Snacking State-by-State: Utah I - I'll just DIE if I don't get this recipe!

Like most Americans, I really had no idea what Utah's cuisine was like.  A little investigating cleared that up.  It's very hearty.

Official Name: State of Utah
State Nickname: The Beehive State
Admission to the US: January 4, 1896 (#45)
Capital: Salt Lake City (largest)
Other Important Cities: Provo (3rd largest), Orem (5th largest), Ogden (7th largest)
Region: West, Southwest; Mountain (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Pinyon Nut
Bordered by: Idaho (north), Wyoming (northeast), Colorado (east), New Mexico (southeast), Arizona (south), Nevada (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: Beehive (emblem - for the honey inside it). Bonneville cutthroat trout (fish), cherry (fruit), Dutch oven (cooking pot), Indian rice grass (grass), Rocky Mountain elk (animal), Spanish sweet onion (vegetable), sugar beet (historic vegetable)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: pioneer and Western foods, and Mormon cuisine (stereotyped as bland and hearty, though a new generation of Mormons and Utahns are redefining it): funeral potatoes, fry sauce; Jell-O, especially green Jell-O salad

Apparently, Utah cuisine - essentially Mormon cuisine - has a reputation for being, well, simple.  Simple and hearty.  And dull.  Note that today, Utahns, and Mormons in particular, are trying to retake their state cuisine and make it exciting.  The New York Times [Moskin 2012] reported recently that a new generation of Mormons are redefining Latter Day eating.

Food blogging and online recipe sharing are now thriving among these young mothers. “I didn’t know what to do with myself” as a stay-at-home mother, [Food blogger Kate] Jones said. She embraced academic work as a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, and planned to be a writer or teacher before her children were born. Writing about and photographing food for the blog “brought me back to who I was before,” she said.

Many Mormon women are accomplished and enthusiastic bakers — a logical development, because “sugar is the only vice we’re allowed to have,” [fellow food blogger Rachael] Hutchings said. [Moskin 2012]

That said, some in Utah are still quite defensive about the traditional cuisine as it is.  For example, take Mary Brown Malouf [2012], writing for Salt Lake Magazine.  Far from redefining Mormon cuisine, she sticks up for it - not as it is, but as it could be.

Utah's food is regular fodder for snobby foodies like myself. A survivalist frontier mentality—including reliance on foods that keep well—together with Utah’s famously large families means that convenience foods are popular recipe ingredients and that thrift often comes before flavor, both bad indicators for fine food. 

But just as every Thanksgiving feast has one beloved dish that’s utterly traditional to the family but slightly gross to outsiders, every culture’s cuisine has its questionable side. In Texas, Velveeta melted with Ro-Tel is part of the canon. In the Upper Midwest, people don’t blink at Watergate salad. The list goes on: Pork rinds. Peanuts in Coca-Cola. Waldorf salad. 

So I say: Embrace Utah food, instead of eschewing it. By embracing it, you’ll improve it. [Malouf 2012]

One of the first recipes she showcases is the Utah-famous casserole known, morbidly, as funeral potatoes.  Yes, funeral potatoes.  Of course, this dish is brought to a grieving family in the event of a funeral, but it is prepared and brought to so many potlucks and covered dish events where nobody so much as has the sniffles, much less is dying.  It even led comedienne and singer Glozell to rave about them during one visit:

There are many family recipes for funeral potatoes - best described as a combination of hash browned potatoes, cheese and some sort of cream soup, covered in something crunchy.  Malouf says that this is "the most famous and maligned Utah recipe besides Jell-O salad, but it’s a cherished part of many Mormon family menus" [2012].  She may take umbrage to my description, but it isn't a put down, really (and you saw the YouTube video!).  Seriously, it isn't the healthiest thing to eat, but if I had made sure only to make healthy stuff then I probably would have written about three recipes over the last year.

