A Bowl of Red [Paperback]

Frank X. Tolbert (Author), Hallie Stillwell (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The late FRANK X. TOLBERT was a Dallas newspaper columnist, novelist, historian, and a co-founder of the World Championship Chili Cookoffs held each November in the Big Bend village of Terlingua. He also founded Tolbert’s Chili Parlor restaurant in Dallas.HALLIE STILLWELL has been a rancher and a fixture in the Big Bend region since 1918. She was a judge at the first Terlingua cookoff in 1967 and is the author of I’ll Gather My Geese.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890965986
• ISBN-13: 978-0890965986
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,889,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Must-Have, September 30, 1999

By 

James Lor "James Lor" (Montreal, CANADA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Bowl of Red (Paperback)

This classic is a must-have for the true chili lover and chili historian. It's the book that revived interest in chili.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Early Manifesto in the American Food Revolution, January 4, 2005

By 

Shane O'Neil (Bedford, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Bowl of Red (Paperback)

Frank Tolbert's A Bowl of Red started out as a series of columns in the Dallas News but it's hard to define exactly what this book is in terms of form. It's not really a cookbook but I've made terrific chilis from his suggested recipes. It's not even completely about chili, although it starts out with that classic American (not Mexican) dish. Tolbert starts with a rambling history of the origins of chili in Texas cuisine and uses that as a base for wandering around through southwestern cuisine, famous Texas and southern cooks, ghost towns, European immigrants in Texas, the science of chili, chuck wagon chefs and too many other topics to list. His descriptions of the first several World Series of Chili Cookoffs in Terlingua, Texas read like a combination of the Marx Brothers and P.J.O'Rourke.

It may be hard to believe but this book is hard to put down. It's one of a kind.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't get any better than this!, November 4, 2005

By 

Pierce (RENTON, WA, United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Bowl of Red (Paperback)

Frank X. Tolbert's A Bowl of Red is the bible of chili. If you want to cook an authentic bowl of red read this book. If it isn't in this book, you don't need to know it.

Plus, you get a grand essay on blackeyed peas (Now often called Texas Caviar), essays on The Gentleman from Odessa Stew and on Farkleberrys, and much more.

And what more appropriate ending could you have than Bones Hooks' "Chili Prayer"?