Texas Best Foods

Texas Best Barbecue, Fixins

• Texas Barbecued Beef Brisket
  7 to 10 Pound brisket
  Dry rub made from salt, pepper and paprika.
  
  Rub on the rub mix. Do not pierce the brisket with a fork. Smoke in a pit barbecue at 150 F to 200 F for 10 to 20 hours. Turn often. If you don't have a pit, order the Texas Marinade and cook the brisket in the oven overnight. Eat the same day cooked. Never use a sauce, and never never use a sugar based sauce. Sugar burns and will ruin the brisket. If you must have a sauce, try Glovers Texas Tropic Sauce. This sauce is served separate when it's time to eat.
  
  
• Glovers Texas Tropic Barbecue Sauce
  4 sticks butter
  1 cup cider vinegar
  6 oz jar prepared horseradish
  juice of 6 limes.
  1 teaspoon salt
  1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  4 teaspoons jalapeno pepper liquid (from pickled pepper jar) optional
  Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add other ingredients. Simmer for thirty minutes. You can keep this for a week, refrigerated.
  
• Texas BBQ Marinade
  Glover Cattle Company
  Rt 1 Box 11300, Winnsboro, Texas 75494 (903-365-2315)
  The best results with none of the work. Place the brisket in a deep pan, add the marinade and cover. Cook in your oven overnight or 10 plus hours at 175 F.
• Oilman's Sausage
  Glover Cattle Company
  Rt 1 Box 11300, Winnsboro, Texas 75494 (903-365-2315).
  Order medium or hot. Grill or smoke. Serve on white bread with mustard or Glover's Texas Tropic Barbecue Sauce.

Texas Chili

Texans take chili seriously; and as a result, enshrined chili as the Texas State Dish in 1977. Chili originated in San Antonio in the 1880s. Dallas became the Chili capitol of Texas in the fifties with the founding of the Chili Appreciation Society and Frank X Tolbert's Bowl of Red. If you know beans about chili, you know chili has no beans, tomatoes or bell peppers. The public forum used to celebrate chili is a cook-off. A cook-off is where thousands of people gather to create their version of Texas Red and test the breaking point of local law enforcement. The most successful cook-offs seem to take place at locations devoid of any official law enforcement. Usually about half the contestants are off-duty lawmen who like to have fun.

• Frank X Tolberts Quintessential Bowl of Texas Red Chili
  
  3 pounds of mature lean beef
  beer
  1/8 pound kidney suet
  2 to 4 jalapeno chili pods.
  2 tablespoons crushed cumin seeds
  1 tablespoon salt
  1 tablespoon cayenne
  1 teaspoon oregano
  garlic cloves
  
  Marinate the beef in beer and keep the liquid for the cooking process. Cut the meat into thumb size pieces. Sear the beef and suet in vegetable oil to seal in the juices. Use two peppers for each pound of meat. This will produce a mild chili. Puree the jalapenos with water and transfer the puree, beer marinade and beef to a large pot. Bring the mixture to boil and then simmer for thirty minutes. Take the pot off the stove and add the cumin, salt, cayenne, oregano and garlic to taste. Use paprika to adjust the color. Put the pot back on the stove, bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes. Stir and keep the lid on as much as possible. Cook until the beef is tender. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Rewarm and serve.

