Richly illustrated cookbook transports readers back to 1915 in the Texas Hill Country, before the introduction of packaged foods, refrigeration, and mass-produced goods. Photos by Laurence Parent.
The free-spirited, unpretentious Texas Hill Country is a treasure. Central Texas is an unpretentious, free-spirited region filled with treasured taquerias, hallowed music venues, juicy BBQ, and revered natural wonders. A non-stop schedule of cultural festivals makes for year-round revelry. Explore San Antonio's pedestrian-friendly River Walk, legendary Alamo and historic Mission Trail. Austin's internationally recognized music scene keeps feet tapping and its parks, trails, and swimming holes offer endless recreation. Take a carefree road trip through the Hill Country, past vineyards and wildflowers, to towns brimming with gourmet restaurants and relaxing B&Bs.
Experience the grandeur of the Texas Hill Country through stunning photography and narrative highlighting the natural beauty, scenic wonders, charming historic towns, and cultural heritage of Texas's most celebrated region. Cradled by Austin to the east and San Antonio to the south, the Texas Hill Country is famous for its undulating landscape, where spring-fed streams carve wooded canyons, rugged limestone peaks rise to more than 2,500 feet, and country roads wind through rolling grasslands and wildflower meadows. Captured beautifully in 153 color photos, view this beautiful region through the eyes of Texas-native photographer and author Eric W. Pohl. Join him on an intimate visual journey, leaving behind the freeways and big cities to reveal out-of-the-way places and explore the true heart of Texas.
"This vegetable and seafood-heavy book has recipes for all the classics . . . I would plead for as a kid . . . It's a technique-heavy book, full of reliable instructions and gorgeous, nostalgic photographs." —Epicurious Ruwanmali Samarakoon-Amunugama's childhood memories of visits to her parents' homeland in Sri Lanka were filled with colourful trips to the market, lively, happy meals with her extended family, and long, scenic car rides from the capital of Colombo, past tea estates and farmers' stalls, into the hill country around Kandy. In Milk, Spice and Curry Leaves, Ruwan shares the rustic, tropical flavours of these Sri Lankan visits—sweet pineapple and mango, bitter gourd, toothsome cashews, spicy chili pepper, tart lime, and many more—in recipes designed with North American home cooks in mind. She introduces the three pillars of Sri Lankan cuisine: coconut milk, rice, and spice, and walks readers through the steps to make the two foundational Sri Lankan curry powders (roasted and unroasted). She also goes into detail on specialty products—like goraka, pandanus leaves, tamarind, and young jackfruit—always with attention to using ingredients available in North American grocery stores. With lush food photography and styling, hand-drawn illustrations, heirloom photos and ephemera, Milk, Spice and Curry Leaves is an invitation to a way of cooking and a family of traditions from the country known as "the Pearl of the Indian Ocean."
See just how much the Lone Star State has to offer There is much natural and cultural diversity to be found in the heart of one of the country’s most notable and beloved states. This guide focuses on beautiful, vibrant, and distinct Austin, San Antonio, and the Hill Country. Texas is known for its strong sports teams and lively music scene, but take a closer look at cities like San Antonio and Austin and you’ll find that there’s more than meets the eye. Austin boasts acres of parks, bike trails, and beautiful natural wonders. San Antonio offers a pedestrian-friendly, fun-filled downtown area that celebrates its Native American and Mexican influences with delicious food and unique architecture. Once you’ve had enough of urban living, the Hill Country is the perfect place to unwind. Spend a day at one of this region’s vineyards, fields of lavender, or state parks. With this comprehensive guide in hand, you’ll experience a whole other side of Texas—and maybe more!
This is the story of the founding of New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, Comfort and the other German settlements of the Texas Hill Country. Refugees from economic and social strife in Germany, followed by idealistic communalists and liberal political refugees, came to the Hill Country looking for freedom and opportunity. Landing on the windswept shores of Matagorda Bay, they traced a path across the plains, seeking a future in the hills beyond. There they found a raw, untamed realm where few but Comanches dared go. Reaching for a promised land beyond the Llano River, the earliest immigrants soon realized that their dream was beyond their grasp, and had no choice but to adapt to the realities of the Texas frontier. Some fared well. Others succumbed to disease, injury, hunger and violence. Most stayed, but some retreated to less challenging locales. A remarkable few established outposts of intellectual fervor in pioneer settlements, debating the great ideas of the day in drafty log cabins. Bringing with them traditions and perspectives rooted in the feudal and despotic European past, the Germans learned to adjust to Texan and American notions, only to find themselves divided by the great controversy over slavery and secession. This is a story of hardy, industrious people transplanted into the most challenging of circumstances. It is a story of Texan pioneers.
