Deep in the Heart of Texas: Robb Walsh

Whenever I see an unlicensed shade-tree barbecue stand along the side of a Texas farm-to-market road, I think of history's first barbecue salesmen -- those famous outlaws, the buccaneers.

In the French West Indies, the word for a barbecue grill is boucan (from Tupi, a Brizilian language). Boucanee means smoked meat. Hence, "buccaneer" is derived from the French word for "barbecuer." The buccaneers were a ragtag crew consisting mainly of French and English outlaws and escaped slaves. They hid from the Spanish on the island of Tortuga off the northern coast of Hispaniola in the mid-1600s. Although they would later be known for their seafaring exploits, their original business was smoke-cured meat.

The buccaneers hunted the wild cows and pigs left behind the failed Spanish settlements on the island of Hispaniola. They smoke-cured the meat and sold it to the passing ships. Hunted themselves by the Spanish, the buccaneeers banded together for their own protection. Eventually they gave up on the meat business and went to sea. soon they discovered that capturing Spanish vessels by surprise attack was a lot more lucrative than chasing wild pigs. Before long, the buccaneers came to be known more as fearless seamen than as barbecue purveyors. But many would argue that it was in their first occupation that they made their most significant contribution to humanity.

Like the buccaneers, Texas barbecue joints are forever at odds with the authorities. Barbecue is, by definition, a primitive cooking process. The health laws in many Texas counties do not allow restaurants to cook outdoors. Many barbecue joints build tin roofs, screened porches, and other elaborate facades to bring the outdoor cooking indoors (at least technically). In outlaw tradition, the best barbecue generally comes from the joint that is in the most trouble with the health department.

Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pit Bosses by Robb Walsh

If you are interested in the history of American cooking, then Robb Walsh is a must read.

If you are interested in the history of Texas cooking, then Robb Walsh is a must read.

If you are interested in Texas cooking now as well as recipes on doing this yourself ... well you get the point.

Must read!

Yes, I'm a fan.

He has covered barbecue, Tex-Mex, and cowboy cooking with historical information, oral tradition, restaurant information, and current day cooking and tastes. He does his own research, takes his own photos when those he can find won't do, and makes it all so easy to read that you don't feel as if you are absorbing history.

Excerpts tend to speak better for his cookbooks than I can do.

The Tex-Mex Railway

"Tex-Mex" first entered the language as a nickname for the Texas and Mexican Railway which was chartered in 1875. Newspaper railroad schedules used the abbrreviation "Tex. Mex." for the rail line which ran from Laredo to Corpus Christi.

The Oxford English Dictionary has cited a 1941 Time magazine quote as the first use in print, but several earlier citations appear in small-town newspapers. An earlier use of the hyphenated form is found in this May 23, 1922, citation from the Mexia Evening News (Mexia, Texas): "... the new town of Marindo City on the Tex-Mex Railway, where oil is loaded ..."

The term came to be used across the U.S. to describe people of Mexican ancestry in Texas as in this item from The Gastonia Daily Gazette (Gastonia, North Carolina) May 29, 1926: "One year the offering went to the Tex-Mex school, the School for Mexicans on the Texas side." On September 19, 1928, the Newark Advocate (Newark, Ohio) published this definition: "Q. What are Tex-Mex? A. Texas-born Mexicans."

The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos by Robb Walsh

But what about the recipes I can hear you saying. What about cooking from these books?

Good question and, sadly, all my appreciation comes from reading the books as I have been doing basic subsistence cooking lately. However, I feel myself shaking that mood off and plan to make this recipe soon. For more concrete appreciation, check out Homesick Texan who not only cooks from these books but has actually spent time cooking with Robb Walsh!

Sweet Potatoes Baked in Cane Syrup

(from The Texas Cowboy Cookbook)

How long you bake it depends on how wet the potatoes are, Mama Sugar Sanders cautions. If the sweet potatoes give off a lot of water, increase the baking time until the liquid is reduced.

