Texas on the Table
People, Places, and Recipes Celebrating the Flavors of the Lone Star State
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.
You really want to buy Texas on the Table. . . . This book will change how you cook, how you appreciate food, and how you think about Texas.
This book highlights the range of Texas food and libations, and their place in American cuisine, as only Terry Thompson-Anderson can do. With research and recipes, as well as insights and affection and a bottle of hot sauce in her pocket, she has produced a book that is a treasure for anyone interested in great food and wine.
Terry Thompson Anderson is clearly passionate about Texas terroir, and this enthusiasm is contagious in her beautiful new book Texas on the Table. On my next road trip, I can’t wait to visit some of the small farms, wineries, and other food producers she showcases. But, in the meantime, I look forward to cooking her well-crafted recipes whenever I’m craving that special taste of home.
Terry Thompson-Anderson is the author of several previous cookbooks, including the best-selling Cajun-Creole Cooking, Texas on the Plate, The Texas Hill Country: A Food and Wine Lover’s Paradise, and Don Strange of Texas: His Life and Recipes, coauthored with Frances Strange. She also writes a regular wine feature for Edible Austin magazine. Thompson-Anderson has taught over 20,000 students at cooking schools all over the country and does restaurant/wine consulting and cooking events around Texas.
Sandy Wilson is a longtime member of the American Society of Media Photographers, and her work has been featured in Working Cowboys with artist Mark Kohler, in Texas photography exhibits, and in many corporate annual reports. She was the photographer for The Texas Hill Country: A Food and Wine Lover’s Paradise.
Introduction
Chapter One. Finger Foods and First Courses
Chapter Two. Great Bowls of Soup and Comforting Breads
Chapter Three. Salads from Texas Gardens, Orchards, and Waterways
Chapter Four. Fresh from the Waters
Chapter Five. If It Flies
Chapter Six. On Four Legs
Chapter Seven. Sides and a Few Meatless Dishes
Chapter Eight. Lone Star Sweets
Index
Recipe Index