Widely hailed as one of the most influential cookbooks of all time, this is the timeless classic guide to culinary creativity and flavor exploration, based on the wisdom of the world's most innovative chefs Eight years in the making, The Flavor Bible is a landmark book that has inspired the greatest creations of innovative cooks and chefs by serving as an indispensable guide to creativity and flavor affinities in today's kitchen. Cuisine is undergoing a startling historic transformation: With the advent of the global availability of ingredients, dishes are no longer based on geography but on flavor. This radical shift calls for a new approach to cooking -- as well as a new genre of "cookbook" that serves not to document classic dishes via recipes, but to inspire the creation of new ones based on imaginative and harmonious flavor combinations. The Flavor Bible is your guide to hundreds of ingredients along with the herbs, spices, and other seasonings that will allow you to coax the greatest possible flavor and pleasure from them. This astonishing reference distills the combined experience of dozens of America's most innovative culinarians, representing such celebrated and transformative restaurants as A Voce, Blue Hill, Café Atlántico, Chanterelle, Citronelle, Gramercy Tavern, the Herbfarm, Jardinière, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, the Modern, and the Trellis. You'll learn to: explore the roles played by the four basic tastes -- salty, sour, bitter, and sweet -- and how to bring them into harmony; work more intuitively and effectively with ingredients by discovering which flavors have the strongest affinities for one another; brighten flavors through the use of acids -- from vinegars to citrus juices to herbs and spices such as Makrut lime and sumac; deepen or intensify flavors through layering specific ingredients and techniques; and balance the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of cooking and serving an extraordinary meal. Seasoned with tips, anecdotes, and signature dishes from the country's most respected chefs and pastry chefs, The Flavor Bible is an essential book for every kitchen library. For more inspiration in the kitchen, look for The Vegetarian Flavor Bible andKitchen Creativity.
Only Ardie and Paul, the go-to sources on barbecue, can earn the trust--and the secret recipes--from some of the nation's barbecue legends. Tasty sides include tips, tricks, techniques, fun memorabilia, full-color photos, and firsthand recollections of tales from the pits culled from over a century of combined barbecue experience. With more than 100 recipes for mouthwatering starters, moist and flavorful meats, classic side dishes, sauces and rubs, and decadent desserts, this book should come with its own wet-nap. * Whether it's spicy or sweet, Texas or Memphis, this is the best collection of American barbecue recipes. * Ardie's BBQ alter ego, Remus Powers, PhB, has earned profiles in many barbecue books, tons of magazines, and more than a few national newspapers. He's graced the Food Network and PBS, appearing in various documentaries on 'cue and great American cuisine. * Paul has appeared on The Today Show, Discovery Channel, CBS This Morning, Talk Soup, and Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal. He was also featured in AARP's Modern Maturity Magazine, Saveur, and The Calgary Herald, and he has written articles for Food and Wine, Fine Cooking, and Chili Pepper magazine.
Rooted in tradición mexicana and infused with Texas food culture, tacos are some of Texans’ all-time favorite foods. In The Tacos of Texas, the taco journalists Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece take us on a muy sabroso taco tour around the state as they discover the traditions, recipes, stories, and personalities behind puffy tacos in San Antonio, trompo tacos in Dallas, breakfast tacos in Austin, carnitas tacos in El Paso, fish tacos in Corpus Christi, barbacoa in the Rio Grande Valley, and much more. Starting with the basics—tortillas, fillings, and salsas—and how to make, order, and eat tacos, the authors highlight ten taco cities/regions of Texas. For each place, they describe what makes the tacos distinctive, name their top five places to eat, and listen to the locals tell their taco stories. They hear from restaurant owners, taqueros, abuelitas, chefs, and patrons—both well-known and everyday folks—who talk about their local taco history and culture while sharing authentic recipes and recommendations for the best taco purveyors. Whether you can’t imagine a day without tacos or you’re just learning your way around the trailers, trucks, and taqueros that make tacos happen, The Tacos of Texas is the indispensable guidebook, cookbook, and testimonio.
The Best Little From-Scratch Bakery in Texas The pastry case in Rebecca Rather's bakery in Fredericksburg is packed with ultra-buttery scones, luscious cakes, cookies the size of saucers, brownies as big as bricks, and fruit pies that look as though they came straight out of Grandma's oven. Since the day Rebecca and her Rather Sweet Bakery and Café came to town, life in this Hill Country hamlet has been even sweeter and the townsfolk now know why she is the Pastry Queen. Everything she makes is a lot like her: down-home yet grand, and familiar yet one-of-a-kind. A native Texan, Rather makes the most of her Lone Star state's varied traditions, whether looking to the kitchens of Texas's Mexican and German immigrants or to the cowboy culture of her own forebears. Best of all, her recipes aren't fussy—one of her best-selling cakes stirs together in a single saucepan. Add in a cupful of Texas attitude and her made-from-scratch-with-love philosophy, and you've got an irresistible taste of American baking. What's best at Rather Sweet? Rebecca's customers all have their favorites (and she is happy to cater to their cravings), but here's just a taste of the perennial best sellers: • Apple-Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Scones • Texas Big Hairs Lemon-Lime Tarts (the only big hair Rebecca has ever had!) • Fourth of July Fried Pies • Peach Queen Cake with Dulce de Leche Frosting • Turbo-Charged Brownies with Praline Topping • All-Sold-Out Chicken Pot Pies • Kolaches (pillowy yeasted buns with sweet or savory fillings) • PB&J Cookies With over 125 surefire tested recipes and 100 photographs that richly capture small-town life in the Hill Country, The Pastry Queen offers a Texas-size serving of the royal splendor of Rebecca's baked goods—courtesy of the rather sweet gal behind the case.