Serves 8

2 tablespoons butter
3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 cup cane syrup
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a medium baking dish.

Layer the sweet potato slices in the prepared baking dish. Pour the cane syrup over the top and dot with the remaining butter. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and tun with a spatula so the top slices are on the bottom and the bottom slices are on top. Sprinkle with the sugar and return to the oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes more, until the juices have thickened into a syrup. Remove the pan from the oven and press down on the potato slices with a spatula so they are submerged in the juices. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Now Serving Hot Links

3 Easy Pieces
Spaghetti with Breadcrumbs, Quesadillas, and Shrimp. That's what three Dallas chefs cook at home for their families on their day off. Good looking and simple recipes ... I'd forgotten about Quesadillas as a potential meal so this was a nice reminder of a really quick, delicious save for busy days. This is the feature story of the food section at the Dallas Morning News and free registration may be required.

The King of Casseroles?

We Texans, like most Americans, love our casseroles. Though what usually sets a Texan casserole apart from its neighbors is the spices used. Not shy with the peppers, most Texan casseroles have a bit of a kick. And one of the most popular casseroles we make is King Ranch Chicken Casserole, a soft, slightly spicy, cheesy mixture of tomatoes, corn tortillas, chicken, cream and peppers. It goes down easy and is the ultimate comfort food.

Yep. I love a good King Ranch Casserole which I'd never heard of until I moved to Texas. Homesick Texan has not only a recipe but her always-fun-to-read commentary as well.

Mooncakes and the Mid-Autumn Festival

Growing up, our group of girl cousins were told that the Moon Goddess Chang E would powder her face so as to be at her most beautiful on that night. Being a deity, the powder that falls from her puff would bless young maidens with beauty. Hence, we should sit demurely with our faces upturned toward the moon and think "pure thoughts." ...

Also, I could not wrap my mind around why the aunts did not have to participate in the same vapid moon-gazing; at that tender age, I did not know of anyone in greater need of Chang E's magic powder than Second Aunt.

Memories of the Mooncake Festival ... a good read.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

As I anticipated, there is a heckuva a lot of agenda in the book. However, I find most of the agenda congenial. Because I've grown increasingly suspicious of anything that represents itself as "non-fiction" there are some facts I would like to check out--particularly things like whether a patent on a genotype gives you the right to shut down nearby farming operations into which your patented genes have dispersed by air. If so, we all have a lot to be concerned about with the control of the eight basic crops in the hands of only four companies.

But I've also grown used to the fact that a specific wildly idiotic example is held up as the universal practice. I'm also suspicious of unquoted sources and innuendo.

Steven Riddle is reading the latest trendy food-ethics book (the label is my own) and has reactions similar to the ones I have felt from simply reading enthralled foodies' reviews. Being Steven, of course, he is eminently fair and so also shares an overview, a bit of Ms. Kingsolvers' humor, and a danger that never would have occurred to him without the book. Certainly I never would have thought to consider this book alongside Dante's warnings about gluttons, even though I am currently working my way (very slowly) thorough that classic. Check it out.

Good Blogs Alert!
A lot of people probably have already discovered these blogs but just in case ...

• Tigers & Strawberries
  Barbara Fisher has intelligent and interesting food writing as well as a passion for Asian foods to make at home. Take a look through her archives and you will find accessible recipes for a gaggle of noodle dishes as well as the more commonly thought of stir-fries ... many of them inspired by the sort of restaurant cooking she used to do. As well she has thoughtful writing on food subjects of the moment when they arise ... such as the media terror over fewer bees and the trendiness of cupcakes. (Which is to say that I agree with, right? Right.)


• CHOW Tour: Mongol Rally
  From London to Mongolia, fish and chips to fermented horse milk, all in a month. Writer Joshua M. Bernstein and his crew are eating their way across 8,000 miles in the Mongol Rally... Which leads to such seminal moments as ...

  What interests me more are pinkie-size bricks that appear to be made out of the stuff that’s inside malted milk balls. I walk up to a woman wearing a vibrant purple dress and a green headband. Her front four teeth are fake, which she demonstrates by disconcertingly sliding them around her mouth while talking.
  
