BiblioVault - Books about Southwestern style

Arab/American

Landscape, Culture, and Cuisine in Two Great Deserts

Gary Paul Nabhan

University of Arizona Press, 2008

The landscapes, cultures, and cuisines of deserts in the Middle East and North America have commonalities that have seldom been explored by scientists—and have hardly been celebrated by society at large. Sonoran Desert ecologist Gary Nabhan grew up around Arab grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in a family that has been emigrating to the United States and Mexico from Lebanon for more than a century, and he himself frequently travels to the deserts of the Middle East. In an era when some Arabs and Americans have markedly distanced themselves from one another, Nabhan has been prompted to explore their common ground, historically, ecologically, linguistically, and gastronomically. Arab/American is not merely an exploration of his own multicultural roots but also a revelation of the deep cultural linkages between the inhabitants of two of the world’s great desert regions. Here, in beautifully crafted essays, Nabhan explores how these seemingly disparate cultures are bound to each other in ways we would never imagine. With an extraordinary ear for language and a truly adventurous palate, Nabhan uncovers surprising convergences between the landscape ecology, ethnogeography, agriculture, and cuisines of the Middle East and the binational Desert Southwest. There are the words and expressions that have moved slowly westward from Syria to Spain and to the New World to become incorporated—faintly but recognizably—into the language of the people of the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. And there are the flavors—piquant mixtures of herbs and spices—that have crept silently across the globe and into our kitchens without our knowing where they came from or how they got here. And there is much, much more. We also learn of others whose work historically spanned these deserts, from Hadji Ali (“Hi Jolly”), the first Moslem Arab to bring camels to America, to Robert Forbes, an Arizonan who explored the desert oases of the Sahara. These men crossed not only oceans but political and cultural barriers as well. We are, we recognize, builders of walls and borders, but with all the talk of “homeland” today, Nabhan reminds us that, quite often, borders are simply lines drawn in the sand.

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Cooking Texas Style

Traditional Recipes from the Lone Star State

By Candy Wagner and Sandra Marquez

University of Texas Press, 2013

Just remembering the crispy fried chicken and luscious peach cobblers a grandmother or aunt used to make can set your mouth watering. And since remembering is no substitute for eating, cooks across the country have turned to Cooking Texas Style to find recipes for the comfort foods we love best. Thirty years after its first publication, popular acclaim has made this collection of favorite family recipes the standard source for traditional Texas cooking.

Here are over three hundred tasty recipes from the kitchens of Candy Wagner and Sandra Marquez. You’ll find classic Texas dishes such as chicken-fried steak, barbecue, chili, guacamole, and cornbread hot with jalapeños, as well as novel, exciting ways to prepare old favorites such as Tortilla Soup, Fajitas, and Chicken and Dumplings. Organized for easy reference, all the recipes are clearly explained, simple to prepare, and simply delicious. Cooking Texas Style is an invaluable addition to the kitchen bookshelf of anyone interested in cooking—and eating—Texas style.

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Cooking the Wild Southwest

Delicious Recipes for Desert Plants

Carolyn Niethammer, Illustrations by Paul Mirocha

University of Arizona Press, 2011

Over the last few decades, interest in eating locally has grown quickly. From just-picked apples in Washington to fresh peaches in Georgia, local food movements and farmer’s markets have proliferated all over the country. Desert dwellers in the Southwest are taking a new look at prickly pear, mesquite, and other native plants.

Many people’s idea of cooking with southwestern plants begins and ends with prickly pear jelly. With this update to the classic Tumbleweed Gourmet, master cook Carolyn Niethammer opens a window on the incredible bounty of the southwestern deserts and offers recipes to help you bring these plants to your table. Included here are sections featuring each of twenty-three different desert plants. The chapters include basic information, harvesting techniques, and general characteristics. But the real treat comes in the form of some 150 recipes collected or developed by the author herself. Ranging from every-day to gourmet, from simple to complex, these recipes offer something for cooks of all skill levels. Some of the recipes also include stories about their origin and readers are encouraged to tinker with the ingredients and enjoy desert foods as part of their regular diet.

Featuring Paul Mirocha’s finely drawn illustrations of the various southwestern plants discussed, this volume will serve as an indispensible guide from harvest to table. Whether you’re looking for more ways to prepare local foods, ideas for sustainable harvesting, or just want to expand your palette to take in some out-of-the-ordinary flavors, Cooking the Wild Southwest is sure to delight.

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Cooking with Texas Highways

Edited by Nola McKey

University of Texas Press, 2005

Whether you're hungry for down-home barbecue and Tex-Mex, or you want to try more exotic dishes such as Paella Valenciana and Thai Pesto, Texas Highways has long been a trusted source for delicious recipes that reflect wide-ranging Lone Star tastes. The state's official travel magazine published its first Texas Highways Cookbook, which has sold 20,000 copies, in 1986. Responding to the public's demand for a new collection of the magazine's recipes, the editors are pleased to bring you Cooking with Texas Highways, a compilation of more than 250 recipes that are as richly diverse and flavorful as Texas itself.

Cooking with Texas Highways samples all the major ethnic cuisines of the state with recipes from home cooks, well-known chefs, and popular restaurants. It offers a varied and intriguing selection of snacks and beverages, breads, soups and salads, main dishes, vegetables and sides, sauces and spreads, desserts, and more. A special feature of this cookbook is a chapter on Dutch-oven cooking, which covers all the basics for cooking outdoors with live coals, including seventeen mouth-watering recipes. In addition, you'll find dozens of the lovely color photographs that have long made Texas Highways such a feast for the eyes, along with tips on cooking techniques and sources for ingredients and stories about some of the folks who created the recipes. If you want to sample all the tastes of Texas, there's no better place to start than Cooking with Texas Highways.

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Goodbye Gluten

Kim Stanford

University of North Texas Press, 2014

Texas on the Table

People, Places, and Recipes Celebrating the Flavors of the Lone Star State

By Terry Thompson-Anderson, Photos by Sandy Wilson

University of Texas Press, 2014

With a bounty of locally grown meats and produce, artisanal cheeses, and a flourishing wine culture, it’s a luscious time to be cooking in Texas. From restaurant chefs to home cooks, Texans are going to local dairies, orchards, farmers’ markets, ranches, vineyards, and seafood sellers to buy the very freshest ingredients, whether we’re cooking traditional favorites or the latest haute cuisine. We’ve discovered that Texas terroir—our rich variety of climates and soils, as well as our diverse ethnic cultures—creates a unique “taste of place” that gives Texas food a flavor all its own.

Written by one of Texas’s leading cookbook authors, Terry Thompson-Anderson, Texas on the Table presents 150 new and classic recipes, along with stories of the people—farmers, ranchers, shrimpers, cheesemakers, winemakers, and chefs—who inspired so many of them and who are changing the taste of Texas food. The recipes span the full range from finger foods and first courses to soups and breads, salads, seafood, chicken, meat (including wild game), sides and vegetarian dishes, and sweets. Some of the recipes come from the state’s most renowned chefs, and all are user-friendly for home cooks. Finally, the authors and winemakers tell which recipes they turn to when opening their favorite wines.

This delicious compilation of recipes and stories of the people behind them, illustrated with Sandy Wilson’s beautiful photographs, makes Texas on the Table the must-have cookbook for everyone who relishes the flavors of the Lone Star State.

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