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An Excerpt From The Homesick Texan Cookbook
Chilis, Soups, and Stews “Now, observe closely: this is the secret ingredient,” said Uncle Richard as he poured in a serving of masa harina into his bubbling pot of chili. It was an early December day,...
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New York City Has “Interesting” Frito Pie
First, Manhattan’s Hill Country Barbecue gets Aaron Franklin cooking on a gas-fueled smoker. Now, New York magazine has discovered Frito Pie. The publication’s food blog, Grub Street, posted a...
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How to Make Chili
When Ben Z. Grant, a state representative from Marshall, persuaded the Sixty-Fifth Legislature to make chili the official state dish, in 1977, he had history on his side. Many people believe that chile...
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For the Love (or Hate) of Chili
“Chile con carne: a detestable food which, falsely called Mexican, is sold in the United States from Texas to New York.”—Francisco J. Santamaria, Diccionario de Mejicanismos, 1959 “Chili eaters is some...
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Chili
The Dish To stare into the glossy depths of a Texas bowl of red, with its heady currents of beef and blessed absence of beans, is to understand a truth about chili: It demands passion. In the history...
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Frito Pie for 5,000, Anyone?
As far as Texas Monthly is concerned, Frito Pie is best served in the bag. But that’s not really an option when your serving size is 1,325 pounds. Monday, Frito-Lay and the State Fair of Texas teamed...
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Six World Records Set in Texas…and Four More That Need to Be
Happy Guinness World Records Day! Today is the eighth annual event held (largely online) by the British arbiter of the Longest, Shortest, and Fastest. Today people around the globe are encouraged to...
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Bowl of Dread
Chili. A classic Texas dish, some would say—but not I. I loathe it. What is it about a bowl of red that appeals to the palate, anyway? Surely not beef suet, an essential ingredient in old-time...
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At the Family Table With the Homesick Texan
For Lisa Fain, it may have started with a cheese log. She was eight years old when she watched her grandmother make one for a party. “It was her aunt’s recipe, and I was just blown away,” says Fain. “I...
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The Texanist
Q: This past summer my teenage daughter and her friend tie-dyed some T-shirts in our garage, and now my husband has found me “complicit” in the “desecration” of his beloved chili pot, which he recently...
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Cook Like a Texanist
If you are reading this, the world must not have come to an end after all. I am especially relieved. Because if the final ruination of all mankind had occurred, it would have been yours truly who would...
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Brisket > Chili
That barbecue is not Texas’s state dish is a travesty. Paul Burka first made the argument decades ago in his scathing article “I Still Hate Chili” claiming that “never has the legislature so abandoned...
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The Bloody San Antonio Origins of Chili Con Carne
How much do we really know about the history of chili con carne? Once considered outrageously exotic by Anglo diners, chili has since won recognition as the dish that gave rise to Tex-Mex cuisine. Here...
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The Heyday of Chili Con Carne
Last month, we brought you the early history of chili con carne, focusing specifically on its first contact with Anglo Texans and its role in the origins of Tex-Mex cuisine. In addition to discussing...
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Smoked Brisket Chili Combines All That is Good
Just when I thought chili weather was going away, it’s back in Texas with a vengeance. Not that I really mind, because it gives more time for me to indulge in a recent chili obsession. But not just any...
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The Texanist: Why Isn’t Chicken-Fried Steak Our Official State Dish?
Q: I realize the food section isn’t your department, but perhaps you can provide me with some answers. Your magazine’s recent “Feast Around the World” cover story [November 2018] brought me to quit...
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All of the Texas Treats You Could Eat For the Price of That $1,600 Burger
Houston’s Post Oak Hotel recently announced a new menu item that seems as gross as it is grossly overpriced. “The Black Gold Burger,” which costs $1,600 American dollars, is comprised of sliced...
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This Plant-Based Chili Has No Meat (or Beans)
Unlike regular beef, Beyond Meat’s Beyond Beef product—a plant-based ground meat substitute whose sales have surged in the past few years as beef has come under fire for its environmental...
View ArticleTwo-Tone Chili
Chris “Whip” Layton’s Two-Tone Chili 2 bottles dark beer (Dos Equis) or 2 cans (15 ounces each) chicken stock Juice of 4 limes 6 tablespoons Pickapeppa steak sauce 3 pounds venison stew meat 5 slices...
View ArticleChili Relations
I came to the weird world of chili cookoffs rather late in life—last year on the first Saturday of November, to be exact. I’d been invited to judge the twenty-fifth annual Terlingua International Chili...
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The Texanist: If You’re Not a Fan of Fruitcake and Canned Chili, What’s So...
Q: I was born in Corsicana, a place famous for Wolf Brand Chili and fruitcake from Collin Street Bakery. No true Texan eats canned chili, and I’m not sure many eat fruitcake, either. In fact, was...
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Doesn’t anyone have anything to say about barbecue?THE COVER STORY ON BARBECUE was great [“Smokin’!,” May 1997]; however, one thing was left out—a scratch-and-sniff page.GORDON RUBINETTAustinI SUSPECT...
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Liberty Hill’s Agape BBQ Smokes Meat With Love
Jeremy Archer was ready to leave the barbecue game and go back to his corporate IT job when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. He had opened Archer BBQ in Cedar Park, which he described as “a...
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The 70-Year Journey to Making Bolner’s Fiesta Brand Spices Texas Kitchen...
Clifton Bolner wanted out of the grocery business. He had worked for his grandfather, Joe Bolner Jr., since he was a child, and, with typical Texas swagger, he was looking for a way to prove his own...
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This Pitmaster Wants to Make El Paso a Barbecue Destination
Joe Martinez’s wife calls him a serial hobbyist. He went through a phase with bowling, then one with drones; gun collecting and hunting were next, and then he bought a Camaro for drag racing. The...
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