November 1991 Issue

The Challengers

If anyone can keep Whitmire from being Houston’s mayor for life, it’s Sylvester Turner or Bob Lanier.

By Al Reinert

The Three Kingdoms of Kathy Whitmire

By Al Reinert

The War for Thee University

Pray for Baylor. The Baptists are calling each other flat-earthers and liberal parasites, and the school they call Jerusalem on the Brazos is caught in the middle.

By Jan Jarboe Russell

Dan Rather Is a Good Ol’ Boy

But he’d rather not leave CBS to return to Texas, at least not yet.

By Robert Draper

Playing It Safe

Can you avoid criminal violence?

By Texas Monthly

Blood in the Streets

Blood in the Streets. Houstonians and homicide detectives struggle to cope with a deadly crime wave.

By Mimi Swartz

The Right Stuffing

You’ll be stuffed, too, after you eat this Thanksgiving dinner.

By Susan Chadwick

Dirty Deal

Texas politics has seen its share of backroom deals, but for sheer brazenness, it’s hard to top the recent play by nineteen Democratic senators that effectively repealed the brand-new Senate redistricting plan and substituted their own creation—a nifty feat, considering that the Legislature was not in session at the time.

By Paul Burka

Fishing Cabin on the Pedernales River

Austinite Rebecca McEntee’s nostalgic view of a Hill Country retreat appears in Texas on a Roll–Images of Texas by Texas Photographers (Thomasson-Grant, $50), a project of the state’s three chapters of the American Society of Magazine Photographers. Members were asked to submit the best of their work. Some 160 photographers

By Texas Monthly

A Select Few

“The Texas 100” [TM, September 1991] refers to my attitude about George Bush and Dresser Industries. Dresser is a fine company with an excellent leader, Jack Murphy. We enjoy extensive business and personal relationships with that company; in fact, on my trip to Iraq we retrieved the Dresser employees and

By Texas Monthly

State Fare

Chef Harvey Harris, Mezzaluna, Austin

By Patricia Sharpe

Fab Three

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, heroes of hippiedom, are alive and well and living in Paris.

By Ed Ward

Plains Song

When Lubbock-born songwriter Butch Hancock steps onstage, West Texas haunts his music.

By John Morthland

Not Those Fort Worth Basses

Writer Rick Bass’s ornery, individualistic family has spent a generation explaining exactly who they are not.

By Rick Bass

Texas Breaks Away

The ceremony was to honor the four-score living Texans who had participated in the Revolution. They were all quite old, of course. It had been 75 years since 1992, when Texas had become a breakaway republic and, like Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and the Ukraine in Soviet Russia, sought independence from a

By Gregory Curtis

Billy and Lyndon

Lyndon Johnson understood all too well the advantages of being Billy Graham’s buddy.

By William Martin

Double Visions

Melissa Miller’s latest paintings are a dark departure from her past; a Rauschenberg retrospective examines his youthful eye.

By Michael Ennis

Bona Fide Nuts

Dallas’ Bonehead Club revels in a well-deserved reputation for contrariness.

By Helen Thompson

Biting Remarks

New guides to Houston and Metroplex eateries hash it out.

By Patricia Sharpe

Bummin’ Around

The most satisfying part of being a Houston Oilers fan isn’t their record this season or quarterback Warren Moon’s command of the run-and-shoot offense or the way the home crowds get so worked up that they threaten to blow the roof off the Astrodome. No, it’s that distinctive drawl on

By Joe Nick Patoski

Candle Power

Troubles disappear when they’re seen in the proper light.

By Helen Thompson

Water Rites

Trans-Pecos ranchers grapple with El Paso over the West’s most valuable resource.

By Joe Nick Patoski

Buttermilk Pumpkin Pie with Brown-Sugar Cream

Dough (for 1 pie shell) 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 sticks cold butter, cut into small pieces 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 5 tablespoons cold water On cutting board, combine flour, butter, sugar, and salt by quickly working mixture with hands or pastry cutter until it forms pea-size pieces.

By Texas Monthly

Mushroom-Apple-Poblano Cornbread Dressing

Cornbread2 cups cornmeal 2 cups all-purpose flour 4 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups milk 2 eggs 4 tablespoons butter, melted Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients and mix well. Add milk, eggs, and melted butter; blend to form a smooth batter.

By Texas Monthly

Cranberry and Orange Marmalade Relish

1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup water ½ cup white wine 1 orange, quartered and seeded 1 stick cinnamon or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 4 cups fresh whole cranberries (1 pound) 2 tablespoons lime juice 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion 1 finely chopped jalapeño 2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar

By Texas Monthly

Spicy Cream Spinach with Cheddar Cheese

20 ounces fresh or frozen leaf spinach 1 tablespoon butter 1 white onion, peeled and finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped (1 teaspoon) 1 to 2 jalapeños, stemmed and chopped (remove seeds if milder flavor is desired) 2 1/2 tablespoons flour 1 cup chicken or turkey stock 1 cup whipping

By Texas Monthly

Sweet Potatoes with Ginger, Pecans, and Jalapeños

4 pounds sweet potatoes 4 tablespoons butter 4 tablespoons flour 3 cups milk 1½ teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger 4 jalapeños, stemmed and cut into 1/8-inch-thick rings 1 cup chopped pecans 2 to 4 tablespoons brown sugar Roast sweet potatoes on rack in

By Texas Monthly

Turkey Dark Meat in Cranberry and Ancho Chile Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil 2 each turkey thighs, drumsticks, and wings 8 cups water 6 ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded 1 white onion, peeled and roughly chopped 4 garlic cloves, peeled 2 large tomatoes (or 6 plum tomatoes), quartered 1 1/2 cups walnuts (8 ounces) 16-ounce can whole-cranberry sauce or

By Texas Monthly

Cinnamon Turkey Breast

Turkey1 fresh turkey, approximately 12 pounds 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon Glaze2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons molasses 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or strong red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon Tabasco Cut wings off turkey at middle joint. Cut legs off and separate

By Texas Monthly

Grilled Quail with Polenta on Spinach

Grilled Quail 1/4 pound hickory-smoked bacon, diced 1 tablespoon flour 1 tablespoon minced shallots 8 ounces heavy whipping cream 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh sage 12 quail, semi-boned Extra-virgin olive oil as needed 1 large sweet red onion, thinly sliced 2 tablespoons clarified butter Polenta (see recipe below) Sautéed spinach

By Texas Monthly