Malouf presents two of the thousands of variations on funeral potatoes in her article.  One, by Ogden housewife Tammy Hanchett, was passed down from her grandmother.  It features crushed corn flakes on top, but could never quite figure out exactly what went into it, since she threw a handful of this or that in as she felt the mood.  The other recipe comes to us from SLC resident Jessica Yestas, winner of the Utah's Own Best Funeral Potatoes Contest (presumably for 2012? 2011?).  Yestas zhuzh's hers up with panko bread crumbs on the top and sautéed onion inside.  I tried to do a combination of Mss. Hanchett's and Yestas' recipe, but ended up mostly just adding onions to Hanchett's recipe, which I halved.  Both recipes can be found in Malouf's article [2012].

The Recipe: Funeral Potatoes

For Hanchett's funeral potatoes, with a little added from Yestas' recipe, you will need:

* hash browns (the thinly sliced ones.  It was easiest to buy the 32 oz frozen bag for about $4)
* Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese (both recipes called for a mixture of these two cheeses.  Shredded Mexican blend of Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese went for about $3)
* milk (had this)
* sour cream (I went for light sour cream this time, for about $2)
* cream of chicken soup (one can for $1)
* butter (had a stick)
* onion (one was less than 50¢) 
* corn flakes (no I didn't have any, so I bought a box of generic ones for about $3.50.  I wanted to add panko bread crumbs, but assuming I had them I didn't buy any extra.  At least I had the corn flakes)

Chop and sauté your onion until translucent in a little bit of the butter.

Melt the rest of the butter and pour into a separate bowl.

To the butter, add your cream of chicken soup...

Your sour cream...

Your milk...

Your cheese...

Your hash browns...

And of course your onions.

Spread the potato mixture into a baking dish.

To prepare your corn flakes, pour them into a ziploc bag.

Crush the corn flakes in the bag.

Spread the corn flake crumbs over the top of the dish.

And bake in a 350° oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

Mmmm...

I only wish I had left it in a little bit longer, which could have made the potatoes a little crispier.  This is best eaten fresh out of the oven, because upon reheating the corn flakes, of course, don't stay crunchy.  But I must admit, it is a tasty, hearty casserole.  It's one that won't kill you - unless you just eat this and nothing else to excess.  But anything will do that.

Sources:

Badger Jensen, Julie.  The Essential Mormon Cookbook: Green Jell-O, Funeral Potatoes, and Other Secret Combinations.  Deseret Book Company: Salt Lake City, UT, 2004.

GloZell.  "I am Honorary Mormon in Utah ... Green Jello and Funeral Potato".  Video posted November 4, 2011.

Lindeman, Scarlett.  "Jell-O Love: A Guide to Mormon Cuisine".  The Atlantic Monthly, published March 24, 2010.

Malouf, Mary Brown.  "In Defense: Utah Food".  Salt Lake Magazine, posted June 18, 2012.

Malouf, Mary Brown.  "In Defense: Funeral Potatoes".  Salt Lake Magazine, posted June 18, 2012.

Moskin, Julia.  "Not Just for Sundays After Church: A New Generation Redefines Mormon Cuisine".  The New York Times, published January 24, 2012.

Peek, Alison.  "Utah comfort snack food: Onion rings and fry sauce" Examiner.com, posted February 5, 2012.

Tiffany (blogger).  "Utah's Famous Green Jello Recipe".  Raindrops on Roses, posted March 13, 2010.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Utah" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Utah".

Snacking State-by-State: Texas V - Good sandwich, Vietnam!

Most Americans don't realize that Houston and the Texas coast are home to one of the largest Vietnamese-American communities in the United States.  Escaping Vietnam during the mid 1970's many Vietnamese sought refuge in the US, bringing their recipes for dishes such as phở and bánh mì with them.

