April 2011 Issue

Smoked Brisket

Aaron Franklin on how to smoke the perfect brisket.

Cheese Enchiladas

The Dish They are, simply put, an addiction. First, there’s the frequency with which we consume them, which, if we’re honest, is at least weekly. Then there’s their powerful nostalgia—of long Saturdays cooking with your welita, of Sunday lunches out with family, of Christmas Eve dinners. And finally there’s their

By Katharyn Rodemann

Bacon-wrapped Dove

Crisp bacon wrapped around meaty, pepper-spiked dove breast, with cream cheese oozing decadently around the edges.

Fried Catfish

The best way to enjoy a mud cat.

Grilled Ribeye

The Dish Cutting into a deftly seared, pepper-crusted ribeye to reveal its ruby interior brings a quiver to your hand, perhaps a catch in your throat: You want the moment to last, but you can’t endure the suspense. There’s nothing like that first bite, that tandem brush of satiny meat

Chili

The Dish To stare into the glossy depths of a Texas bowl of red, with its heady currents of beef and blessed absence of beans, is to understand a truth about chili: It demands passion. In the history of our state, no other native dish has sparked such shameless boasts

By Katharyn Rodemann

Fried Chicken

The Dish You can identify the smell with your eyes closed: The salty, intoxicating aroma of fried chicken can be mistaken for nothing else. And if you grew up in Texas a generation or more ago, you know the sound, because Sunday dawned with the certainty that around eleven you’d

Migas

The Dish Once the migas habit takes hold, once you realize you’re held hostage by thoughts of softly scrambled eggs mingled with crisp tortilla strips and onion, tomato, jalapeño, and cheese, you find that neither the blueberry pancakes nor the eggs Benedict you once loved so dearly can touch your

Chicken-Fried Steak

The great equalizer.

Pork Tamales

How to make Northern-style pork tamales.

By Katharyn Rodemann

Chew on This

Factoids about Texas foodstuffs.

For the Love (or Hate) of Chili

No other dish provokes such depth of feeling.

Texas History

The Way We Ate Then

A look at how some of our forebears cooked.

Tools of the Trade

Cooking like a Texan requires its own special gear, whether it’s a woodpile for the smoker, a skillet your granny used, or a well-worn wooden spoon (maybe even the one your momma spanked your hiney with as a kid).Tortilla PressOne simple push = one fresh corn tortilla!Lime SqueezerFor that citrus

How Not to Cook Like a Texan

I’m still shocked by the number of people who suggested I didn’t know what I was doing. The first such skeptic just happened to be the Texanist, my housemate that winter of 1995, who was then known to the greater world simply as Dave. When I informed him of my

By John Spong

Feature

A Big Splash

The biggest blue catfish ever caught in Texas—121.5 pounds—was hauled flipping and flopping out of Lake Texoma on January 16, 2004, by Howe resident Cody Mullennix. Contrary to iron-clad tradition, Mullennix did not eat the critter, stuff it, or hang its head on a rural fence post. He donated it,

Mama Grande’s Rice

My grandmother, or Mama Grande, lived in Donna, between Brownsville and McAllen, and we’d often go see her on Sundays. We’d take Highway 281, a two-lane road that runs parallel to the Rio Grande and that Dad called el camino militar. I remember sitting in the backseat of his ’57

By Sylvia Csares

My Last Meal

We asked a few famous Texans what their last Texas meal would be.

Notable Quotes

On Texas cuisine.

The Lost Boys

It was the most shocking crime of its day, 27 boys from the same part of town kidnapped, tortured, and killed by an affable neighbor named Dean Corll. Forty years later, it remains one of the least understood—or talked about—chapters in Houston's history.

By Skip Hollandsworth

Feature

Tusk!

For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by mammoths, those giant, prehistoric creatures that once roamed Texas. So I decided to go looking for them.

By Stephen Harrigan

Columns

Border & Immigration

Dead Line

As the Mexican drug cartels have waged war along the border, they have also developed a disciplined approach to managing the press.

By John Burnett

My E-piphany

If Tahitian sailors could find Hawaii using only their testicles, I ought to be able to survive the modern world without a computer. But, hell, it looks like I can't.

By Kinky Friedman

Politics & Policy

Old College Try

Rick Perry's quiet war on higher ed.

By Paul Burka

The Texanist

Offering fine advice since 2007

Nicknames, parental discretion, summer camp, and the best way to talk about breast enlargement.

