On Food & Culture
Happy Holidays. How about a smoked guajolote, turkey for Thanksgiving. The guajolote, turkey, is native to Texas and Mexico. Over millenia, it was hunted by Native Americans for feathers, food and fashion. Some of the bones (the hollow ones) were fashioned into necklaces. It was […]
Meatballs in tomato broth were a favorite recipe of my sister Gloria Fernández. She added rice to the meatballs, as do many family cooks in south Texas and northeastern Mexico. They are part of our traditional cuisine, with the flavoring and caldo, broth, different from […]
Nopalitios agua fresca is a recipe I’ve adapted from one published in the monthly magazine, El Mesteño: A Magazine About Mexican-American Culture And Heritage In South Texas And Mexico. It was published by Homero Vera. Nopalitos are part of the Texas Mexican culinary heritage since […]
Hoja Santa is native to the southern regions of Mexico and is especially common in the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Quintana Roo. Though it grows here in Texas, it was not a part of my family’s Texas Mexican cooking as I was growing […]
In our 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 radical, […]
Mexican rice is loved in every Texas Mexican American home, from Houston, to San Antonio, to McAllen, to Monterrey. Each family has its own special and cherished recipe that evokes memories of childhood, family, celebrative moments, and times that were not so good. I’d like […]
This southern fish fry menu includes a rich sauce and a salad. Fish fry is traditional in the southern US, although the actual frying technique, well, not so recent. The fish fry is born of the African American enslaved communities who spent Saturdays, once the […]
“Chorizo Country” and egg is a hearty and traditional Texas Mexican breakfast taco. Just ask anyone in central or south Texas. Add some freshly made tomato and Serrano chile salsa and you’ll be ready to save the world! The best breakfast tacos are made with […]
Mexican Lenten dishes celebrate the enthusiasm and imagination of culinary artists intent on designing pleasure within the confines of proscribed public penance. Abstaining from meat during the fridays of Lent, avid cooks could return to the indigenous Texas and Mexican traditions of plant-based cooking. Nopalitios, […]
Caesar Salad always reminds of of César Chavez and Dolores Huerta because Romaine was our lettuce of choice during the 1970 United Farm Workers lettuce boycott. On August 24, 1970, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, leaders of the eventual United Farm Workers Union, called for […]