According to Renaissance woman and Pepper Lady Jean Andrews, although food is eaten as a response to hunger, it is much more than filling one's stomach. It also provides emotional fulfillment. This is borne out by the joy many of us feel as a family when we get in the kitchen and cook together and then share in our labors at the dinner table. Food is comfort, yet it is also political and contested because we often are what we eat--meaning what is available and familiar and allowed. Texas is fortunate in having a bountiful supply of ethnic groups influencing its foodways, and Texas food is the perfect metaphor for the blending of diverse cultures and native resources. Food is a symbol of our success and our communion, and whenever possible, Texans tend to do food in a big way. This latest publication from the Texas Folklore Society contains stories and more than 120 recipes, from long ago and just yesterday, organized by the 10 vegetation regions of the state. Herein you'll find Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s Family Cake, memories of beef jerky and sassafras tea from John Erickson of Hank the Cowdog fame, Sam Houston's barbecue sauce, and stories and recipes from Roy Bedichek, Bob Compton, J. Frank Dobie, Bob Flynn, Jean Flynn, Leon Hale, Elmer Kelton, Gary Lavergne, James Ward Lee, Jane Monday, Joyce Roach, Ellen Temple, Walter Prescott Webb, and Jane Roberts Wood. There is something for the cook as well as for the Texan with a raft of takeaway menus on their refrigerator.

Homesick American, Parisian kitchen-- moving to Paris was the best bad decision that Texan Ellise Pierce ever made. Using French ingredients and techniques from both sides of the Atlantic, she created a unique style of cooking that's part Texas, part French, and all Cowgirl.

Delectably steeped in tradition, a living culinary heritage

Gluten-free, dairy-free, and grain-free recipes that sound and look way too delicious to be healthy from The Defined Dish blog, fully endorsed by Whole30.

Jon Bonnell, owner and executive chef of Bonnell's Fine Texas Cuisine in Fort Worth, creates exciting high-end appetizers, main meals, and sides using traditional Texas products such as the Texas 1015 onion, wild game, organic pasture-raised beef, and gulf seafood. His recipes are enhanced with regional Creole, Southwestern, and Mexican spices to create truly authentic, wellloved Texas cuisine.

Cowboy cooking isn't fancy, but once you've had the real thing you don't forget it. Tom Perini cut his teeth in the ranching business and accumulated the kind of cooking know-how and recipe arsenal that just can't be taught. His authentic "chuck" bridges the gap between life on the trail and in the backyard. From Jalepeno Bites to Ranch-Roasted Ribeye to Tom's classic Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce, Texas Cowboy Cooking is chock full of recipes for everything from a light lunch to a holiday feast. And with each dish, he serves a generous helping of personality and more than a smattering of cowboy lore. Book jacket.

Who says cooking is for homebodies? Veteran Texas food writer Robb Walsh served as a judge at a chuck wagon cook-off, worked as a deckhand on a shrimp boat, and went mayhaw-picking in the Big Thicket. As he drove the length and breadth of the state, Walsh sought out the best in barbecue, burgers, kolaches, and tacos; scoured museums, libraries, and public archives; and unearthed vintage photos, culinary stories, and nearly-forgotten dishes. Then he headed home to Houston to test the recipes he’d collected back in his own kitchen. The result is Texas Eats: The New Lone Star Heritage Cookbook, a colorful and deeply personal blend of history, anecdotes, and recipes from all over the Lone Star State. In Texas Eats, Walsh covers the standards, from chicken-fried steak to cheese enchiladas to barbecued brisket. He also makes stops in East Texas, for some good old-fashioned soul food; the Hill Country, for German- and Czech-influenced favorites; the Panhandle, for traditional cowboy cooking; and the Gulf Coast, for timeless seafood dishes and lost classics like pickled shrimp. Texas Eats even covers recent trends, like Viet-Texan fusion and Pakistani fajitas. And yes, there are recipes for those beloved-but-obscure gems: King Ranch casserole, parisa, and barbecued crabs. With more than 200 recipes and stunning food photography, Texas Eats brings the richness of Texas food history vibrantly to life and serves up a hearty helping of real Texas flavor.

“Reflects the great ethnic diversity of the contemporary Texas table, offering everything from Sauerbraten . . . to Crawfish Etouffee.” —The Austin Chronicle 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 in 1986. Responding to the public’s demand for a new collection of the magazine’s recipes, the editors compiled Cooking with Texas Highways, a collection 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 mouthwatering 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. “Texas culture in all its multi-ethnic variety is well represented.” —Texas Cooking

The first Texas-centric cookbook, with recipes tailored to our humidity, altitude and tastes, first published in 1883.

Recipes from the viewers of "Texas Country Reporter."