Official Name: State of Texas
State Nickname: The Lone Star State, The Republic of Texas
Admission to the US: December 29, 1845 (#28)
Capital: Austin (4th largest)
Other Important Cities: Houston (largest), San Antonio (2nd largest), Dallas (3rd largest), El Paso (6th largest),
Region: South, Southwest; West South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ; Chile Pepper; Gumbo; Bison
Bordered by: Oklahoma (north), Arkansas (northeast), Louisiana (east), Gulf of Mexico (southeast), Tamaulipas, Nuevo León & Coahuila (Mexico) and the Río Grande (south), Chihuahua (Mexico) (southwest), New Mexico (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: cast iron dutch oven (cooking implement - not edible, of course, but used for cooking), chili (dish), chiltepín (native pepper), Guadalupe bass (fish), jalapeño (pepper), longhorn (large mammal), pan de campo (bread), pecan (tree and health nut), prickly pear cactus (plant - for the pads and the fruit), sopaipilla and strudel (pastries), sweet onion (vegetable), Texas purple sage (native shrub), Texas red grapefruit (fruit). tortilla chips and salsa (snack)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Where to begin?  Texas-style barbecue (specifically beef and beef brisket), Texas chili, chicken fried steak, Mexican (specifically Northern Mexican) foods, Tex-Mex foods (including migas, chile con carne and sopaipilla)

Texas, as other parts of the US, was reluctant to welcome the first wave of Vietnamese refugees, but once the "boat people" arrived in the second wave of Vietnamese immigration in the late 1970's, this more culturally and ethnically diverse group was more readily welcomed into Texas, whose coast was a logical place to settle since some parts were similar in terms of weather and climate [von der Mehden date unknown].  It wasn't just the climate that attracted them, as Fred von der Mehden points out [date unknown]:

The major reasons for moving to Texas were economic opportunities, the nearness of resettlement camps, the climate and geographic similarity of places like Rockport to Vietnam, and, eventually the growth of Vietnamese communities, including support groups, media, and stores catering to their needs. Vietnamese generally moved to urban centers such as Houston, Dallas, and Austin and to seacoast areas. In 1981 Texas had the second largest number of Vietnamese of any state, 40,000, and Houston had more than any American city outside of California. In 1985 the total Texas Vietnamese population was estimated at 52,500, but the actual number was probably larger. [von der Mehden date unknown]

One of the most famous Vietnamese dishes is the ubiquitous phở, that scalding hot soup in which noodles and super-thin pieces of beef cook on the way to your table, accompanied with bean sprouts and slices of jalapeño and cilantro.  Another popular dish, the popular bánh mì sandwich, has its origins in the French occupiers of Vietnam: a soft baguette cut in half and filled with meats, cilantro, chiles and often some sort of Vietnamese pickled vegetables.

The bánh mì sandwich is quite popular in Texas' major cities.  Ruthie Johnson Miller [2011] of the Culture Map Houston website lists some of the most popular bánh mì joints in Houston, for example, correcting an oversight of the New York Times' recent list of America's best bánh mì sandwiches that overlooked Houston altogether. 

I originally wanted to make a phở for this final Texas post, but with all the beef I've eaten lately (from brisket to chili), I thought I'd have a change.  Fortunately, Andrea Nguyen [2009] leaves plenty of room in this post, one among many she's done about bánh mì on her Viet World Kitchen website:

There is essentially one sandwich in Vietnamese cooking and it is quite a tour de force. It started out very simply, with baguette smeared with liver pate and that was it. That's how my mom knew it in the 1940s when she was growing up in Northern Vietnam. What we know today as banh mi is a light, crispy small baguette that is split and hollowed before it is invariably filled with homemade mayonnaise or butter (which I don't like), sliced chili pepper, cilantro leaves, cucumber, a tangy-sweet daikon and carrot pickle (do chua), and a drizzle of soy sauce. The variation comes in when you choose what protein component(s) will be center stage. [Nguyen 2009]

That meat could be anything from liver pâté to crispy pork skin to tofu, but Nguyen's recipe calls for any strongly flavored pork.  I went with a very simple thickly cut roast pork for my sandwich, and not only used her bánh mì recipe, but her recipe for do chua pickled carrot and daikon as well.

