Houston Cooks by Francine Spiering | 2019 | Figure 1 Publishing | Hardcover $ 33
Houston’s dining scene is a colorful culinary tapestry of local and international food traditions. Whether it’s barbecue, Southern comfort food, or fine dining, H-town is emerging as a foodie destination — there has never been a more exciting time to eat in the Bayou City. Houston Cooks is an exciting collection of eighty signature dishes from forty of the city’s leading restaurants.
I picked this one up at a farmers’ market in Houston … oh, about two or three years ago now, can’t have been long after it was published. Supporting local authors and business, new hometown-famous foods to try, AND sending a portion of proceeds to nonprofit pop-up grocery program Second Servings of Houston — nothing not to like about all that!
The book contains recipes for all kinds of foods, from hummus to roti to tacos. Some are fairly simple and have everyday ingredients; some expect more advanced techniques or require specialty groceries.
I can’t say this is the ideal cookbook for beginners or for people on a tight budget or for folks with limited food-shopping options — although, in the latter case, you can get away with substitutions often enough. One recipe I tried called for baby heirloom carrots, with the note, “If you cannot find baby heirloom carrots, simply use regular rainbow carrots,” … LOL ain’t no way I could get my hands on either one of those options, but plain ol’ orange carrots worked just fine.
I tried eight recipes out of this book; of those I tried, I particularly enjoyed the crawfish rolls from chef Ryan Savoie, the rigatoni alla vodka from chef Daniel Berg, and the summer squash in cream sauce from chef Monica Pope.
If you’re a foodie in the Bayou City, you need this book. Heck, I might be biased, but I think it’d be a fine addition to the bookshelf of an adventurous cook anywhere in Texas or on the Gulf Coast.
If you would like to see a few photos from my adventure through this book, or if you want to follow along in my continued culinary experiments, please feel free to visit my foodie Instagram:
Links:
- Second Servings of Houston
- Author’s website, Life in the Food Lane
- Author profile from Edible Houston
Publication information: Spiering, Francine. Houston Cooks. Vancouver, Canada: Figure 1 Publishing, 2019. Hardcover.
Source: Personal library.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.