Down Home
A blend of American fare, cowboy recipes, German cuisine and just plain food, Down Home is unique to Texas. Recipes include stews, casseroles, breads and pies and were invented out of necessity and ingenuity by chuck wagon cooks and farmers. In the beginning of cowboy cuisine, beef was preserved "on the hoof" until slaughtered for meals. In most cases, the entire cow was used in various recipes. With the right amount of spice, curing and cooking, chuck wagon cooks could turn any cut into a meal that would bring a smile to the toughest hand.
Then there's the steak. It doesn't matter which cut you pick. In Texas, you can get a steak any day of the week, anywhere in the state. Naturally, Texas steakhouses are considered among the best in the nation. Take Pappas Brothers in Houston, where you can add shrimp remoulade and Maine lobster to your three-peppercorn steak. Or Fort Griffin General Merchandise restaurant in Albany which is a favorite of patrons like Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall. And who's going to argue with them? Then there's the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. You can eat there free any night of the week, provided you finish a 72-ounce steak dinner plus the fixins' in less than an hour. They'll even add your name to the list of successful 72 ounce diners posted at the door. Who can resist a great steak and fame in Texas?
It's true, Texans do love their steak. But they also love it chicken-fried. Chicken-fried steak is considered the "unofficial state dish of Texas" by many. And rightly so. Invented back in the chuck-wagon days of early Texas, over 800,000 of them are served in our state daily. Yet unlike most other Texan fare, the recipe is not a closely guarded secret. Take a steak, bread it, fry it, smother it with country gravy and eat it. You'll find, however, that everyone does it a little differently. For a taste of what Texans consider the best, visit Goodson's Cafe in Tomball, Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls, and Royers Round Top Cafe in Round Top.
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