The Recipe: Bánh Mì

For Nguyen's standard bánh mì you will need:

* French baguette (about $2 for one at Wegman's)

* "boldly flavored" luncheon meat (since I was all beefed out from the brisket and the chili, I went with fancy charcuterie roast pork from Wegman's at about $10 a pound - daaaaang - so I only got half a pound)

* cilantro (a bunch for $2.50)

* jalapeño (one was just a few cents)

* cucumber (about 50 cents for one at H-Mart)

* mayonnaise (after the derecho took out my power and most of the contents of my fridge in June, I was in need of a new jar of mayonnaise.  I went again with Duke's brand, only this time getting the low fat version for about $4.50)

* soy sauce (not pictured: I forgot to put this in the photo but I do add it in the recipe below)

* do chua, a quick Vietnamese pickle consisting of...

* carrot (I only needed one, from H-Mart for about 50 cents)

* daikon radish (about 75 cents for this smallish one from H Mart)

* distilled white vinegar (had on hand)

* sugar (same)

* water (this is not difficult for me to find)

* salt (again, I have this)

I used the small square setting on my French fry cutter to easily cut the daikon into thin strips.

I did the same with the carrot.  Note that these cuts are still wider than do chua typically is.

Cover the carrot and daikon pieces with the salt (about a tablespoon for a full version of Nguyen's recipe) and some of the sugar (about two tablespoons).

Thoroughly mix them with your fingers for a few minutes.  She notes that liquid will collect in the bowl.  I didn't see as much, but I didn't make a whole recipe so maybe that's why.

Rinse and drain the vegetables in a colander and set aside.

Next for your quick pickle, mix the rest of sugar with the water and vinegar and stir to dissolve.

Immerse the vegetables in the solution for at least an hour before you make your bánh mì sandwiches.

While the do chua is brining, thinly slice your cucumber and jalapeño,  You can seed and devein the chile, but I like a spicy chile so I left them.

Slice up your baguette, and slice each segment of baguette in half.

With fingers, hollow out some of the bread from each half of baguette.

You are ready to assemble your bánh mì.  Fill each hole you made with mayonnaise.

Add soy sauce to each slice of bread.

Fill each bánh mì with your meat of choice and your do chua...

...your cucumber and jalapeño slices, and your cilantro sprigs.

Smoosh the sides of bread together and smoosh.

I loved these intense, juicy, salty and spicy little sandwiches.  Once you have it all together it's easy to do, though for all your different components it takes a little while to make this.  It is a worthy effort and one I will pursue again in the future.

- - - - -

We are done in the Lone Star State.  We don't completely leave the southwest, heading northwest to that Great Salt Lake for jello and potatoes galore.  It's time to explore Mormon cuisine, Utah-style.

Sources:

DallasVegan.com.  "Simple Vegan Migas…Brownsville Style".  DallasVegan.com, posted January 19, 2009.  Copyright 2010 DallasVegan.com.  All rights reserved.

Dr. Dan (blogger).  "Spicy 3 Chilies Texas Chili a la Crock Pot".  101 Cooking for Two, posted February 25, 2012.

Fain, Lisa.  "My Oven-Baked Brisket".  Homesick Texan, posted December 16, 2008.  Copyright Homesick Texan.  All rights reserved. 

Goldwyn, Craig "Meathead".  "Barbecue Beef Brisket Texas Style".  Amazing Ribs updated March 2, 2012.  Copyright Amazing Ribs.  All rights reserved.

Guía de Tacos (Guiadetacos.com).  "Enchiladas norteñas".  Date unknown.

Johnson Miller, Ruthie.  "Banh mi, oh my! The top five Vietnamese sandwich shops in Houston".  Culture Map Houston, posted February 26, 2011.  Copyright 2009-2012 Culture Map, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Daikon and Carrot Pickle Recipe (Do Chua)".  Viet World Kitchen, posted May 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Master Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe".  Viet World Kitchen, posted June 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Shuttlesworth, Patrise.  "Tex-Mex vs. New Mex: Not Just About Jalapeños or Green Chiles".  On the Road, a Houston Press Blog, posted March 26, 2012.  Copyright Houston Press.  All rights reserved.

