Texas Cowboy Cooking [Hardcover]

Tom Perini (Author), Paschal Fowlkes (Author), Robert Duvall (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

TEXAS COWBOY COOKING collects Tom Perini's all-time favorite recipes for mouth-watering Texan food and drinks. Perini also shares his award-winning tips preparing them, including his secrets to cooking the perfect steak - for selecting the cut, preparing it, knowing when to turn it, and when to call it done. Throughout, stunning photography, archival illustrations, and Perini's own dry, Texan wit bring to life the romance, adventure, character, and humor of life in cowboy country.

* Beautiful, artful photographs complemented by drawings of regional western art

* Written descriptions of historic Texas regions capture the romance of cowboy food and culture

* Showcases heritage food, with heirloom recipes and cowboy practicality complemented by modern kitchen shortcuts

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What did cowboys eat on the range? It's doubtful their "chuck" much resembled the lively fare offered by restaurateur Tom Perini in Texas Cowboy Cooking, a collection of 75 recipes from the Perini Ranch Steakhouse. That said, the dishes, which include the likes of Black Bean and Roasted Corn Salad, Oven Roasted Beef Brisket, and Jessica's Favorite Green Chili Hominy, are just the thing when the call of meat and Tex-Mex seasoning can't be denied. Illustrated with color photos throughout, the book provides a big-food journey, noting en route the Texas lore that gives it context. Most readers will probably pass on the Calf Fries, a local delicacy the author hardly admits are made from beef testicles. But when Perini talks steak--offering useful cut information and such tempting dishes as a Spicy Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Garlic-Horseradish Cream, Round Steak Rolls, and Laredo Broil, a superior version of marinated flank steak--you'll want to pay attention. Other standouts include an exemplary Texas Chili, Winter Squash Soup, Grilled Sourdough with Texas Onion Butter (a recipe for the bread is included), Carrots with Bourbon Sauce, and the fancier Celebration Venison with Ginger and Wine. Desserts aren't neglected, and simple sweets like Grandmother's Pound Cake, Jane's Sweet Potato-Pecan Pie, and Bread Pudding with Whisky Sauce should put a happy end to whatever appetite is left after a massive Perini spread. With a short but interesting section on cowboy life and informative sidebars (such as Aging Beef), the book provides easily made, easily enjoyed food for millennial buckeroos everywhere. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

In case the title alone isn't enough to identify this meaty collection as a seriously macho undertaking, there is a foreword by Robert Duvall and a cameo hamburger recipe from Fess Parker, TV's own Davy Crockett. Perini, born and raised a gourmet, knows all there is to know about chuck-wagon cuisine, and his cooking is simplicity itself. Salt, pepper and a small handful of household herbs and spices carry the weight in several dry rubs concocted to coat a prime rib or beef brisket. Salt pork, garlic and a spoonful of chili powder are all the seasonings needed for a classic kettle of Ranch Beans. Similarly, his Fried Catfish and Chicken Fried Steak want nothing more exotic than an egg and some flour or pepper-seasoned cornmeal. And Perini loves his dairy just as much as his beef. He uses a touch of cream in his hamburger recipe (complementing the quarter-cup of strong coffee in his BBQ sauce) and creates a Roasted Garlic-Horseradish Cream that is one part horseradish to eight parts heavy cream. A good dose of ranching history and plenty of pictures of men on their steeds round out the adventure. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Time-Life Books (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0737020377
• ISBN-13: 978-0737020373
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 9.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,061,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Texas Cowboy Cooking, April 9, 2000

By 

John Wrenn (between Abilene, Texas and Buffalo Gap, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texas Cowboy Cooking (Hardcover)

Texas Cowboy Cooking by Tom Perini arrived yesterday. It is a cookbook that makes you want to jump up and make the recipes as you are turning the pages of the book. We have already tried the Cowboy Bloody Mary, Lisa's Favorite Caesar Salad, the seasoned olive oil for the Sourdough Bread Chips to use as croutons for the salad and are in the process of making the Sourdough Starter for the Sourdough Bread. It's the best Caesar Dressing that we've tried and the croutons are very good.

The historical information is good and has added color to this cookbook. It is not Texas boastful--simply well done. We plan on giving it as Christmas gifts to family members who have visited us here in Abilene, Texas.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Too Can Cook Like a Cowboy (And Cowboys Can Cook), May 23, 2000

By 

Pat Schieffer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texas Cowboy Cooking (Hardcover)

By Bob Schieffer

We're Texans and knew Texas Cowboy Cooking would be for us but we put it to the ultimate test: we had a dinner party, made sure we invited no one from below the Mason-Dixon line and served only food described in this book.

And the answer is..they licked their plates clean and would have eaten more if it had been there. I call that a real final answer.

My wife Pat who is the chief cook and bottle washer at our Washington D.C. corral served up a tenderloin done up in the dry rub described in the book and surrounded it with hominy and green chilis, black eyed peas with okra after a gazpacho start. We finished off with the peach crisp. Comments ranged from Wow! to Hot Damn! (actually that last one came from me) and we're talking people who had never seen hominy. Most of all this is a book about cooking meat and Author Tom Perini may know more about it than anyone on earth. If you can find a fire and a good or even an average piece of meat he can show you how to make it taste better than anything you've ever put in your mouth.

But like his combo of jalapenos and hominy, he'll also introduce you to some dishes you may never have heard of and every one is better than the next one. The bonus here is that you could throw all the recipes out and this would still be a great coffee table book filled with terrific pictures of Texas Ranch life.

Buy this book. We can't all live on a ranch but we can sure eat like cowboys.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cowboy Culture & Cuisine!, March 27, 2000

By 

TX Starbucks Addict (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texas Cowboy Cooking (Hardcover)

Since we frequent Perini's Steakhouse, we know Tom's award-winning cuisine first-hand! His cookbook is a "no-holds barred" approach... giving ALL of his famous recipes from his unbeatable steak rub to green chile hominy to his signature bread pudding with whiskey sauce!

In addition to fabulous recipes, the book also showcases wonderful photography depecting life in West Texas. Sidelines feature insights into several famous Texas ranches.

Your cookbook collection shouldn't be without this book! It is one you will be sure to use often!