By David Courtney

Reporter

Swamp Think

Joe R. Lansdale has made a career out of a hard-boiled vision of East Texas.

By Steven L. Davis

Hollywood, TX

Desperate Diva

Is Eva Longoria doomed to be tabloid fodder the rest of her days?

By Christopher Kelly

Los Lonely Boys

On their new album, Rockpango, and more.

By Jeff Salamon

Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles

A tribute album by Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis, and Norah Jones.

By Jeff McCord

Apocalypse

A new album by Bill Callahan.

By Jeff McCord

Politics & Policy

Joe Straus’s Desk

The Speaker lets us into his office.

By Kristie Ramirez

Tracie Ferguson, Booking Agent

Ferguson, who grew up in San Antonio, has been booking bands for almost thirty years. Since 2000, she has worked exclusively for Gruene Hall, near New Braunfels, the oldest continuously running dance hall in Texas.In college my friend Denice Franke hooked up with three guys and formed the Beacon City

Style & Design

Selling High-end Women’s Fashion

Mickey Rosmarin on selling high-end women's fashion.

By Mimi Swartz

How to Square Dance

The event The square-dance social may seem like an antiquated notion, but dozens of clubs in Texas still preserve this pastime. “Square dancing persists because people enjoy the fellowship, the wholesome entertainment, and the exercise,” says Wayne Morvent, who’s been a caller for more than fifty years and currently works

By Andrea Valdez

Web

A Closer Look at One of Dean Corll’s Victims

Dorothy Hilligiest's son David disappeared one day in 1971. She spent her days and nights searching for him, following leads, and eagerly awaiting his return. And then she found out about Dean Corll, one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.

By Skip Hollandsworth

Latest News on the Corll Investigation

Researchers have discovered a mistaken identity and another possible victim.

By Skip Hollandsworth

Kitchen Confidential

Josh Watkins, the chef at the Carillon, in Austin, on Dana Cowin, doughnut holes, and what makes a perfect dish.

By Vi-An Nguyen and Kevin Sullivan

Recipe

Crisp Pork Belly With Diablo Glaze, Fried Mint, and Asian Pear Salad

From Chef Josh Watkins of the Carillon, in Austin.

The Houston Mass Murders: What Really Happened

A Q&A with Skip Hollandsworth, author of “The Lost Boys.”

By Austin Kurth

Taste of Texas

Read a Q&A with Patricia Sharpe.

By Layne Lynch

The Drop Everything List

The Ennis Bluebonnet Trails, the Llano Fiddle Fest, the Poteet Strawberry Festival, and the Kilgore Rangerettes . . .

Ava Kitchen and Whiskey Bar

Houston

The Drop Everything List

Ted Nugent, Fiesta San Antonio, the Texas Open, and the Prairie Chicken Festival . . .

Film & TV

Elizabeth Taylor’s Summer in Marfa

One Texan’s tribute to Liz.

By Kirby F. Warnock

An Excerpt From Devil Red

Chapter 1We were parked at the curb in Leonard’s car, sitting near a busted-out streetlight. We were looking at a house about a block up. It was a dark house on a dark street next to another dark house, and beyond that was an abandoned baseball field grown up with

By Joe R. Lansdale

The Drop Everything List

The Texas Tornados, the Festival of Ideas, Becoming Kinky: The World According to Kinky Friedman, and the Texas Pinball Festival . . .

New and Noteworthy

Philippe and Haddington's.

The Drop Everything List

Buffalo Gap Wine & Food Summit, George Saunders, the Old Settler’s Music Festival, and the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival . . .

An Excerpt From Trillin on Texas

IntroductionYes, I do have a Texas connection, but, as we’d say in the Midwest, where I grew up, not so’s you’d know it. I come from an immigrant family. Although my father sounded like Harry Truman and freely used phrases like “Haven’t had so much fun since the hogs ate

By Calvin Trillin

An Excerpt From Llano Estacado: An Island in the Sky

"Readings," by Sandra Scofield with Jessica Scofield.

Miscellany

Roar of the Crowd

Power of AttorneysConcerning your February cover story [“Power Company,” 2011], in which you discuss Texans for Lawsuit Reform, I have three comments: First, Dick Weekley is the primary founder and moving force of TLR. I am proud to have been at Dick’s side at the beginning and throughout TLR’s journey