Sliter Satterwhite, Shannon. "Make a Batch of Texas Chili".  Southern Living Magazine, October 2005.

von der Mehden, Fred R. "Vietnamese".  Handbook of Texas Online.  Date unknown.  Published by the Texas State Historical Association.  Copyright 2012 Texas State Historical Association, published by the Texas State Historical Association, and distributed in partnership with the University of North Texas Sponsors.  All rights reserved.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Texas" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Texas".

Snacking State-by-State: Texas IV - Paciendo Estado-por-Estado: Coahuila I - ¡Qué enchiladas tan sabrosas tienen!

In my previous Texas post, I noted the difference between New Mexican and Tex-Mex food.  So what distinguishes Tex-Mex from Mex-Mex?

Official Name: State of Texas
State Nickname: The Lone Star State, The Republic of Texas
Admission to the US: December 29, 1845 (#28)
Capital: Austin (4th largest)
Other Important Cities: Houston (largest), San Antonio (2nd largest), Dallas (3rd largest), El Paso (6th largest),
Region: South, Southwest; West South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ; Chile Pepper; Gumbo; Bison
Bordered by: Oklahoma (north), Arkansas (northeast), Louisiana (east), Gulf of Mexico (southeast), Tamaulipas, Nuevo León & Coahuila (Mexico) and the Río Grande (south), Chihuahua (Mexico) (southwest), New Mexico (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: cast iron dutch oven (cooking implement - not edible, of course, but used for cooking), chili (dish), chiltepín (native pepper), Guadalupe bass (fish), jalapeño (pepper), longhorn (large mammal), pan de campo (bread), pecan (tree and health nut), prickly pear cactus (plant - for the pads and the fruit), sopaipilla and strudel (pastries), sweet onion (vegetable), Texas purple sage (native shrub), Texas red grapefruit (fruit). tortilla chips and salsa (snack)

Some Famous and Typical Foods: Where to begin?  Texas-style barbecue (specifically beef and beef brisket), Texas chili, chicken fried steak, Mexican (specifically Northern Mexican) foods, Tex-Mex foods (including migas, chile con carne and sopaipilla)Perhaps it is more instructive to say that "Mexican" is more similar to "New Mexican" cuisine (with a predominance of New Mexico chiles) than it is to "Tex-Mex" cuisine: fewer creamy sauces, fewer starches, less meat, little cumin.  But note also that Mexico has its own regional and state cuisines, so to define "Mexican" cuisine is almost as much a folly as defining "American" food (which I've been trying to do over the last year and a half, but still).  

To bring this discussion full circle, much of the cuisine of northern Mexico - the northeastern states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, which all border Texas, plus Sonora (bordering Arizona) and Baja California (bordering California) has more meat (carne asada, barbacoa) and cheese (chile con queso, crema de queso) than cuisines farther into central and southern Mexico.  So maybe "Tex-Mex" and "northern Mex" have some similarities after all (more info from the notoriously unreliable Wikipedia's "Mexican cuisine" and "New Mexican cuisine" pages).

Like the other states that border Texas to the south, Coahuila is known for its barbecue, carne asada and various things it does with beef and goat.  But one very common dish that you find all over Texas and the Southwest is the humble enchilada.  The Spanish-language Guía de Tacos website [date unknown] has a recipe for Coahuila-style enchiladas.  I can only take their word for it that this is how enchiladas - Spanish for "covered in chiles" - are done in Coahuila:

Este tipo de enchiladas se preparan todas juntas en un recipiente o refractario bañadas de una deliciosa salsa tradicional de Coahuila. Son uno de los platillos más populares entre la comunidad estatal y se disfrutan calientes y ligeramente picosas. [Guía de Tacos date unknown]

(Translation: This type of enchilada is prepared [all put] together in a container or  oven-proof dish bathed in a delicious traditional sauce from Coahuila.  They are one of the most popular dishes among the state population and is enjoyed hot and lightly spicy. [translation mine])

I use this recipe from the Guía de Tacos website for my enchiladas al estilo Coahuila, below.

