Favorite style of Texas Cooking (West: houses, school district, restaurant)

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

I chose "other". I call it "Tex-Western Southern BBQ". I couldn't choose just one!

LMAO That is definitely original, Westerner...but it ain't fair!

[catman]

I love BBQ and some Tex-Mex, but I just couldn't refuse to pick a category which includes chicken-fried steak and fried catfish.

[ATX Homeboy]

BBQ cuz of the religious experience and the wonderful taste. The whole experience of cooking or walking into an establishment and feeling the heat roll off the fire. Hearing the sizzle and searing of meat, and the aroma that fills the air. Watching a side of beef or pork ribs as they slowly brown and crust up on the outer edge, the signals coalesce in my brain and I begin to salivate. MMMMmmmm.


Tex-Mex comes in a close second.

[theloneranger]

I picked Tex-Mex, but it's hard to pick. We have an interesting cuisine where we use multiple styles which aren't often combined with one another, but are rather served as seperate meals. The closest we get to a hybrid is dumping queso on chicken fried steak.

Which also reminds me, where does chili fall into these categories? Is it Tex-Mex or Southwestern or other? What about CFS--I usually think of it as being more Western than Southern. Where is CFS on this scale?

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

I picked Tex-Mex, but it's hard to pick. We have an interesting cuisine where we use multiple styles which aren't often combined with one another, but are rather served as seperate meals. The closest we get to a hybrid is dumping queso on chicken fried steak.

Which also reminds me, where does chili fall into these categories? Is it Tex-Mex or Southwestern or other? What about CFS--I usually think of it as being more Western than Southern. Where is CFS on this scale?

I think chili is just, well, chili. It needs it's own category.
Good question about CFS. I always associate it with Southern cooking, but maybe that's because of the sides I choose when I have it out - fried okra and mashed potatoes.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

I picked Tex-Mex, but it's hard to pick. We have an interesting cuisine where we use multiple styles which aren't often combined with one another, but are rather served as seperate meals. The closest we get to a hybrid is dumping queso on chicken fried steak.

Which also reminds me, where does chili fall into these categories? Is it Tex-Mex or Southwestern or other? What about CFS--I usually think of it as being more Western than Southern. Where is CFS on this scale?

Good questions, LR!

Chili -- like BBQ -- was a really tough one as to where to put! I finally put it with Tex-Mex because it can't really be classified as a seperate "Texas food group" in the same sense as can BBQ. I mean, there are no purely "chili restaurants" LOL It has just enough Mexican and uniquely Texan (mainly the no-beans aspect) aspects to make it a sorta blend as of Tex-Mex. It isn't Southwestern (as in New Mexico and Arizona).

So far as chicken-fried steak goes? I had no problem with that one at all. Texas chicken-fried steak is a direct decendant of what is often called "Country fried steak" in the southeast. Here is a good link (hope it comes thru!), and excerpt:

Article: Southern comfort.(Southern food)(Cover Story) | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy

Chicken-fried Steak

SOUTHERN COMFORT | Show me a Texan who doesn't get all misty-eyed about home cooking and I'll show you an extraterrestrial. You're just not human if you can read a menu of the state's best-loved home-style dishes--cornbread, pork chops, turnip greens, meat loaf, chicken-fried steak, buttermilk pie--and not feel a wave of nostalgia. Five months ago, our trusty SWAT team set out to scour the big cities and hit a smattering of small towns. We sought out cafes and eateries that carry the comfort food torch aloft and excluded bars that offer fried catfish and CFS as a sobriety aid or restaurants that serve designer cheese. First, the bad news: The number of cooks who know the way things are supposed to taste dwindles with each passing year. And quality is everywhere threatened by the specter of canned goods and prepared frozen foods. But there is happy news too: We found plenty of cooks who still take pride in every scoop of mashed potatoes and who bravely sustain a culinary tradition that stretches back to Texas's deep and very Southern roots. Just don't wait too long to check them out. You could find yourself getting misty-eyed for another reason altogether,

Anyway, like posted originally, there was no doubt the catagories overlap, but personally I had no second-guesses at all with CFS. It is comfort food...and if for no other reason, what it is usually served with. That is, cream-gravy (a must!), mashed taters...and black-eyed peas and fried okra fit right in as well! Texas CFS and the way usually served up, is Southern.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by TXNGL

Good question about CFS. I always associate it with Southern cooking, but maybe that's because of the sides I choose when I have it out - fried okra and mashed potatoes.

Get out of my head, TXNGL! I saw this post of yours come up just after I submitted mine! LOL

I agree totally!

[Cathy4017]

The little backwoods burg in which I grew up also has a great little steakhouse.....so I had a CFS with cream gravy on the side, crisp fries and steamed veggies.

And......a Lone Star longneck! It was perfect!!!! I also picked up a few bottles of my favorite Fort Stockton (St Genevieve) wine.

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Get out of my head, TXNGL! I saw this post of yours come up just after I submitted mine! LOL

I agree totally!

Well I left out the cream gravy part, but that's a given!

[TT Dave]

Originally Posted by catman

I love BBQ and some Tex-Mex, but I just couldn't refuse to pick a category which includes chicken-fried steak and fried catfish.

That's exacty what I was thinking when I voted!