Texas Home Cooking: 400 Terrific and Comforting Recipes Full of Big, Bright Flavors and Loads of Down-Home Goodness

Like other reviewers have said, I have never made anything out of this cookbook which wasn't utterly delicious! The difference between this and many of the other cookbooks I own is that this food is meant for people who love to eat real food- not "nouveau" dishes that often turn out as if no one had tested the recipe. My favorite recipes are "The Driskill's 1886 Room Chocolate Sheet Cake" (which is now called "Texas Sheet Cake" by my family, the PTA and my church group); the Molasses Spice Cookies; and the Big Thicket Coconut Cake. Yesterday was my daughter's birthday and she opened this cookbook and requested Tamale Pie and Pineapple-Ginger Upside-Down Cake for her birthday dinner. Both were new recipes and both came out absolutely beautiful and delicious. I asked my husband what he wanted for dessert for Father's Day and he picked out the German Chocolate Cake from this cookbook, because he said that it was guaranteed to be excellent. So can you tell I think you should buy it?

I struggled for quite some time trying to find a Southern cookbook that wasn't, you know, full of frou-frou recipes that no one in their right mind would actually use. This is it. This has that recipe for jalapeno cornbread you've been looking for. Jambalaya dressing, Jezebel sauce, praline pie and enough different chilis to start your own cook-off.Stories and techniques accompany most recipes; shoot, I love just sitting and reading it. I may as well throw my Joy of Cooking away -- I'm never gonna touch it again.

Shortly after moving to Michigan from my home state of Texas I found Texas Home Cooking. I was doubtful that it would bring back the tastes of home I was craving. It has proven to be the only cookbook I pull out when seeking out a dish to wow my new family and friends. It truly is a reflection of Texas cooking from the Tex-Mex section (salsas, enchiladas, tamales and more) to the classic American home cooked favorites (B-B-Q, steaks, chicken fried steak, sweet potatoes) that are famous in the south. I use it for reference to recreate that dish I had and on a night when I want to try something new.

Most cookbooks have standard recipes that do an okay job of getting the food cooked._Texas Home Cooking_ does one thing that most others don't. They have all of those little cooking secrets that add an extra zing to what would have been standard recipes.Just their beer mop recipe has become a staple of my cooking palate. But they have so many other recipes that really make my guests cheer.Those extra steps make steaks, fried chicken, meat loaf, fries, and other american/mexican foods into real comfort food.This is my favorite cookbook (out of 40 in my collection)

It's hard to imagine why this book appears to have been "remaindered" for sale in off-price bookstores, for it is a genuinely amusing, fascinating and generally excellent tour through regional Texas cuisine -- with none of the pretensions of the "celebrity" chefs. All of the recipes are positively fantastic. I give this book as a gift for anyone moving to or from Texas. Can't recommend it highly enough!