The Recipe: Enchiladas Norteñas (al estilo de Coahuila)

For these Coahuila-style enchiladas you will need: 

* corn tortillas (had them from the previous recipe)
* Mexican cheese (in this case, queso fresco, about $6 at H-Mart, the Korean supermarket with a very well-stocked Latin American selection.  Note that the original recipe calls for a quarter kilogram - 1/2 a pound - of shredded cheese.  I just crumbled up the queso fresco instead)
* ancho chiles (Productos Mirasol brand dried chiles, for about $1.50)
* garlic (had it)
* corn oil (had it too)
* onion (just needed half of one)
* salt (had it)

Seed the chiles and remove the stems.  You will dehydrate them in a minute...

But I wanted to toast them just a little first.

Soak the chiles for half an hour.  This will make them easier to pulse into a sauce.  Set aside the water you soak them in; you will use some of it later.

I found my typically useless blender was more useful than my food processor in pulsing the chiles (with a little chile water - I eyeballed it) into a sauce.  I still didn't get a terribly smooth sauce, but it worked well enough for me.

Boil down the chile sauce until thickened slightly.  Set aside.

Fry your tortillas in a skillet with some of the chile sauce.  The recipe actually wants you to boil down your homemade enchilada sauce in the skillet, set it aside, and heat up those tortillas.  I didn't do that, so i poured a little of the sauce into the skillet.

Toast each tortilla briefly on either side.

Now for your enchiladas: Take each tortilla, fill it with some cheese, and roll it up.  The recipe says "[Envuélven] las tortillas [como] si fueran tacos" (wrap the tortillas up as if they were tacos - they didn't spell the Spanish words too well) [Guía de Tacos date unknown].  I don't usually wrap tortillas up this way.  Maybe I'll try it sometime.

When you have enough of these tortillas wrapped up and lined up in a baking dish, cover with more cheese and onion pieces.

Cover the tortillas in the enchilada sauce.  Now they are "en-chile'd", enchiladas!

This is quite a filling dish, and it was satisfying to make my own enchilada sauce instead of using a bottled variety.  These taste even better heated up the next day, with the cheese and the sauce all warm.

Sources:

DallasVegan.com.  "Simple Vegan Migas…Brownsville Style".  DallasVegan.com, posted January 19, 2009.  Copyright 2010 DallasVegan.com.  All rights reserved.

Dr. Dan (blogger).  "Spicy 3 Chilies Texas Chili a la Crock Pot".  101 Cooking for Two, posted February 25, 2012.

Fain, Lisa.  "My Oven-Baked Brisket".  Homesick Texan, posted December 16, 2008.  Copyright Homesick Texan.  All rights reserved. 

Goldwyn, Craig "Meathead".  "Barbecue Beef Brisket Texas Style".  Amazing Ribs updated March 2, 2012.  Copyright Amazing Ribs.  All rights reserved.

Guía de Tacos (Guiadetacos.com).  "Enchiladas norteñas".  Date unknown.

Johnson Miller, Ruthie.  "Banh mi, oh my! The top five Vietnamese sandwich shops in Houston".  Culture Map Houston, posted February 26, 2011.  Copyright 2009-2012 Culture Map, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Daikon and Carrot Pickle Recipe (Do Chua)".  Viet World Kitchen, posted May 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Master Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe".  Viet World Kitchen, posted June 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Shuttlesworth, Patrise.  "Tex-Mex vs. New Mex: Not Just About Jalapeños or Green Chiles".  On the Road, a Houston Press Blog, posted March 26, 2012.  Copyright Houston Press.  All rights reserved.

