Reata: Legendary Texas Cooking [Hardcover]

Mike Micallef (Author), Julie Hatch (Author), Laurie Smith (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2008

Bold.  Majestic.  Storied.  Texas.
The Lone Star State has many traditions, among them its homegrown cuisine, which Texans have always been justly proud of, and which has been gaining followers--and respect--all over the country. The Reata restaurants have an honored place in this emerging culinary story. Reata: Legendary Texas Cuisine tells the tale of one American family that, against the breathtaking backdrop of Texas, took risks, worked hard, and dreamed big.
 
Today the pride of the Micallef family are its two Reata restaurants, the original location in the tiny West Texas town of Alpine, and its much larger sibling in Fort Worth. Reata pays homage to America’s cowboys and the values they have come to symbolize by promoting the traditional ideals of integrity, generosity, and hospitality with an easy ambience, exciting dishes, and exceptional service. 
 
The Reata menus combine familiar Texas fare with fresh culinary trends, including signature favorites, like the pepper-crusted tenderloin, the golden chicken-fried steaks, and the tenderloin tamales. Adventurous cooks will want to try the buffalo rib eye and the smoked quail, as well as some of the more surprising pairings, such as the boar ribs with a Thai-inspired spicy peanut dipping sauce. And no Reata cookbook would be complete without the fiery jalapeño cheese grits or the unrivaled “Giant” onion rings.
 
So if you can’t drop by one of the restaurants and set a spell, Reata: Legendary Texas Cuisine will give you a taste of Reata that’s as big and bold as the state of Texas itself.   

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A grand collection of cooking and imagery that embodies the hardscrabble cowboy culture of West Texas.”
--Tosh Brown, author of Grazing Across Texas: Rod, Gun & Ranch Cooking  
 
“Mike and Reata use traditional Texas ingredients with a sophisticated flair. The great presentations and photography give everyone a chance to see Reata’s roots.”
--Tom Perini, owner of the Perini Ranch Steakhouse and author of Texas Cowboy Cooking
 
“This group of recipes is an excellent collection of Reata’s best. The book takes basic ranch cooking to another level. Mike Micallef has hit another home run. Keep on spurrin’!”
--Cliff Teinert, owner of the Collins Creek Ranch and coauthor of Barbecue, Biscuits, and Beans: Chuckwagon Cooking

From the Publisher

Sophisticated yet unpretentious Western fare from one of Texas's premiere restaurants. * Includes 150 recipes for starters, salads, soups, mains, sides, breads, desserts, and drinks, as well as photos throughout.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (November 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580089062
• ISBN-13: 978-1580089067
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 0.7 x 11.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Outdoor Cooking > Barbecuing & Grilling

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars REAL cookbook? Or vanity press item?, April 27, 2009

By 

K. Dignan "kcd" (Austin, Tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Reata: Legendary Texas Cooking (Hardcover)

We tried to visit the restaurant in Alpine, but couldn't make it work with our schedule. So I got the book. It was beautiful and the early recipes I made were great.

So I invited 18 friends over and made a dinner with 8 recipes (plus "sub recipes-- those that are within a recipe, like the Chipotle Cream Sauce. This seems to be very common in the book.)

The number of serious errors in this book are totally unacceptable. The only reason that the dinner was so good is that the basic foods are good, but the writing is very bad. The dinner would have been much worse if I didn't have experience as a professional cook. Below is a listing of some of the errors. Some of them.

We found basic errors in the recipes:
* The Cajeta is either wrong or poorly written. It calls for 4 cups of sugar and a cup of water, which you cook till the sugar dissolves. What happens is that the sugar absorbs the water or it evaporates, leaving you with crystallized sugar. Most recipes call for 2 quarts of cream and 1-2 cups of sugar.

* The Braised Cabbage had too much vinegar, or the instructions were in error. It calls for 2 cups of vinegar. This is supposed to cook off/be absorbed in 5 minutes. It is more like a soup at that point. The added sugar can't caramelize with that much vinegar.

* The Stacked Chicken Enchiladas ask for 2.5 cups of Tomatillo Sauce plus 1.5 cups of cream, which are mixed together, resulting in 4 cups of sauce. This is only used to dip the prepared tortilla into, nothing else. So there was about 3 cups extra. What a waste.

* The Stacked Chicken Enchiladas are assembled in "a large baking dish". No indication of how large. When it is all assembled it is put in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. There is no way that it could get warm through the center in that amount of time.

* The Pico Vinaigrette does not look like the picture. In the picture it is mostly white. In reality, with .25 cup of tomato juice and an equal amount of vinegar, it is red.

We found other problems with expressed yields. For example:
* The Chipotle Cream sauce says it yields 3 cups. However, the recipe calls for 3/4 cup of cream and some chiles. Not 3 cups.

* Some recipes don't give any indication of yields.

* Some yields are confusing. For example; the Creme Anglaise recipe yields about 4 cups and serves 8. It is used with the Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding Tamale, which also serves 8. Yet, the tamale recipe calls for only 2 cups of Creme Anglaise. Why the difference? If only 2 cups are needed, why not just make a recipe for 2 cups?

Some information would have been nice to have, although not critical. For example:
* It would have been nice to have volume or pound equivalents for those items that may have wide variations in size. This would include cabbage, onions, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, potatoes, limes, etc.

* I never saw a suggestion for a size of pan, casserole, or other container. That would have made assessing yields easier.

* None of the recipes seem to indicate whether or not it is recommended that the baking container be sprayed with oil. We did, but it would have been nice to know.

As I said above, the food was good. The dessert tamales were amazing. However, the authors and their editors either are very careless, or are more concerned about having a vanity-press item to market their restaurants.

this is my first review.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yum!, January 6, 2009

By 

C. Breck (Austin TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reata: Legendary Texas Cooking (Hardcover)

I am not a proficient cook, so I need a cookbook that is easy to follow and this one fits the bill! The receipes are straightforward and made me look like I knew what I was doing. I used a lot of the dishes over the holidays to rave reviews. The favorites were the guacamole, corn muffins, sour dough biscuits, shrimp enchiladas, potatoes au gratin (with a kick), mac n cheese and the goat cheese salad. The rubs work equally well on meat and fish.

It is also a beautiful book - the photos of Texas are lovely. This could be a cocktail table book in its own right! Would make a great gift for someone who loves upscale tex-mex cooking!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Cookbook, January 6, 2009

By 

Ann Berry (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reata: Legendary Texas Cooking (Hardcover)

After buying 1 for my cookbook collection - I went back and bought 5 more for gifts. Great recipes, entertaining stories and wonderful pictures. I've tried a couple of the recipes with success (totally amazed my family) - next best thing to eating at Reata!!