by Robb Walsh

Broadway Books
Cover Price $17.95
Paperback: 268 pages
ISBN: 0767914880

Join Texas food writer Robb Walsh on a grand tour complete with larger-than-life characters, colorful yarns, rare archival photographs -- and a savory assortment of crispy, crunchy Tex-Mex foods.

From the Mexican pioneers of the sixteenth century, who first brought horses and cattle to Texas, to the Spanish mission era when cumin and garlic were introduced, to the late 1890s when the Chile Queens of San Antonio sold their peppery stews to gringos like O. Henry and Ambrose Bierce, through the chili gravy, "combination plates," crispy tacos, and frozen margaritas of the twentieth century, all to the nuevo fried-oyster nachos and vegetarian chorizo of today -- here is the history of Tex-Mex in more than 100 recipes and 150 photos.

Rolled, folded and stacked enchiladas, old-fashioned puffy tacos, sizzling fajitas, truck-stop chili, frozen margaritas, Frito pie, and much, much more are all here in easy-to-follow recipes for home cooks.

The Tex-Mex Cookbook will delight "chile heads," food history buffs, Mexican food fans, and anybody who has ever woken up in the middle of the night craving cheese enchiladas.

About the Author

Robb Walsh is the restaurant critic of the Houston Press, and a commentator for National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, Sunday. He has also served as the food editor of the Austin Chronicle, food columnist for Natural History magazine, and editor-in-chief of Chile Pepper magazine. Walsh articles appear in several anthologies including Best Food Writing 2001, and Cornbread Nation I: The Best of Southern Food Writing.

Houstonian Walsh traces the history of real Tex-Mex food, from the days of the Spanish missions and "cowboy culture" to the present ("From Paris, Texas, to Paris, France: Twenty-First-Century Tex-Mex"). Drawing on in-depth research and visits to dozens of cafes and restaurants throughout Texas, he makes a case for Tex-Mex as our oldest regional cuisine.

Although until recently, almost every "Mexican" restaurant in this country was actually serving Tex-Mex food, such food is not, in fact, a bastardization of Mexican cuisine. Instead, Walsh argues, it has its own identity. Referring to this food as "a lovable ugly duckling," he provides dozens of recipes for the unpretentious dishes that have made Tex-Mex so popular, from Casa Rio Chili Con Carne to Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas to Nachos and, of course, Frito Pie.

Dozens of black-and-white period photographs, as well as anecdotes and oral histories of Tex-Mex cooks and other figures, supply additional context to this readable chronicle. Highly recommended. -- Library Journal