Texas Cooking Online * September, 2005 Newsletter *

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Feed the Addiction New York Strips | Ribeye Steaks Now is the Time to Mail Order Wine Take 10% off a case of wine with this coupon. Texas Cooking Food Gift Store. Free Beauty Samples Sign up to win free samples, bargains contests, jewelry in the August drawing September is the ninth month on the calendar, but it heralds the beginning of many things: the beginning of school and of the harvest season, and Texans, at least, are hopeful for the beginning of cooler weather. And even if the temperature doesn't plunge, our tastes are in transition from summer to fall as we begin to gravitate toward food that both fills us up and warms us. There's food for all the seasons here at Texas Cooking, and we welcome the change. This month, John Raven, Ph. B., reveals several of his outstanding rice recipes in The Art of Reconstituting Your Dinner. Once again Randy Lankford entertains doubly with one piece on Tito's Handmade Vodka and another on Henry's Puffy Tacos, both with recipes, of course. And after you read Steve Labinski's review of The Soup Peddler's Slow & Difficult Soups, you'll understand why the author deliberately chose such a challenging title. Our classic article is Autumn Apples Aplenty by Eleanor Bradshaw which abounds with scrumptious apple recipes and a wealth of apple information, and our recipe this month is Grandma's Fried Catfish (don't forget the hush puppies). Our Communities board is the perfect place to ask a question, answer one, or just take in someone else's predicament. Fall's cooler weather has resulted in the Texas Events Calendar being more crowded than ever with all kinds of happenings. John Raven takes on questions about barbecue, chili, grilling, jalapeños, chicken fried steak and charcoal in Ask Dr. John. Also, our trivia quiz this month is more like a survey, and the September T-shirt winners are announced at the bottom of the page. So here we go. Get all new articles, newsletters and updates on your RSS news reader. Just look in the left column on the Texas Cooking front page for the RSS codes for your specific newsreader. Help Yourself to Our Weekly Recipe Email Sign up for our latest feature, the Texas Cooking Weekly Recipe Email. Nothing fancy, just a carefully selected recipe that's sure to please with maybe a link or two to some compatible dishes. Recipes range from savory to sweet -- the entire spectrum. At Texas Cooking, we have always focused on quality over quantity, and we carry that tradition to our Recipe of the Week email. Sign up here.

Special Features Taste of Texas: Tito's Handmade Vodka by Randy Lankford The story of Tito's Handmade Vodka, Texas' only legally distilled spirit, is both inspirational and terrifying. And for pretty much the same reasons. It's inspirational from the perseverance-pays-off perspective, and terrifying from the $80,000 in debt with two mortgages and 12 maxed out credit cards point of view. Rice Recipes: The Art of Reconstitutiong Your Dinner by John Raven, Ph.B. Dr. John takes a trip through the land of rice, an enduring staple that feeds the world. Rice is always an easy and appetizing production for the dinner table. Learn here about preparing wild Mexican rice, and check out John's dynamite recipes for Rice Pudding, Dirty Rice and Chicken and Rice. The Soup Peddler's Slow & Difficult Soups Book review by Steve Labinski Recipes and Reveries from Austin's Soup Peddler David Ansel. This delightful book describes the author's soup-delivery-by-bicycle business, and includes over forty amazing recipes. Henry's Puffy Tacos: San Antonio by Randy Lankford There's no way of knowing how many tacos there are in San Antonio. But there's no question which one is the city's most beloved. It's Henry. The stumble-footed mascot of Henry's Puffy Taco Restaurant has been appearing at San Antonio minor league baseball games for 16 years now. Test your knowledge of Texas trivia This month's quiz is actually a survey on the Lone Star state's very own Tommy Lee Jones. What is your favorite TLJ movie? Have you read John Raven's latest Q&A column, Ask Dr. John? A new online form has been added that makes "asking Dr. John" easier than ever. Not only does he field questions about barbecue, chili and outdoor cooking in general, but his downhome culinary knowledge extends to all parts of the menu. Cooking with Texas Highways: This collection of recipes from Texas Highway magazine is full of surprises. A trove of goodies, this new cookbook adds substantial Texas-style value to any kitchen. Get your Longhorns, Aggies and Red Raiders goods right here online at the Texas Sports Store. Everything from caps and shirts, to furniture and glassware. Make your tailgate party a complete success. Visit today Discount Cigarettes Inexpensive shopping by the carton. Click on our link to find out more. Prime beef, dry-aged steaks, all natural, buffalo, filet mignons Autumn Apples Aplenty by Eleanor Bradshaw