Gift-worthy cookbooks that help define Texas’ rich culinary traditions

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We are what we eat. For Houstonians, citizens of the most culturally diverse city in the country, that is, the world. But we’re also committed to the foods and cultures of the American South – a multi-state expanse that encompasses a glorious multitude of regional cuisines. It’s an overwhelming cornucopia of foodways. These gift-worthy cookbooks, all published this year, help us understand the food that defines part of Houston’s culinary identity.

By Toni Tipton Martin

Tipton-Martin knows the hidden characters. In his James Beard Award-winning “Code Jemima,” the food writer opened our eyes to the important culinary contributions made by unsung African Americans over the past 200 years. In this beautiful and thoughtful follow-up cookbook, Tipton-Martin celebrates those enslaved master chefs, free caterers, and black entrepreneurs with a collection of recipes that sings of a multicultural American as cheery as Jubilee Day. From buckwheat cakes and okra pilaf to chicken and lemon coconut layer cake dumplings, the recipes in the book are a living lesson in black culinary art and its far-reaching impact on the American kitchen.

Recipe: Gingerbread with lemon sauce

By PJ Stoops and Benchalak Srimart Stoops

PJ Stoops doesn’t have a degree in aquatic biology or fisheries science, but he’s become an expert source on the sea creatures that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico – more than 1,400 species of finfish. Along with his wife, Benchalak Srimart Stoops (known to all as Apple), the fishmonger has made a name for himself selling bycatch fish straight from the wharf – fish caught incidentally while targeting other species – to Houston’s top chefs. In this authoritative book, the Stoops offer both an academic perspective and a culinary education. It is dense and necessary instruction that will hopefully help us regain an appreciation for the living, breathing gulf and our responsibility as stewards of its waters.

By Justin Devillier with Jamie Feldmar

Houstonians who spend time in New Orleans have likely connected with Devillier’s Big Easy kitchen, steeped in tradition through his work at the late and much-loved Peristyle, Bacco and then La Petite Grocery where his French bistro meets food regional. him a James Beard Award. Her new restaurant, Justine, is one of the city’s must-visit dining experiences. The recipes in this book, like Devillier’s cooking, are rooted in French technique, enhancing classic Gulf dishes such as duck and andouille gumbo, crayfish etouffee and baked oysters, which make happy counterparts of haute cuisine, in particular the duck confit, the bisque of pumpkin and shellfish and the rabbit cutlet. .

Recipe: Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs with Mandarin and Thyme Marmalade

By Sean Brock

The two-time James Beard Award-winning chef follows up his bestselling cookbook “Heritage” with another immersion in Southern cuisine, diving deep into how regional dishes such as tomato okra stew, corn, shrimp and grits, crackers, fried chicken and collard greens. His perspective on Gulf Coast, Low Country and Appalachian dishes offers a new understanding of cultural traditions and a greater respect for the people whose conditions and local wealth have shaped the way much of the country eats.

Recipe: Basic Cornbread

By Tenney Flynn with Susan Puckett

Flynn loves seafood and cooks seafood in what he calls “the most seafood-centric town in the country.” Chef/owner of GW Fins in New Orleans, Flynn has a background steeped in the habits of a people who know their crabs, oysters, cobia, crayfish, shrimp, yellowfin tuna and rainbow trout. sky. His book is as much a series of welcome lessons on how to work with fish and shellfish as it is an invitation to eat more fish at home. Let Flynn take your hand and guide you through sautéed, grilled and blackened Gulf Coast gems; stew and simmer shrimp and crawfish; and incorporate treasures from the sea into dips, puddings, spoon buns and jar stickers. You won’t be sorry.

Recipe: Shrimp sautéed in BBQ butter

By Rob Newton with Jamie Feldmar

“Anyone can cook Southern food, as long as they understand its (often deeply troubled) history and honor it accordingly,” writes Nashville chef and restaurateur Newton. Here he helps us understand the South with all its horrific racial, political and economic divides. But above all, he comes to the table to celebrate a cuisine that he says is formed from a collection of regional cuisines which he divides into Upper South, Deep South, Gulf Coast, Coastal Plains and Piedmont, and Lowcountry and Coast. South East. Her recipes are both a representation of what Southern foods have been and where they are going as multiculturalism changes our eating habits.

Recipe: Satsuma, fennel, mint and arugula salad

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