The Texas Cowboy Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos [Paperback]

Robb Walsh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2007

Texas cowboys are the stuff of legend — immortalized in ruggedly picturesque images from Madison Avenue to Hollywood. Cowboy cooking has the same romanticized mythology, with the same oversimplified reputation (think campfire coffee, cowboy steaks, and ranch dressing). In reality, the food of the Texas cattle raisers came from a wide variety of ethnicities and spans four centuries.

Robb Walsh digs deep into the culinary culture of the Texas cowpunchers, beginning with the Mexican vaqueros and their chile-based cuisine. Walsh gives overdue credit to the largely unsung black cowboys (one in four cowboys was black, and many of those were cooks). Cowgirls also played a role, and there is even a chapter on Urban Cowboys and an interview with the owner of Gilley’s, setting for the John Travolta--Debra Winger film.

Here are a mouthwatering variety of recipes that include campfire and chuckwagon favorites as well as the sophisticated creations of the New Cowboy Cuisine:

• Meats and poultry: sirloin guisada, cinnamon chicken, coffee-rubbed tenderloin
• Stews and one-pot meals: chili, gumbo, fideo con carne
• Sides: scalloped potatoes, onion rings, pole beans, field peas
• Desserts and breads: peach cobbler, sourdough biscuits, old-fashioned preserves

Through over a hundred evocative photos and a hundred recipes, historical sources, and the words of the cowboys (and cowgirls) themselves, the food lore of the Lone Star cowboy is brought vividly to life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A Houston native with two James Beard awards, Walsh (Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook) carves Texas up into digestible sections, collecting its juices and leaving lots of contemplative fat. This 10-chapter history reaches as far back as the year 1540, when cattle first came to the area, and examines a multitude of geographic and demographic influences on the Lone Star State's cuisine. It is both a study of rich diversity and a collection of over 100 recipes, though only perhaps a quarter of the meals rise above the commonplace. The liveliest dishes turn up in the section on South Texas and are presented with a Hispanic flair, such as Conejo Colorado (Rabbit Stewed in Red Chile Sauce). There are two intriguing chapters that examine how black slaves transformed into black cowboys and were responsible for the introduction of Texas barbecue, but the accompanying recipes are disappointingly old hat. A fun chapter on Cowgirls in the Kitchen has some of the best of the book's 150 b&w photos as well as a swell Buttermilk-Lemon Pie. Moving into modern times, there is perhaps too much attention paid to the movie Urban Cowboy and the cultural and epicurean importance of Mickey Gilley, but Walsh wraps up his enterprise nicely with entrees such as a Poblano Mac & Cheese and a broiled tenderloin marinated in the black gold of Waco: Dr. Pepper. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“The Texas cowboy is so central to American culture that even cowboys themselves buy into the mythology. Instead of settling for the usual chuckwagon tales, Robb Walsh has sorted out the facts with a clear eye and passed along the myths with a warm heart. He also serves up lots of the surprisingly tasty fare that Texas cowboys--black and white, Anglo and Hispanic, male and female--really cooked. The result is a cookbook that widens horizons.”

—John Thorne, author of Outlaw Cook and Serious Pig

“A Western saga of a cookbook with wild and delicious stories, photos, and recipes. It feels like a collaboration by John Wayne, Larry McMurtry, and Emiliano Zapata.”

—Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva, NPR's Kitchen Sisters

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (April 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767921496
• ISBN-13: 978-0767921497
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Food writer Robb Walsh is the T.R. Fehrenbach of Texas culinary history. While Fehrenbach has chronicled Texas history, Walsh's books--The Tex-Mex Cookbook, Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook and The Texas Cowboy Cookbook--honor the state's food traditions with recipes and revisionist accounts of how our Lone Star staples came to be. Many of the articles he pens for the Houston Press--where he's been head restaurant reviewer for almost 10 years-- have been nominated for James Beard awards.

-Jennifer Lizt, Texas Magazine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Texas Cowboy Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos, April 12, 2007

By 

Lisa Fain "Homesick Texan" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Texas Cowboy Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos (Paperback)

If you have any interest in the history of cowboys, chuck wagons, the state of Texas or just delicious range-life cooking, this is the book for you. This well-written and informative cookbook goes beyond the recipes and provides a detailed history of cowboys in Texas, and how each regional and ethnic group contributed to the category of cowboy cuisine. From sourdough biscuits to "son of a bitch," Walsh walks you through all aspects of preparation, and shows you how you can acclimate the recipes for the home kitchen. This beautifully designed book is also generously illustrated with historical photos and whimsical illustrations. And sprinkled throughout the text are oral histories on cooking from cowboys both old and new, placing the recipes in a delciious context. While the recipes are not fancy (this is, after all, cowboy cuisine, food originally designed to be eaten outdoors on the range), they are meticulous, authentic and tasty. And I challenge anyone to say instruction on how to cook a cow's head is mundane!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cowboys know good food!!, May 17, 2007

By 

super shopper (california) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Texas Cowboy Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos (Paperback)

this is a great cookbook;it has many informative articles and wonderful pictures. i highly recommend the dr. pepper marinade for tri tip to filet roasts.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boy howdy good time!, October 25, 2008

By 

J. Pruitt "opin book" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Texas Cowboy Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos (Paperback)

Even if you don't like to cook, this is a fun book full of Texas cowboy tales and good eats! Just leafing through the many photos and stories is a delicacy.