Whether or not September brings a nip in the air to your part of the country, this month calls to mind images of apple trees heavy with fruit, apples on the teacher's desk, and apples -- lots of apples -- for making wonderful dishes. Pure Ice Cream Indulgence Make delicious ice cream Cuisinart ICE-30BC Only $79 Recipe: Grandma's Fried Catfish As long as you're frying catfish, fry up some Hush Puppies, too. 6 catfish fillets (good size) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper few drops of Tabasco or your favorite hot sauce (optional) 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup cornmeal 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup bacon drippings or canola oil (or 2 tablespoons of each) Sprinkle fillets on both sides with the pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and desired amount of hot sauce (Don't go overboard here; catfish has a delicate flavor, and the idea is just to suggest some spice -- not overpower). Allow fillets to set at room temperature for 10 or 15 minutes. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and remaining salt, mixing well. Dredge fillets in the flour/cornmeal mixture, and allow them to set for about 5 minutes. Fry fillets in hot oil for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until golden brown on both sides. Serve at once. One cup each of self-rising flour and self-rising cornmeal can be used in this recipe, if you have them in your pantry. If you do, omit the baking powder and salt in the flour/cornmeal mixture. You can find this and over 500 more recipes in Grandma's Cookbook. Martini Gifts Martini Glasss Gift Packs. We have the most unique martini glassware online. Shipped FREE, Gift Wrapped FREE, and FREE Gift card. We are sure to please. Cookie Gifts Our sponsor Chip-N-Dough offers a sweet selection of cookie gift tins. You can order them now for the holidays. Custom designed gift tins are very popular, no lead time. Texas Cooking readers get $5 off regular price. (coupon code AFF5 at checkout) More Great E-Mail Newsletters Texas Cooking's Recipe of the Week email is great for people who enjoy our new and classic recipes from our cookbook. Cooks, recipe collectors and fans of Texas will enjoy this brief, weekly email that contains a carefully selected recipe with maybe a link or two to some compatible dishes. Sign up here. Stop Spyware! Kazaa, Gator and other similar programs have been sneaking onto people's computers wreaking havoc to their systems. These malicious programs are difficult to remove. They flood the screen with their own pop-up ads and open up the computer to a host of viruses. If you have programs like Kazaa, TopText, Gator, WhenU and others on your system, take a moment to learn about the problems these programs cause. We have written a useful and quick tutorial that will inform you about these programs and how to uninstall them from your computer. Free Catalogs Enjoy Great Savings from Free Catalogs Clothing Bridal / Wedding Invitations Wine & Brew Sporting Goods Hobbies / Crafts Pets _________ Cosmetics, samples, DVDs, promotions Gratis! September T-Shirt Contest Winners Maxine B. of Dallas, Texas John B. of Detroit, Michigan Russ J. of Santa Rosa, California Chip L. of Irving, Texas Ann Marie M. of Rochester, New York Nikki R. of Schaumburg, Illinois Caitlin S. of Athens, Georgia Tammy S. of Charleston, West Virginia H.T.T. of Wichita, Kansas Buster W. of Odessa, Texas Congratulations winners! We are frequently asked if we award T-Shirts to non-US residents, and the answer is Yes. We have had quite a few Canadian winners, and have also sent T-Shirts to winners in England, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany. The Rules Since we began our T-Shirt giveaway seven years ago, our contest rules remained unchanged. Readers have been able to enter as many times as they like, and their entries were retained in our database. As you can imagine, our contest database has become very large (which is good), BUT much of it consists of old email addresses that are no longer valid. Therefore, we are making the following change in our contest rules: Readers can still enter as often as they like; however, each contest entry will expire three months following the date it was entered and will disappear from the database. This will greatly reduce the number of "names in the hat" and improve the odds of winning. We think this change will result in an even better contest. We are frequently asked how one goes about entering the T-shirt contest. Sign up here. Subscription / Unsubscribe Help This newsletter is sent to you because you, or someone on your behalf, indicated you would like to receive it when you signed our Guest Book or entered our T-Shirt Contest. If you wish to stop receiving the Newsletter, click here or point your browser to http://www.texascooking.com/unsub1.ihtml If you would like to change your email address, please send an email to txmailbox@texascooking.com. ©2005 Texas Cooking Online. All rights reserved.