Traditional Texas Fare:
Chicken Fried Steak: One-third of the Big Three
by John Raven, Ph.B.
The Big Three of Texas cooking are chili, barbecue and chicken fried steak. I have expounded on chili and barbecue often. Recently a reader asked why I had not shown chicken fried steak the respect it deserves. I was remiss and will now attempt to atone for my oversight.

Traditional Texas Fare:
Pot Roast: Always in Season
by John Raven, Ph.B.
An old favorite, pot roast, is just a chunk of meat cooked in a pot. The actual process is braising; that is, cooking in a limited amount of liquid. If you use a lot of liquid you are boiling. My method of making pot roast is using a combination of braising and steaming. This method guarantees tenderness of anything you cook.

Food Features:
National Hot Dog Month - Celebrate Texas Style!
by Cheryl Hill-Burrier
July is National Hot Dog Month, and the Fourth of July is the biggest hot dog holiday of the year with approximately 150 million hot dogs being consumed. Well get along little dogie!

Traditional Texas Fare:
Trusty Coleman Lanterns Shine When Camping
by John Raven, Ph.B.
Camping is not what it used to be. When I was just a child my daddy would take me on overnight fishing trips. The supplies and equipment we took was a quilt each. We could have done with one quilt but Daddy snored something fierce.

Traditional Texas Fare:
Condiments for Compliments
by John Raven, Ph.B.
We all know what condiments are. They are things put on the dining table that are added to your food to improve or mask the taste. The big three of condiments are ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard. You can bet the ranch that you or someone you know will be using one or more of the big three today.

New Cookbook Review: Texas Hometown Cookbook by Patricia Mitchell Sheila Simmons and Kent Whitaker pen an exciting series of cookbooks devoted to the home-style cooking in all fifty states. Their Texas cookbook is over two hundred pages of many great recipes that all cooks and cookbook fans should enjoy.

New Book Review: Fearless Critic Austin Restaurant Guide, 2nd Edition Book Review by Lucas Everidge A brutally honest guide to 480 restaurants in the Austin, Texas area. Highly entertaining, as well as informative, this just released second edition takes aim at everything across the board, proving once again how Austinites cannot get enough of their restaurants and local food culture.

Old Settler's Music Festival: City
Slickers Meet the Old Settlers

By Lucas Everidge

My first ever visit to one of the best kept music festival secrets in the country almost turns out great, even if we still had to take the Chevy compact car out in a little mud.

Food Features:
Go Veggie for Earth Day
by Lori Grossman
In honor of Earth Day and the coming of spring, let's all enjoy a bit of vegetarian cuisine. Texans are known for being meat eaters. We do raise lots of cattle here, and who can resist great barbecue or chicken fried steak? There are two good reasons to eat "veggie" at least occasionally: Researchers say we should eat less red meat, plus vegetarian dishes are cheaper to prepare (something to consider in these trying economic times).

Traditional Texas Fare:
Smoker Evolution
by John Raven, Ph.B.
My good friend and neighbor George Pearce inherited the job of being Camp Boss down at Luckenbach, Texas for the Hug-In. The Hug-In is what remains of an old tradition started by chili heads way back when. It is still about the most popular event for Luckenbach.

Food Features:
Savor(ing) Chocolate
by Lori Grossman
Okay, chocoholics, listen up. Did you know that chocolate can be used in main dishes? For those of you who immediately thought of mole (pronounced mo-LAY), you're on the right track. More on that later. You've earned brownie (no pun intended) points. But mole sauce is only the beginning. We're talking savory dishes here.

Food Features:
Lammes Candies: The Capitol's Confections
by Lori Grossman
The Texas Hill Country is home to many wonderful sights, including boxes of specialty chocolates and other goodies made by Austin's Lammes Candies.

Traditional Texas Fare:
Celebrated Texas Fare
by John Raven, Ph.B.
Texas has a deep background of various ethnic groups. This has led to the many different kinds of "Texas" recipes. (The only dish that Texans can claim as their very own is chili. Hundreds of chili cook-offs take place all round the state, just about year round.) So it seems only fitting to make a quick tour of the various Texas food festivals.

Texas Dining:
Mi Tierra: San Antonio
by Randy Lankford
There's a neon sign outside the Mi Tierra Restaurant in San Antonio's Market Square. It glows 24/7 in red defiance of the night. "We never close," it proclaims, proudly. That's not entirely true. The Cortez family has closed the 500-seat restaurant twice: for half a day on November 22, 1963 when John Kennedy was in town and another half day when patriarch Pete Cortez died. Other than those 24 hours, Mi Tierra has been in constant operation since 1951.

Texana Book Reviews

Follow the Smoke:
14,783 Miles of Great Texas Barbecue

Anyone who loves barbecue will enjoy this great book detailing the people and stories behind 119 Texas restaurants, peppered with some food philosophy and some surprisingly good recipes.


Dave's Dinners
FoodTV chef Dave Lieberman highlights delicious dinners in his wide ranging cookbook