Direct from Houston - Five Must Have Cookbooks this Season

Cook Like a Local

It was only a matter of time before James Beard Award–winning chef Chris Shepherd published a cookbook, but instead of creating one that focused on his restaurants Shepherd turned the tables and instead featured the ingredients that make Houston so singularly diverse. The 120 featured recipes are arranged into six unexpected chapters: fish sauce, chiles, soy, rice, spices and corn.

“I knew I didn’t want to write a book that was arranged by appetizers, mains, desserts and proteins. That’s boring to me, and it’s not really how I cook in restaurants either,” Shepherd explains. “I wanted to showcase ingredients that span the world and have informed my cooking, but also represent the vast diversity we have here in Houston. My favorite line in the whole book is ‘Houston tastes like fish sauce,’ because it does!”

In what can only be described as an homage to H-Town, Shepherd collaborates with a variety of chefs to bring to life must-try recipes like seafood rice casserole, fried chicken tamales, pork riblets in fish sauce caramel and more.

The famed vinegar pie from Underbelly also makes an appearance. “Honestly, it was a stretch to put the vinegar pie in the corn chapter, but I knew I couldn’t write a cookbook without that recipe in it, so we made it fit!”

Houston Cooks

Edible Houston’s editor Francine Spiering has traveled the world, lived on four continents and exposed her palate to the world’s vast cuisines. No doubt all this prepared her to tackle the daunting task of writing about Houston’s distinct foods and culinary characters.

“The food here in this city, that is exactly why I feel so at home in Houston,” Spiering says. “I get my global cravings and only have to drive around town to find a place and satisfy them.”

Highlighting the vast culinary and cultural diversity of the city, Houston Cooks includes an impressive 45 chefs each with their own background story, black and white portrait and two signature recipes that home chefs can confidently recreate in their kitchens.

Well-known culinary personalities include Justin Yu of Theodore Rex, Kaiser Lashkari of Himalaya Restaurant and Catering, Anita Jaisinghani of Pondicheri Cafe, Monica Pope of Sparrow Cookshop, and others.

As a “live local, live well” advocate Spiering was particularly thrilled to feature chefs known and loved for their commitment to local farmers and ranchers, including Lynette Hawkins, Richard Knight and, of course, the duo behind Cherry Block: Jessica DeSham Timmons and Felix Florez.

“I adore chefs with a culinary philosophy that is all about the whole animal, local sourcing and waste-not.”

Must-make recipes like Doris Metropolitan’s Jerusalem cauliflower salad, Harold’s in the Heights' shrimp and grits, Ninfa’s octopus tacos, Dessert Gallery’s pecan pie bars and Oporto’s Kashmiri Caipirinha are presented in the new release, but don’t ask Spiering to choose a favorite. “It’s like a mother with many kids,” she says. “I love them all equally.”

Paulie’s

There’s something to be said for a restaurant like Paulie’s that not only stays in business for over 20 years but also remains revered by critics and patrons alike. Unlike many of its culinary predecessors that have come and gone, Paulie’s has found that sort of rare magic that keeps the crowds coming back.

In writing Paulie’s cookbook, which was released in 2018, chef and owner Paul Petronella says it was equally important to detail his family’s rich culinary history as well as the harsh realities of running a namesake restaurant.

“Our history of success is not much different than any other family-owned, independent restaurant, and it’s not always sexy. It will challenge you in ways you never thought possible,” Petronella says. “I was hoping to shed some light on what it took for our restaurant to succeed, hopefully preparing the next generation for success.”

Though decadent, fan-favorite pastas like the cacio e pepe and creste di gallo are shared in the beautifully photographed book, one notable omission is the beloved shortbread cookie recipe, which Petronella says he simply couldn’t part with: “I think the book has a couple one-star reviews on Amazon because the shortbread recipe is not included. I call those our fair-weather fans.”

Tex-Mex Cookbook

As a respected chef with multi-state concepts under his belt, including Houston’s State of Grace and La Lucha, Ford Fry could have written just about any cookbook that his heart desired, but there was something about Texas’s most famous cuisine that pushed the passionate chef to write his first book.

“I love chef- and restaurant-driven cookbooks, but I notice they are often very difficult and ‘cheffy’ for the home cook,” Fry says. “Tex-Mex is the comfort food I grew up on and was a standard in my home and eating out. What better book to write than simple recipes that bring such joy to so many people?”

Classic staples like refried beans, chile con queso, fajitas and margaritas all make appearances in the colorfully adorned title. And Fry also says famed Texas food writer Robb Walsh’s The Tex-Mex Cookbook inspired parts of his own Tex-Mex rendition.

“That may be my favorite book because the history of the cuisine was researched and communicated so well,” he says. “[Robb] inspired us to add in bits of history to help tell the story alongside corresponding recipes.”

Texas Seafood: A Comprehensive Guide

Trusted and utilized by such Houston chefs as James Beard Award–winners Chris Shepherd, Hugo Ortega and Justin Yu, P.J. and Benchalak Stoops are the go-to experts and suppliers of fresh bountiful Texas Gulf Coast seafood.

What’s unique about the duo’s newly released book is that it is not only a one-stop shop for understanding over 200 species that inhabit the Texas Gulf Coast region, including their common names, habitats, distribution/ranges, cooking techniques and availabilities, but it is also a seafood cookbook.

Though it’s a small section in the book, readers can expect to find surprising dishes like smoked peachbelly swordfish, spicy blue crab, pickled crawfish and more.

In the book, the Stoopses discuss how much a part of their lives the seafood trade has become: “Through our years of relying on wild fish to pay the bills, we fell in love with our corner of the Gulf,” they write. “Seafood is how we celebrate anything and everything.”