Jaymes

Cooper's is my favorite, too. And I agree with almost every other word you said. I like Salt Lick as well...because of the atmosphere, the big pit, and the "German-style sides." I really like the potato salad, which I admit is an acquired taste. But again, Cooper's is the best to my mind. It's a drive, but one I make about once a month to bring back some of that wonderful food. As for County Line: If you read my post, you'll see that I said it's my least favorite. But, just to show you how indeed we really do "have it good in central Texas as far as slowcooked meat is concerned," think about this: We can all turn our noses up at County Line, but if we were ANYWHERE ELSE, we'd undoubtedly think it was great. THAT'S how lucky we are!!

Too late for this to be of any use to Simon, but for others who like cucumber salad... It's best if you let the sliced cucumbers and onions (if you're using them) sit overnite in a salt-water bath. That draws out the extra moisture so your dressing isn't diluted. Few hours before serving: drain sliced cukes well (can even pat a few times with paper towels), add dressing (no more salt, though....but taste for sure) and refrigerate til serving time.

yeah yeah. east like the other southern states, but closer to the atlantic, or whatever ocean is thataway. So, you were just kidding when you asked where during your visit to Texas you could get the best barbecue, right? You didn't really want to know at all, right?

Should it be banned? Verily, is it not amusing when the food police are on the prowl?

East? EAST? No, Tommy.... Not east. You can find pretty good barbecue in Houston and environs, but for the very best Texas has to offer, you should hop into your rental car, slap on your shades, and point yourself toward the sunset. Head WEST, Young Man. Lockhart (and Kreuz Market) is about two hours or so from Houston, depending on where in Houston you are. Or you could make a day of it and hit Taylor and Llano and a few joints in Austin as well. In addition, there's a fine cadre of Austin eGulleteers who would be happy to show you around!

Well, we may have our faults, but we are a friendly bunch. And my Czech friends do fit right in. They are very popular and are invited everywhere. But as for their being "Texans," that was not so much my observation as theirs. They spent two weeks skiing in Taos a while back. My friend said she hated it there. The place was, she said, full of snobs: "Nobody smile on me, nobody laugh on me. Everybody have rich clothes. We try to talk and be friends, but no one wish." "But then," she continued, "we fly to home and get to Dallas airport. Everyone smile on me, everyone laugh on me and is friends. I say Frank, 'We are really home at last.' I say you, Jaymes, we are yust Texans."

I can't think of the basis for such a lawsuit. On the other hand (although it's obviously not applicable in this case), if I were a guidebook publisher and had hired a well-known food critic, paid him big bucks commensurate with his name, and comissioned him to write a book for me entitled, "The Best Kept Secrets of Seafood Diners in Maine" and I discovered that he had intentionally left out three or four of his very favorites.... THAT might be a basis for a lawsuit.

I want to add that this is nothing compared to the dilemma that travel writers face when getting ready to "out" for example a fine, secluded unknown beach, or still-authentic undiscovered Mexican fishing village, or atmospheric and affordable small B&B hard by Victoria Station. It actually HURTS. But if you don't want to do your best.... it's easy. Don't accept that particular assignment.

How 'bout Imagine this...You own a lovely little bistro that the locals love and patronize regularly. Sophisticated culinarians come from miles for your seasonal offerings - How could you get some obnoxious out-of-towners with 3 screaming kids to dine here ? If your place is good - the right people will come via word of mouth and mediums like this very message board. Think about the tourists "like those" who give tourists "like us" a bad name. I absolutely agree with you. Without question. I have no doubts that the owner of the restaurant has good and legitimate reasons for wishing to be excluded. As a patron of the bistro, I would also wish it to be excluded. And if I were a food writer who loves the place, again, I would wish it to remain my little secret. This is a quandary that food, travel writers always face. But I contend that regardless as to how valid is the desire of the restaurant owners/clientele/food critic/travel writer, once you accept an assignment to cover a body of information, your loyalty shifts. Or it certainly should. You now owe your first loyalty to the entity to whom you pledged it. And you should do your absolute best, which is why they hired you. If you do not wish to unearth and publicize these little treasures, you should not take that particular assignment. And also, trends are fickle. You might overwhelm the little bistro for a time but eventually, the fashionable crowd might well be searching out new little bistros to inundate. But I think that accepting an assignment, and then doing less than your best, is dishonest.

I have friends who escaped from Czechoslovakia in the Soviet Bloc days. They are wonderful people: thin and elegant and lovely to look at; brilliant, both are engineers, he mechanical she electrical; gracious and beautifully mannered. But when they first escaped, they went to Switzerland. They had no friends. No one to hike with, dine with, drink and chat with. Although they tried to reach out innumerable times, no one would reach back nor accept the gift of their friendship. And they lived there for ten years. At one point, they asked a Swiss, "Why do we have no friends. Why does no one wish to socialize with us." And the Swiss said, "When you are in our country five generations, only then can you belong." So my Czech friends came to Texas, where they "belonged" right away.

Peach and Cantaloupe Soup I served a cold cherry & cantaloupe soup for years. Served it in the cantaloupe half-shells. Great presentation as first course for a summer meal. I think this would be spectacular served that way. Thanks so much for taking the time to write all that out. I will be making this right away.

Imagine this... you're a neophyte getting ready to visit the California wine country for the first time, although you have received a few recommendations and have read about the area for years. So now you're standing in Barnes & Noble trying to select one guidebook amongst several. You pick up one that looks pretty good but there is no mention of the French Laundry. What would you think? I'd think, "This book can't be any good. They don't even know about the French Laundry. I wonder what else they've left out."