• Wolf Brand Chili
  The original Wolf Brand recipe was developed in 1895 by a Texas ranch cook and Mr. Lyman T. Davis. Recognizing that they had something mighty good, the pair brought their specialty by wagon to the oil boomtown of Corsicana, Texas. There they sold it for five cents a bowl in front of the Blue Front Saloon. Demand for Mr. Davis' chili grew and soon Mr. Davis began selling his famous recipe in brick style. By the early twenties, the chili's great tasting reputation had spread beyond Corsicana. So Mr. Davis began canning chili. At the suggestion of a local photographer, Mr. Davis's pet wolf, Kaiser Bill, was selected to grace the label. Suddenly the chili had a name, Wolf Brand, which was to become as famous as its flavor. In 1923, the business was purchased from Mr. Davis by J.C. West and F.C. Slawson. But Wolf Brand continued to be made according to the original recipe and its fame continued to grow. Undoubtedly, Wolf Brand employed some memorable marketing techniques. Most notably the can caravan, the vehicles used by Wolf Brand salesmen in the twenties. Each car was designed in the shape of the Wolf Brand can, and in the place of a high-pressure salesmen, carried a live wolf in the cage on the back. A Wolf Brand Chili Can Car still makes regular appearances at chili cook-offs and other events across the Southwest. During the early 20th century, Wolf Brand was sold only in Texas. But the chili had made friends from coast to coast. For example, Will Rogers, the world famous film star, comedian, roper and philosopher, had met plenty of chilis he didn't like. So he took every pretext of passing through Texas to stop in Corsicana and pick up a case of the one chili he really loved, Wolf Brand. Even today, Wolf Brand Chili is shipped on special order to points around the world to satisfy the longing for the real thing. Wolf Brand Chili's unique blend of spices, seasonings and lean cuts of beef has flavored the lives of generations. Neighbor, how long has it been since you've had a big, thick, steaming bowl of Wolf Brand Chili? Well, that's too long.

Catfish

Texans eat more catfish than everybody else combined. More than half the farm raised catfish grown in the U.S, are consumed in Texas. There are many species of catfish (see Texas Best Animals). The catfish of preference for the table is the Blue or Channel catfish.
In Texas when you cook catfish, the event is called a fish fry. First you set out a trot line in a lake or river baited with Catfish Charlie's Catfish Bait. When you run the trot line, you take off the catfish and rebait for the next run. You skin catfish and cook them whole, in crosscut steaks, or fillets. You can skip this step by going down to the catfish farma and buying some catfish ready to fry.

• Traditional Fried Catfish Batter
  1 cup yellow cornmeal
  1 teaspoon salt
  1/2 teaspoon pepper
  1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
  1/2 teaspoon celery salt
  1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  1 can beer
  milk
  Clean and dry fish, mix all ingredients except beer. Roll fish in mixture. Drink the beer.
• PeePaw's Beer Batter
  1 can beer
  1 cup cracker crumbs, rolled fine
  1 cup corn flour
  1 teaspoon salt
  1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  1/2 teaspoon celery salt
  1 tablespoon paprika
  Mix the salt and pepper with the beer. Drench the fish in the beer and then dredge the fish in the dry mix.
  Set up a cast iron pot on top of a butane stove outside. Fill pot 2/3 full of peanut oil. Heat the oil to 350 F. Drop in the fish. When they float to the top, they're done.
  When you're finished with the fish, throw in some dry french fries and you will have some of the best corn meal coated french fries you ever tasted.

Hopkins County Stew

Hopkins County Stew is the best stew I've ever eaten.

• Hopkins County Stew
  4 slices bacon, diced
  2 tablespoons butter
  3 1/2 to 4 pounds stewing chicken, cut into pieces
  6 (or more) medium onions, chopped
  1 green pepper, chopped
  1 1/2 cups chopped celery
  3 (1 pound) cans tomatoes
  2 (12 ounce) cans whole kernel corn
  3 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
  1 1/2 cups water
  1 tablespoon salt
  1/4 teaspoon paprika
  1/4 teaspoon curry powder

  1/4 teaspoon pepper
  Fry bacon in large kettle, add butter and chicken. Saute until well browned. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer. Cook covered. After one hour, remove chicken and bone it. Dice and return. Cook an additional three hours covered, stirring occasionally.

Beans

Pinto beans, referred to by many cowboys as whistleberries or musical fruit, are the common Texas bean. Cornbread and beans make an easy to fix nearly perfect meal supplying protein when meat isn't available. Beans are traditionally eaten boiled, baked, fried and refried. Ranchstyle beans made in Fort Worth, Texas are the Texas Best canned and precooked choice.

Steak

Chicken Fried Steak or Cock-A-Doodle-Moo

It's getting harder all the time to find a restaurant that properly prepares chicken fried steak. There are still a few around. See the restaurant guide under Texas Best Chicken Fried Steak. I'm including these instructions hoping more resaurants will rediscover this vanishing Texas Tradition. A chicken fried steak is golden brown with a near crisp batter. It is always a little bigger than the plate it is served on and is covered with cream gravy.

