On Food & Culture
This cornbread recipe was the Thanksgiving feature in the online magazine, Lone Star Literary Life. It’s my mom’s family recipe. Amá made this cornbread dressing every Thanksgiving. It’s different from other cornbread dressing recipes because there’s no sage in it, and it combines pecans, raisins …
Caldo de res is a dish that brings warmth, on many levels, such as appreciation for the bounty of the land, because this beef soup has so many delicious vegetables. For the Medrano household, it was also a catalyst for intimate family dissension. Some of …
“Café De Olla” is sometimes made with orange peel or cloves, but this is my favorite way, using just Mexican canela (cinnamon) and piloncillo (un-refined, natural cane sugar). This Mexican brew will revive you, not just because of the caffeine but because of the delicious …
This stuffed squash blossoms recipe is a sure “wow” factor at parties. Guests swear that the rich texture comes from cream or cheese, but it doesn’t. The sumptuous texture derives from the beans, slowly and properly cooked. Another reason these are a party hit is …
Mexican queso is chile con queso, and it often misunderstood, confused with the so-called tex-mex dip that’s made by combining canned tomatoes, canned chiles, and Velveeta brand cheese. Even the much quoted Diana Southwood Kennedy admits that she thought Chile Con Queso was not Mexican …
Nopalitos shrimp gorditas evoke two very different landscapes of the Texas-Mexico food region: the Gulf coast and the semi-dessert. The map shows the region of south Texas/northern Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas sharing the Gulf of Mexico. It remains a cohesive culinary region, sharing the same …
Perusing my archives for quick big batch recipes, found this perfect Mexican Rajas Poblanas dish. In the hurricane Harvey aftermath, you gotta have both “delicious” and “big batch” for guests. When you volunteer to help in your church kitchen or shelter, get your hands on …
In the Texas Mexico region, (central, south Texas and northeastern Mexico) ,wheat flour tortillas are fluffy and pliant. They are all-purpose (AP) wheat flour delicacies, and we switch back and forth between these and corn tortillas, depending on the dish we’re enjoying. We always use …
You can feature this jicama salad as a buffet dish, or you can plate the vegetables as a first course for dinner. The Serrano chiles perk up the lime dressing. I grew up in a Mexican American family that, like many others, ate lots of …
Serve nopalitos con huevo with freshly made corn tortillas. The tang and crispness of the nopalitos are wonderful for breakfast. It’s a classic Mexican dish that’s enjoyed all over the US and Mexico, and certainly everywhere in the Texas Mexican region. Moreover, nopalitos are a …