In my opinion, Bux is right that you were asked to write an informative section in a credible guidebook and you owe your first loyalty to the guidebook people, especially if they are paying you for your best efforts, and to the people who pay money for the book. I buy a lot of guidebooks and always peruse them to be sure they have included places I know to be good. If these places are left out, I select another book. And when I buy a guidebook and later visit the area and discover noteworthy spots that everyone tells me should have been in my book, that author looses considerable credibility with me. So, it seems to me that you owe loyalty to the people for whom you accepted the obligation to do your best on their behalf; then the to people who buy the book in good faith after seeing your name and assuming you did do your best. I don't really see that you owe any loyalty to the restaurant owner at all. And, if I were the guidebook publisher and you left out several restaurants (even at owners' requests) that should be included in that category, I might think long and hard before asking you to do another book for me; and instead, look toward an author that will give me his first loyalty and the best of his knowledge and skill.

I also haven't been able to participate in this thread as much as I'd like, but I absolutely concure with what Sandra & Jaymes are saying. I also feel that my Indian cooking (and my Chinese cooking, for that matter) are curtailed by my patchy understanding of the cultures that the cuisines spring from. I'm not placing a value judgement on that - if I'd spent a reasonable amount of time in India, I would have seized the opportunity to immerse myself in the culture, language AND cooking - but it's just one of those things. I found the music analogy quite apt. You can appreciate the end product, and yet not be sure if your appreciation really takes in the the experience its creator intended. Interesting how this thread is starting to tap into the whole, "how do you like your steak and do you have the right to judge something according to the way you like it instead of how the chef presents it" discussion going on elsewhere on the site. Takes me right back to English Literature 100, this does. And I'm totally up for this egullet road trip to India, btw. Indeed, Sandra...."like language." And, to carry the analogy further, I've been told that the most difficult aspect to master when learning another language is a "sense of humor." Because humor, like cooking, depends on the ability to improvise, to see things from many angles, form a pun, or a play on words, or slang, or a joke that draws upon common experience. So although one can memorize the rules and the words and the ingredients in both language and cooking, improvisation and nuance are the last abilities one can command.

Coincidence? Or a some sort of mad peach power at work.... Yesterday I drove over to Fredricksburg, the home of Texas Hill Country peaches, and bought a bushel, then stopped by the grocery store and bought some freezer bags and Fruit Fresh in order to do just what F52 suggests....peel and slice my peaches, sprinkle them with Fruit Fresh and freeze them for use sometime in the winter. Fruit Fresh is a powdery product that comes in a small can usually displayed in grocery stores right by the canning jars, etc. You sprinkle it on cut fruits and vegetables to retain their color, taste and freshness. I confess I've used it for years, but have never bothered to look on the label to see what's in it. Just did... dextrose, ascorbic acid for preservatives and a little silicon to keep it all "free flowing." (Sounds like something I could use for myself )

Miss F52 - hold down your "alt" key. Now, while holding it down, on your number keypad on the right hand side, press the 1,6,4, in that order. Now release. Voila... an eñye. ¡¿ñÑéáíóú! (Sorry - just showing off )

When I sell my novel and I'm rich and famous and can treat us both, of course.

How, pray tell, would you sum up the meaning (hidden or otherwise) of the above? Could be too much for my powers of interpretation, Jaybee, and I could have it all wrong, but I believe here he is lamenting the fact that unfortunately in celebrity chefdom, or in one who aspires to celebrity chefdom, as in most other areas of modern human endeavor, peer pressure, ego, and avarice all rear their ugly heads.... a three-headed monster. That rather than being able to simply enjoy the skill of expert preparation of these dishes from another country, someone like, say, Rick Bayless, usurps credit for traditional Mexican dishes (and therefore a huge part of Mexican history and culture because that is what cooking is) because due to monetary, ego, peer pressure et al concerns, he must stay at the top of the celeb-chef heap. At least I THINK that's what that paragraph means.... Could be wrong. Could be right. Never know.

What a fabulous post! I'm going there as soon as possible, of course. And the image of the band heading off to a quinciñera! Good job, Jess. And I am hoping that since it's a bakery, they will have some of those delicious Mexican panes dulces... maybe even Tres Leches cake!! Thanks so much for taking the time to let us in on your just-discovered secret! Muchisimas gracias.

It appears that I am neither intelligent nor sophisticated enough to discern the hidden meaning that others have found in John's piece. I simply read it to mean that when one approaches an unfamiliar cuisine, one should do so with respect and humility and the understanding that cuisine is only one part of a larger overall culture and history of a people. And that however "odd" some aspects may initially seem, perhaps there are reasons of which a newcomer cannot possibly be aware. To me it just boils down to one thing.... When Sandra and I go to India for a year in order to study cooking, we should say as rarely as possible: "But back in the USA we do it THIS way."

Nope - I think you've pretty much summed it up right there. At least that's how I see it.

And I guess that is true... I hadn't really considered it that way but, yes, I have been thinking of this thread in regards to a fine chef and his/her creations... ...as opposed to the entirely different (and time-honored and appropriate) custom of hollering instructions back to the short-order cook.

Actually, although I didn't know "E" personally, I heard that his favorite was FRIED peanut butter & banana sandwiches.... ugh. I s'pose someone should Google it and get back with us so we'll know for sure... I mean, an important question like this and all. Edit note: Thought instead of suggesting that someone else Google it, I would. Indeed, on one of the sites referenced, it says that E's favorite food was fried PB & banana sandwiches.... ugh.