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• by:
• Fain, Lisa

From brisket and ribs to empanadas to fiery chili, Texas cuisine is unique, diverse, and wonderful. Now readers can taste all that Texas has to offer in the first cookbook from an award-winning website, homesicktexan.com.

When Lisa Fain moved to Manhattan in 2005, she immediately missed the food from home and started a website, homesicktexan.com, for expatriate Texans like herself, which became immensely popular and won awards. Now, in The Homesick Texan Cookbook, Fain includes stories and photographs that will introduce or reconnect people to the joy of Texas, and 150 versatile recipes that highlight the state’s rich food traditions, appropriate for Texans and non-Texans alike.

The recipes are delicious, memorable, and very easy to make--the essence of Texas cooking with Lisa's own fresh twist. In addition to experimenting and creating new recipes, Fain updates and modernizes classic ones, for instance replacing the ubiquitous cream of mushroom soup in King Ranch Chicken with a creamy béchamel sauce and the liquid smoke common in baked barbecue briskets with chipotle chiles and smoked paprika. Her recipes range from a simple enchilada sauce requiring chiles, aromatics, and broth; chicken-fried steak made with a batter of flour, eggs, and milk--to more complex dishes, with an emphasis on local ingredients.

Yet despite the nostalgic tug, these recipes are accessible to anyone even if they don’t have a relationship with Texas, since Texan food is alive with flavor as well as comfort.