa and further on treats other primaries for scratch preparation. He suggests Americans should use instant coffee to flavor their atole to acclimatize. Occasionally, Moran’s commentary turns historical, as explaining the Spanish introduction of wheat leading to flour torillas.

Moran attends small details, as in recommending covering your homemade ancho “Chile Paste” with a little oil after transferring to storage jars to reduce deterioration. He well advises us to add cilantro (his substitute for epazote), salt, and pepper late in the cooking process for “Frijoles de Olla,” the omnipresent pinto bean. He appends information on chile peppers and cheeses, and a glossary. It’s a full menu from breakfast to desserts. One of my favorites is “Chicken Breasts in Cream Chipotle Sauce.” From “Menudo” to “Prickly Pear Dessert Topping” to rather fancy dishes, Moran tells you how to satisfy and delight ranch hands and city slickers. In his spare time, he’s compiling a list of “Endangered Foods.”