
December 2013 Issue

Features


Joy of Looking
I pore over my old cookbooks not for the recipes but for the stories they conjure.



Better Off Red
It’s not all sweetness and light in the grapefruit groves of the Rio Grande Valley.

Chicken Fried State
How a lowly cut of beef—breaded, spiced, and fried to order—was transformed into a vessel for the modern food system.

Bowl of Dread
I was aghast when chili was first anointed our official state dish. More than 35 years later, my feelings about this greasy mush haven't changed.

The Things They Buried
The Sunday barbacoa luncheon was one of my family’s few traditions. Had I known what was in those tacos, it might not have been.
Columns

The Texanist: Do East Texas Purple Hull Peas Count as Good Luck on New Year’s?
Offering fine advice since 2007.
Food, Glorious Food
Were it not for the fact that it looked a little weird on the cover, I would’ve insisted that we call this a food issue, not the food issue. Magazines are always putting out what they call “the Food Issue,” and this is precisely what we set out to do six

Digging In
How eating cornbread and beans taught me who I was—and who we are as Texans.
Reporter

Bipolar Order
Contrary to what the national media would have you believe, Texas is not politically monochromatic. It is, and always has been, a state with two minds.

Quesada, Sera
The founder of the Grammy-winning Grupo Fantasma is striking out on his own. For his next act, will he remake Latin music again?

Five Things You’ll Be Talking About in December
1. Romo AgonistesYou remember Danny White, don’t you? He had the misfortune to replace Roger Staubach as the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback after the beloved number 12 retired with two Super Bowl victories. Though White broke numerous Cowboys records—for passing yards in a season, for touchdown passes in a season, for


The Verdict
Wallace Jefferson sizes up his historic tenure as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.
Touts


Mole Poblano
Making this complex sauce is the most delicious meditative experience you’ll ever have.

Bar None
Houston’s Market Square is one of the state’s most historical spots. Lately it’s also one of the hippest places in the country to get a drink.