Sliter Satterwhite, Shannon. "Make a Batch of Texas Chili".  Southern Living Magazine, October 2005.

von der Mehden, Fred R. "Vietnamese".  Handbook of Texas Online.  Date unknown.  Published by the Texas State Historical Association.  Copyright 2012 Texas State Historical Association, published by the Texas State Historical Association, and distributed in partnership with the University of North Texas Sponsors.  All rights reserved.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Texas" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Texas".

Snacking State-by-State: Texas III - Tex-Mex the meatless way (or "Yes, Texas, you've got a case of Vegans")

Back when I looked at New Mexico (and to some extent Arizona), I noted that not all Southwestern food was alike.  Instead, there are two distinct varieties, New Mexican and Tex-Mex.  Apparently, much of the Southwest sides with the "New Mexican" version of Southwestern cuisine.  But when much of the East Coast thinks about Southwestern food, it thinks about the variety from Texas.

Official Name: State of Texas
State Nickname: The Lone Star State, The Republic of Texas
Admission to the US: December 29, 1845 (#28)
Capital: Austin (4th largest)
Other Important Cities: Houston (largest), San Antonio (2nd largest), Dallas (3rd largest), El Paso (6th largest),
Region: South, Southwest; West South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ; Chile Pepper; Gumbo; Bison
Bordered by: Oklahoma (north), Arkansas (northeast), Louisiana (east), Gulf of Mexico (southeast), Tamaulipas, Nuevo León & Coahuila (Mexico) and the Río Grande (south), Chihuahua (Mexico) (southwest), New Mexico (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: cast iron dutch oven (cooking implement - not edible, of course, but used for cooking), chili (dish), chiltepín (native pepper), Guadalupe bass (fish), jalapeño (pepper), longhorn (large mammal), pan de campo (bread), pecan (tree and health nut), prickly pear cactus (plant - for the pads and the fruit), sopaipilla and strudel (pastries), sweet onion (vegetable), Texas purple sage (native shrub), Texas red grapefruit (fruit). tortilla chips and salsa (snack)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Where to begin?  Texas-style barbecue (specifically beef and beef brisket), Texas chili, chicken fried steak, Mexican (specifically Northern Mexican) foods, Tex-Mex foods (including migas, chile con carne and sopaipilla)


So what is the difference?  Houston Chronicle blogger Patrise Shuttlesworth [2012] lays it out for us.  For starters, she notes that it isn't so much the ingredients - though the fabled New Mexico chile is a key component - as it is the cooking techniques that define New Mexican cuisine: roasted chiles and veggies, little frying, little meat and no cumin.  Tex-Mex, on the other hand, is noted for bigger portions, cheeses, cream gravies, combo plates and, yes, cumin:

Tex Mex tends to be comprised of a specific group of ingredients with a small allowance for regional variance. The ingredients you can count on are: large amounts of sour cream; copious amounts of cheese and meat; Jalapeños; Cumin/Comino; even olives; very large portions; very heavy dishes laden with chili con carne

As the unfortunate saying goes - "Everything is bigger in Texas!" That doesn't just refer to our hair. Our portion sizes, our plate sizes, our allotment of table tortilla chips and sadly, our people are bigger. Mexican food came from a culture of "only eat what's available because you grew or raised it." They did not know the Big Tex Taco plate or the Cowboy Bistek. We would be better off if we had never met them either. [Shuttlesworth 2012]

Sound familiar?  Yep, pretty much any Southwestern food we find on the East Coast sounds like this.  Delicious, but it makes you big.

Mind you, vegan cooking is not necessarily low fat cooking (try a good vegan mac & cheese, for example).  But it is meat and animal product free.  This is practically the opposite of Tex-Mex, and of Texan cooking in general.  But head to Austin and you can easily find vegan foods at the world's oldest and (to may eyes at least) Whole Foods.  I stopped in here twice on my visit to Austin earlier this year, and was blown away by the sheer size of the store and its offerings.  I guess everything is bigger in Texas.