• Chicken Fried Steak 1-six oz. round steak, machine tenderized
  flour
  4-eggs
  1-can flat beer
  1-tablespoon Adolph's Meat Tenderizer
  salt, pepper and garlic salt
  Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic salt on both sides of the steak. Put the steak on a tray covered with flour and pound the hell out of that steak. The steak should be a little bigger than the plate it will be served on and the thickness of an LP record. Use a meat hammer and your fingers working from the center out. Turn several times and repeat while working the flour into the steak. Mix the eggs, beer, salt, and tenderizer in a shallow bowl to make a drench. Add a little flour to make a watery batter. Drench the steak and then drag it in the flour on the tray. Now beat the hell out of it again until the moisture is absorbed by flour. Cook in deep fat at 350 F untill golden brown.
  

To make cream gravy, make a paste with some of the leftover fat and flour. There should be no lumps in this paste. Put this paste in a frying pan and add milk and stir continuously. Bring the mixture to a boil, add salt and pepper to taste and simmer until it starts to thicken. Stir in water as the gravy begins to get too thick and adjust to the desired consistency. If you mess up, throw it out and keep trying until you get the hang of it.

Serve with mashed potatoes or french fries. Perfect your technique and you can win the heart of any Bubba or be the hero at deer camp.

Fajita

• Fajitas
  Several pounds of inside skirt steak
  burgandy wine
  chopped onion
  chopped bell pepper
  red and black pepper
  paprika
  garlic powder
  salt
  flour tortillas
  Pico de Gallo
  Marinate meat in burgandy, onions, and bell peppers overnight in the refrigerator. Wrap the meat in aluminum foil and cook over coals for 1 to 2 hours. Remove foil, season with remaining ingredients, and grill over coals for 10 to 15 minutes.
  Slice the meat into thin strips, roll up in tortillas with onions, peppers, and Pico de Gallo

Texas Best Nacho

Texas Best Chip

• Texas-Best Tortilla
  The ancient Aztecs created the first tortillas.
  Mission founded by Mr. Roberto Gonzalez Barrera in 1949, Gruma revolutionized the tortilla process by adhering to a strict recipe that maintains the authentic Aztec flavor.
  Mission foods was named “2004 Wholesale baker of the Year”

• Frito
  Created in San Antonio and purchased by Elmer Doolin in 1932 for $100. Doolin's company, Frito - Lay, is headquartered in Dallas.

Texas Best Unusual Foods

• Early Texas Tastes
  P.O. Box 130
  Roby, Texas 79543
  915-776-2408
  Cactus, Mesquite Bean, and Jalapeno jelly. Write or call for samples.

Texas Best Apples

• Adams Apples, Lone Creek Ranch
  Ranch Road 337
  Medina, Texas
  210-589-2588
  Has developed a commercial crop of European apple trees. Apples are grown pesticide free. 10,000 trees including Gala, Mollies, Delicious, Jonagold, Crispin, Fuji, Jerseymac, and Granny Smith. Texas apples ripen from June through October.
• Hi Plains Orchards
  15 Miles Northeast of Lubbock
  806-892-2961
  Gala, Holly, Red and Golden Delicious, Winesap, Fuji, Granny Smith, and Braeburn
  
• Willow Point Orchard
  Northwest of Fort Worth
  817-374-3353
  3,000 trees. Gala, Fuji, Crispin, and Braeburn

Texas Best Tomato

Texas Best Cheese

• Mozzarella Co.
  2944 Elm Street
  Dallas, Texas
  214-741-4072
  Paula Lambert, Goat cheese including Ricotta and Mozzarella

Texas Best Hot Sauce

• Pace Picante Sauce
  P.O. Box 15478
  San Antonio, Texas
  210-224-2211
  Pace has been produced in San Antonio since 1947.
• Hell on the Red
  Rt. 1 Box 8-K
  Telephone, Texas 75488
  903-664-2573
  Produced from a recipe developed locally in Telephone, near the Red River.
  1993 World Champion of the Salsa Hot Sauce Taste Off
• Old El Paso Salsa
  Anthony, Texas

Texas Best Tomato Sauce

• Tasty Tomato Premium Spaghetti Sauce
  Won the 1996 American Culinary Gold Medal in New York as America's Best, against all national brands.

