Spirit of the West presents an enticing array of hearty dishes rich with robust flavor and color. Authors Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs extend a gracious invitation to join in this delicious roundup of recipes from the American West.
More than 100 recipes provide dishes that satisfy even the most demanding appetites. Breakfast prospects include Pecan Bread with Chokecherry Jelly, Potato Doughnuts, Buttermilk Pancakes, and the old prairie standby, Cowboy Coffee. After a long morning in the saddle, real cowboys can tuck into a Bowl of Red with Sourdough Biscuits or Kansas Fried Chicken with Authentic King Ranch Beans. Come and get it at a dinner smorgasbord of Mesquite Smoked Turkey, Prime Rib of Beef, and Pot Roast with Dumplings. Special occasions demand special chow like a Cream Can Supper (the Western Frontier equivalent of a clambake complete with sausages, corn, and potatoes cooked together in a milk can).
Behind this hearty food lies a rich heritage influenced by the cooking techniques of the native American and Mexican peoples. Ranch house cooking has been further enriched by the many ethnic cuisines brought to the region by its settlers. Photographs feature objects inherited (like many of the recipes) from the authors' forebears to illustrate this entertaining glimpse into the foods that fed the American West.
Authors Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs co-authored Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking (1991), which won both IACP and James Beard Cookbook awards. Cox is a fourth-generation Wyoming rancher who grew up on a cattle ranch near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Her interest in the region's traditional foods and history began in childhood. She holds a Grande Diplome from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and apprenticed with the noted chef Gaston Le Notre. Many of the recipes--and some of the props used in the photographs--are from her forebears.
Martin Jacobs, an award-winning photographer who specializes in food photography, has photographed many cookbooks. He and Cox collaborate on a regular column on Indian cooking for Native Peoples, the magazine published by the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian.