On Food & Culture
I’m thrilled to share with you the good news that we’ve begun filming a new food documentary, the untold story of the 10,000 year culinary traditions of Texas. We began in San Antonio’s Westside, where families dig earth ovens and slow-cook meat over 12 hours. …
Spanish Gazpacho is a “must have” summer dish. It’s Spanish, not Mexican, although it is based on Mexican ingredients like bell pepper (chile dulce) and tomatoes. Really good gazpacho depends on great tasting tomatoes, so I either grow tomatoes or buy them from local gardeners/growers. …
Look at Mexican restaurants all across Texas and you’ll find burgers on many of their menus, Doña María in Houston and Los Barrios in San Antonio being two examples. My Picadillo Burger takes the beloved burger to its natural Mexican culinary conclusion. It is, after …
Shrimp Etouffee always reminds of me how chiles are beloved all over the world. Cajun cuisine adopted Mexican chiles, creating new tastes, and the results are inspired. Chile dulce (bell pepper) is essential to cajun cuisine. Because it has no capsaicin, chile dulce (sweet chile) …
Paella is Spanish for friendship, right? Well, it should be. Friendships seem to surround Spanish paella, both making it and eating it. Although it’s famous all over Texas and Mexico, it’s still a Spanish paella, not Mexican. In the late 1800s and through the 1900s, …
My amá (mom) served these powdered shrimp cakes regularly during Lent, especially on Good Friday because we were following the Catholic practice of doing penance by not eating meat. We rarely had meat at our table, so the penance part of this was always a …
In our central, south Texas and northeastern Mexico culinary region, pinto beans are the staple in native Mexican-American homes. No exceptions, not ever. I was amazed when, working in Chiapas, Mexico during my sophomore year of college, I encountered black beans. They were such a …
I grew up with my ama’s (mom) Texas Mexican cooking. Texas Mexican cooking just like Oaxaca Mexican, Puebla Mexican and all the other regional styles of Mexican cooking, is best described as comida casera home-style-cooking. Enjoyed by Mexican American families today, this unique cuisine has …
In the 1950’s the Iceberg lettuce wedge with blue cheese dressing was ubiquitous in the US. It remains a cool retro food on many menus and when I see it, I can’t resist ordering it. Fresh, lush, delicious, especially when the iceberg lettuce wedge is …
Empanadas De Pino are the iconic food of Chile. The word, pino, is derived from the Mapuche indigenous word, pinu, which means: pieces of cooked meat. The Mapuche are the indigenous communities of Chile with roots dating back 2,000 years, to the cultures named Pitrén …