  She tries to sell me a bowl of milky liquid, which looks suspiciously like the sour goat milk I despise. But I do buy several bricks for five soms (less than a penny).
  
  “Moo?” I ask. Thankfully, animal sounds are universal. I’m guessing it’s milk curds.
  
  The woman nods. “Aaruul.”
  
  Mims and I take a bite of one brick. It’s as dry as chalk and tastes like sour Parmesan.
  
  “All the moisture has been sucked from my mouth,” Mims says.

  Good stuff.

A Little Food for Thought ...

... at Forgotten Classics podcast where we celebrate food writing with Eat, Drink and Be Merry.

The Rise of the Food Police

A city councilwoman is proposing a moratorium on fast-food restaurants in south Los Angeles, which has more such eateries than any other part of the county.

The ordinance proposed by Councilwoman Jan Perry would stop new fast-food restaurants from opening in the area for up to two years while the city establishes a long-term plan to deal with the restaurants that have been linked to health problems.

Story here

Big Brother casts his eye on the populace and decides that less freedom is better. So much easier to slap a negative law down (or to propose one) than to look at something positive ... such as reworking the city to create walking friendly neighborhoods, etc.

What's next? A stop on the scales before you can buy some Oreos?

National Cream Filled Doughnuts Day

9. In an episode of "The Simpsons," what did Homer trade for a doughnut?

a. Bart
b. A piece of pie
c. His soul

This is the only question I knew the answer to in this doughnut quiz (well, ok, I knew the answer to #5 also ...). Celebrate by taking the quiz. Via Serious Eats.

Fine Art Friday

Krispy Kreme 3 by Duane Keiser.

He is today's featured artist in the Fine Art Festival. For more of his featured paintings, go here.

Fine Art Friday

Die Schwarze Pump (The Black Pump)

Check out the Fine Art Festival which will run for at least seven days, which features this artist today.

The Crush is On

First, I must say that de-stemming and crushing a bucket of grapes is an absolutely wonderful experience. I sat outside on a stump, pulling clusters from one bucket and plucking them into a second bucket, one after another, just enjoying the solitude and allowing myself to get lost in thought. As I began crushing handfuls of grapes, making sure none of them eluded my fingers, I imagined these grapes as being my own sacrifice offered to God. All my work, all my difficulties, all my life...broken open and poured out, so the Winemaker could use the juice to make something far greater.

So says The Yeoman Farmer who has a number of fascinating reports and ruminations up about grapes, harvesting, and wine. Via Catholicism + Wine.

Cooking for the Beautiful People

Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France's Cote d'Azur and Italy's Costa Bella
by David Shalleck

Somehow David Shalleck pulled off the feat of making his book suspenseful. The difficulty of achieving that is explained when you realize that the book is about cooking for some supremely privileged people aboard their yacht.

Shalleck is trying to find himself as a cook. He has failed what he sees as "tests" from culinary authorities Alice Waters and Nathalie Waag. They understand the essence of cooking and being a chef in a way that he does not even begin to comprehend. In an effort to close the gap, he then embarks on a series of apprenticeships in different Italian kitchens, sponsored by Faith Willinger.

Finally, he becomes the personal chef for a couple we know only as La Signora and il Dottore. He has a series of challenges to overcome. First of all, though the yacht, Serenity, has been completely refitted, no one ever had a cook give the specs for the kitchen so the limited facilities seem extremely daunting. Indeed, at time, such as when a floating party of over 100 people are expecting a many-course meal, one wonders that any chef could overcome such limiting conditions.

The greatest challenge, however, is pleasing his employers who do not want any dish to be repeated, want to experience the atmosphere of their various ports of call along the Mediterranean, and do not give very much feedback, which Shalleck intensely desires. The employers are not made out to be bad people. Quite the opposite, Shalleck has respect and a degree of liking for them. As shown in the book, they become their own personalities, albeit strong ones, and we also can respect their desires. I found myself in suspense after each situation to see if La Signora would give approval to a meal.

