COOKING/TEXAS
Cooking with the Texas Poets Laureate
Texas Review Press
978-1680030204 Paperback, 158 pages; spiral bound, $22.95
May 7, 2015
Cooking with the Texas Poets Laureate is a gem. The slim volume contains a bounty of riches in terms of words, wisdom, and recipes. The book features eleven Texas poets laureate — luminaries like Jan Seale, Walt McDonald, Red Steagall, Karla K. Morton, and more — who share their poetry, essays, and family recipes. It is a feast of offerings that you want to take time and savor.
Here’s one example — “Eating Texas” from Jan Seale, the 2012 Texas Poet Laureate.
Eating Texas
It’s taken a long apprenticeship
to make waffles in the shape of Texas.
First there were mountains over Waco.
Then the Panhandle sank.
A few more false starts when
the Red River swamped Oklahoma
and the Rio Grande dripped into Mexico.
Now I can make perfect ones.
All I have to do is take care
to stop pouring the batter a little shy
of El Paso, Dalhart, and Texarkana.
For some reason, Brownsville needs more.
Otherwise, my grandchildren complain they
don’t have the tail of Texas to bite off.
She shares classic recipes for roast and gravy, and Frijoles Borrachos (Drunk Beans), as well as fun innovative recipes like Papaya Mama Cobbler and Gloria’s Mexican Limeade (made with celery).
Most of the recipes in this book are Texan and Southern favorites, like brisket and homemade BBQ sauce, apricot fried pies, a grandmother’s recipe for chow-chow, cornbread, grits, and ham. There are quite a few intriguing recipes, like Bacon Bloody Mary, Chimayo Cocktail, and Cherry Coke Jell-O Salad.
I found dollops of humor sprinkled liberally throughout and some sage advice about cooking, writing, and living.
Poetry is food for the soul, and food doesn’t just fill stomachs, but also builds relationships and precious memories. Cooking with the Texas Poets Laureate gives readers the best of both.
Here’s an excerpt from Alan Birkelbach, the 2005 Poet Laureate of Texas, which perfectly illustrates that:
“I can only bring you my words.
And my hands. These hands. I know these hands.
I have always had them. I can vouch for them.
And maybe also I will bring you a hamburger
From a really good place I know.
These are three things that I know are true.”
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