This new book by Adán Medrano is the culinary history of Native Americans in Texas, ancestors of today’s Mexican American Community. With 100 recipes, it demonstrates the delicious flavor profile of Texas Mexican cuisine. It is published by Texas Tech University Press in the series of Studies In The American Southwest.
Pre-order now at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com
What Chef’s are saying about Truly Texas Mexican: A Native Culinary Heritage In Recipes
“Adán Medrano speaks from his roots and shares his passion for food, providing an insightful perspective on an often mischaracterized Texas Mexican cuisine.”
Alain Dubernard, CMB, The Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio
“In the deepest part of our soul we are celebrating food and hospitality. These recipes share not only where our culinary traditions come from, but the resiliency of our ancestors and the healing power of food. “
Johnny Hernandez, chef/owner of La Gloria Street Foods of Mexico, The Frutería-Botanero, and El Machito
“Adán Medrano is putting the spotlight on a style of food that often has been overlooked. Once you explore this remarkable Texas Mexican cuisine you will discover a richness that will be cherished for generations to come.”
Diana Barrios Trevino, owner of Los Barrios Enterprises
OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS, Native Americans in what is now Texas passed down their ways of roasting, boiling, steaming, salting, drying, grinding, and blending. From one generation to another, these ancestors of Texas’s Mexican American community lent their culinary skills to combining native and foreign ingredients into the flavor profile of indigenous Texas Mexican cooking today.
Building on what he learned from his own family, Adán Medrano captures this distinctive flavor profile in 100 kitchen-tested recipes, each with step-by-step instructions. Equally as careful with history, he details how hundreds of indigenous tribes in Texas gathered and hunted food, planted gardens, and cooked.
Offering new culinary perspective on well-known dishes such as enchiladas and tamales, Medrano explains the complexities of aromatic chiles and how to develop flavor through technique as much as ingredients. Sharing freely the secrets of lesser-known culinary delights, such as turcos, a sweet pork pastry served as dessert, and posole, giant white corn treated with calcium hydroxide, he illuminates the mouth- watering interconnectedness of culture and cuisine.
The recipes and personal anecdotes shared in Truly Texas Mexican illuminate the role that cuisine plays in identity and community.
Chef and food writer Adán Medrano holds a Certificate in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. He grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and in northern Mexico, where he developed his expertise in the flavor profile and techniques of indigenous Texas Mexican food.