Cowgirl Cuisine: Rustic Recipes & Cowgirl Adventures From a Texas Ranch
by Paula Disbrowe
Morrow, $29.95, 290 pp.
I have to admit I approached this book with a healthy dose of skepticism – the fifth-generation Texan in me had trouble envisioning a New York-based travel writer as an authentic Texas cowgirl. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Paula Disbrowe’s account of her conversion from city slicker to Hill Country rancher was so engaging, I was totally disarmed. Paula’s stories of chasing escaped livestock, checking her boots for scorpions, and taking refreshing swims in the Frio River are interspersed among the recipes, along with candid photos of ranch life. Her personal tales ring so true and are told with such charming frankness, they make Cowgirl Cuisine a delightful read as well as a very useful cookbook.
Many of the recipes in Cowgirl Cuisine were developed while Disbrowe was a chef at the former Hart & Hind Fitness Resort in the Hill Country. Though her cuisine boasts many recognizable Hill Country elements – plenty of beef, Gulf seafood, wild game, chiles, tomatillos, and cilantro, for instance – her cooking also reflects the influence of another arid, rocky terrain on much the same latitude: the Mediterranean. She establishes flavor with fresh herbs and cuts fat by using olive oil.
I recently spent a week cooking Cowgirl Cuisine with very positive results. My favorite entrée has to be the Cowboy Pot Roast With Coffee and Whiskey: slow-cooked, butter-tender chuck roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots in a rich, savory broth, paired that with the divinely crunchy Celery Root Remoulade and the easy Espresso Brownies. I’m also partial to the Herbaceous Egg Salad and the Texas Chili With Poblanos and Beer. I’m glad to welcome Disbrowe as an adopted Texan. Her story reminds me of those bumper stickers that say “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could!”
Paula Disbrowe will be at Progress Coffee (500 San Marcos St., 493-0963) on Friday, May 4, 6pm.
This article appears in May 4 • 2007.