Hopefully you can see how I'm tying Texas and veganism together.  But Tex-Mex?  Try out Austin Whole Foods' breakfast bar and you will find a healthy selection of vegan and vegetarian as well as meaty offerings.  One of my favorite ones was a vegan version of the popular Texan dish migas - a simple Southwestern dish composed of eggs scrambled with scraps of corn tortillas.  Migas is a counterpart to the Ashkenazi Jewish matzah brei (replace tortillas with matzah) or the hearty Midwestern hoppel poppel (replace tortillas with potatoes and salami).  But to veganize it you have to cut out the scrambled eggs. You could go the Whole Foods route and use egg substitute, or use what more innovative vegan chefs prefer: tofu, extra firm in this case.  This recipe from the Dallas Vegan blog [2009] is the one I used.

The Recipe: Vegan Migas

For this simple vegan version of migas you will only need the following:

* extra firm tofu (Dallas Vegan suggests Mori-Nu brand tofu.  I got the only "extra firm tofu" I could find at H-Mart for about $3)
* turmeric (this gives the tofu that scrambled egg-like color.  I had it on hand)
* corn tortillas (These were in the refrigerator case in H-Mart for about $2.50.  Please use corn and not flour tortillas, though I guess this would work with flour ones)
* olive oil (had it)
* cumin (had it too)
* garlic (had this too)
* salt and pepper (yup)

Start by cutting your tortillas into squares.

Toast the tortillas squares in a skillet with some olive oil.  When slightly crispy, remove and set aside.

Take your tofu and turmeric and add them to the olive oil. Mush up the tofu with a spoon.

Add your other spices - cumin, garlic, salt and pepper.

Stir for a few minutes until it is warm and looks like scrambled eggs.

Add your tortilla squares and cook for a few minutes more.

I don't typically eat vegan.  Plus, I have eggs.  But this is a good and I daresay hearty way to use up some tofu (again, extra firm.  Don't use the soft stuff).  I also have to admit that, while it didn't exactly taste like eggs, I didn't really notice that it didn't.  Add a few sprigs of cilantro on the side and maybe some tomatoes and you have a mighty fine breakfast dish.

Sources:

DallasVegan.com.  "Simple Vegan Migas…Brownsville Style".  DallasVegan.com, posted January 19, 2009.  Copyright 2010 DallasVegan.com.  All rights reserved.

Dr. Dan (blogger).  "Spicy 3 Chilies Texas Chili a la Crock Pot".  101 Cooking for Two, posted February 25, 2012.

Fain, Lisa.  "My Oven-Baked Brisket".  Homesick Texan, posted December 16, 2008.  Copyright Homesick Texan.  All rights reserved. 

Goldwyn, Craig "Meathead".  "Barbecue Beef Brisket Texas Style".  Amazing Ribs updated March 2, 2012.  Copyright Amazing Ribs.  All rights reserved.

Guía de Tacos (Guiadetacos.com).  "Enchiladas norteñas".  Date unknown.

Johnson Miller, Ruthie.  "Banh mi, oh my! The top five Vietnamese sandwich shops in Houston".  Culture Map Houston, posted February 26, 2011.  Copyright 2009-2012 Culture Map, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Daikon and Carrot Pickle Recipe (Do Chua)".  Viet World Kitchen, posted May 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Master Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe".  Viet World Kitchen, posted June 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Shuttlesworth, Patrise.  "Tex-Mex vs. New Mex: Not Just About Jalapeños or Green Chiles".  On the Road, a Houston Press Blog, posted March 26, 2012.  Copyright Houston Press.  All rights reserved.

Sliter Satterwhite, Shannon. "Make a Batch of Texas Chili".  Southern Living Magazine, October 2005.

von der Mehden, Fred R. "Vietnamese".  Handbook of Texas Online.  Date unknown.  Published by the Texas State Historical Association.  Copyright 2012 Texas State Historical Association, published by the Texas State Historical Association, and distributed in partnership with the University of North Texas Sponsors.  All rights reserved.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Texas" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Texas".