As well, we see Shalleck's more limited interaction with the crew, his journeys every morning to the markets where he will get inspiration for meals, and get a bird's eye view toward living aboard a ship as an employee.

If this sort of reading is your cup of tea, as it is obviously mine, you will enjoy this book. Highly recommended.

Chocolate Festival Cake

One person took a bite and said, "Peanut butter! I love chocolate and peanut butter!"

Another sampled his slice and said, "But it isn't just peanut butter and chocolate. There's some other flavor in there."

I told them, "Bananas. It has bananas in it."

Yet a third person said, "Is this technically difficult to make? Because I really want the recipe."

The first two people chorused, "Us too. We want that recipe."

What makes this an unusual conversation is that this was at a birthday party and the speakers were all college sophomores. If you don't have any college aged kids, just think back to your own late teens to realize how unlikely this request for a recipe actually is, to say nothing of the entire conversation. Needless to say, this cake was popular.

Hannah's friend, Jenny, picked out this cake from Maida Heatter's Cakes. I had never seen a cake with such a combination of dominant flavors: chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas. We were all intensely curious to see what it was like.

It is hard to describe the taste, as you really can taste all those dominant ingredients, however, as reported above it was a huge success. Give it a try.

Notes:
Heatter is well known for exhaustive instructions in her recipes. I revised a few of her technique notes for simplicity's sake ... and have adapted the recipe below to reflect those changes.

The icing contains a raw egg which would have worried me about salmonella if all I listened to were the sound bytes of major media. Here is a link which talks about food risks and raw eggs, which are much slighter than you would know from the way it is generally presented.

Serves 24

For the cake:
Step 1:
3 cups (12 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 10 x 4" tube pan by buttering pan and then dusting all over with unsweetened cocoa powder. Tap excess cocoa out of pan and set aside.

Combine above dry ingredients and set aside.

Step 2:
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 pound (2-1/4 cups, packed) dark brown sugar
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup (about 2) finely mashed, fully ripened bananas
6 eggs
1 cup strained unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. Beat in the peanut butter and vanilla, then the sugar, scraping bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula. Next, mix in melted chocolate, then bananas, and then the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. On lowest speed, add cocoa, still scraping bowl as necessary, and beat until smooth.

Step 3:
1-1/4 cups milk

On low speed, beating until smooth after each addition, gradually add about a third of sifted dry ingredients, the half of milk, then another third of dry ingredients, then remaining milk, and then remaining dry ingredients.

Turn mixture into prepared pan. Briskly rotate the pan a bit, first in one direction, then another, to smooth the top.

Bake for 1 hour, then cover the top loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning, and continue to bake for an additional 25 -30 minutes until a cake tester gently inserted into the cake comes out clean (total baking time 1 hour, 25-30 minutes). The top of the cake will crack during baking.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Then cover with another rack, turn the pan and rack over, remove the pan and let the cake cool upside down on the rack.

For the icing:
16 ounces milk chocolate, broken up
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped coarsely
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 egg
12 ounces (1-1/2 cups) smooth peanut butter

Melt both chocolates. Add butter a few pieces at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg just to mix, then add the peanut butter and the chocolate mixture (which can be warm or cool) and beat until very smooth. As this mixture cools it will thicken; you might want to chill it quickly by putting it in the freezer or by placing the bowl in a larger bowl of ice and water. Or just let it stand a while. When it is thick enough to hold its shape beat it again for a moment.

This is a lot of icing and makes a thick layer. Spread it first on the sides and then on the top of the cake. With a long, narrow metal spatula, smooth the sides first and then the top.

Coming Soon ...

The cake that made three college students ask for the recipe. And if you know college students, then you know how rare that is.

Now I just have to find the time to type in the recipe, amidst prepping for Hannah's birthday celebration en famille tonight and last minute purchases to prep her for going back to college tomorrow.