Texas Best Pickle

• Gourmet Gardens Old Fashion Dill
  Eastex Farms
  Rt.5 Bax 427
  Rusk, Texas
  800-755-2434

Texas Best Citus

• Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit
  Named the official state fruit of Texas in 1993

Texas Best Peanuts

• Lazy J Peanut Ranch
  305 W Bluff
  Woodville, Texas
  800-852-6887
  Every flavor imaginable including smoked flavor to jalapeno flavor. Peanut butter too. Tasting bar, tours, and sales.

Texas Best Sugar Refiner

Texas Best Candy, Made in Texas

• Pralines, Lammes Candies.
  5330 Airport Blvd.
  Austin, Texas 78767
  800-252-1885
  Since 1885, Pralines and much more.
• Golden Gal's Pralines
  1101 South Donoto
  Clarksville, Texas 75426
  903-427-3148
  Need sample, call.

Texas Best Ice Cream, Made in Texas

• Blue Bell Creameries
  Brenham, Texas
  800-327-8135
  Founded in 1907, Many believe this to be the ultimate ice cream in the nation. Time magazine concurred. Blue Bell, so good it is regularly shipped to friends packed in dry ice after their visit to Texas.

Texas Best Milk

• Promised Land Dairy
  Floresville, Texas.
  Available at Whole Foods Markets Listed in Texas Best Health Food Grocer, and other locations.

Best Original Texas Cake

• German Chocolate Cake
  Named after its Texas inventor, who was not of German descent.

Texas Best Fruit Cake

• Collin Street Bakery
  401 W 7th
  Corsicana, Texas
  872-8111
  Since 1896. This fruit cake was originally 27% pecans.
• Eilenberger's Butter Nut Baking Company
  512 N. John
  Palestine, Texas
  903-729-0881
  Fruit, pecan and apricot cakes since 1898.
• Mary of Puddin Hill
  Greenville, Texas
  World famous fruitcakes and chocolate delicacies.

Texas Best Cheesecake

• New York ( Texas ) Cheesecake
  New York, Texas
  800-225-6982.
  Population 12, distributed nationwide.

Texas Best Syrups

• Blackburn Syrup Works
  P.O. Drawer G
  Jefferson, Texas 75657
  800-527-6035
  Butter Maple, Butter Pecan, Cane, and Maple.

Texas Best Spices

• Adams Extract Company
  P.O. Box 17008
  Austin, Texas 78760
  512-282-1100
  The original Adams Vanilla Extract flavoring and many other spices.

Texas Best Spices, Discount

• Pendery's Inc.
  1221 Manufacturing St.
  Dallas, Texas 75207
  800-533-1870

Texas Best Health Food Grocer

• Whole Foods Market
  Various locations, Dallas and Austin, Texas

Texas Best Japanese Food Grocer

• Kazy's
  9256 Markville Dr
  972-235-4831

Texas Best Farm Raised Catfish

• Southeast Texas Catfish
  P.O. Box 289
  Winnie, Texas 77665
  409-794-1387

Texas Best Farm Raised Striped Bass

• Silver Streak Bass Co.
  209 Red Fox Run
  Seguine, Texas 78155
  210-557-6263

Texas Best Farm Raised Shrimp

• Sweet Water Aqua Farms, Inc.
  P.O. Box 1807
  San Benito, Texas 78586
  800-477-2967

Texas Best Farm Raised Escargot

• Allison and Allison
  Rt. 3. Box 7
  Carthage, Texas 75633
  903-693-5328

Texas Best Farm Raised Cactus

• O'Coy Cactus Farm, Inc.
  16339-I Scenic Loop Road
  Helotes, Texas 78023
  210-695-6035
  Cactus Jelly and Nopalitos produce.

Texas Best Chili In A Can

• Wolf Brand Chili
  Dallas, Texas
  Wolf is the original canned chili.

Texas Best Spring Water

• Oasis Spring Water
  From Indian Springs
  Franklin County, Texas
  800-627-4799
  Available at most Texas Grocery Stores.