Texas on the Plate

One taste of the food in Texas on the Plate and everyone will be begging for seconds--native Texan, or not! With her lively, information-packed treatise on the varied cuisine of the Lone Star State, veteran chef and culinary instructor Terry Thompson-Anderson, author of the acclaimed Cajun-Creole Cooking, has done it again--created a classic! Texas on the Plate has all the makings of a timeless cookbook. Chock full of tantalizing recipes, fascinating historical insights, and a thorough culinary exploration of the multi-dimensional population that makes up the state, Texas on the Plate promises to become a kitchen treasure. Dig in and discover why Texas on the Plate is destined to become the definitive book on Texas cooking.

From Texas Chicken-Fried Rib-Eye with Tabasco Cream Gravy to baked Oysters on the Half-Shell with Cilantro-Chili Sauce, Thompson-Anderson's spirited recipes will knock your boots off! The Executive Chef of Maner Lake Lodge, the private conference center and hunting/fishing lodge of the Halliburton Corporation, Chef Thompson-Anderson knows a thing or two about throwing a good party. In Texas on the Plate she shares her talent, serving up a host of swashbuckling, mouthwatering specialities. Chapters covering everything from "Foods For Grazing" (appetizers), to "Meat, Tame and Wild," to "The Good Stuff" (desserts) display that indefatigable Texas spirit. Texas on the Plate also offers "Soups, Salads, and Breads," details dozens of ways to handle "Things With Wings," and presents a wealth of delectable ways to get it on the plate in "If It Swims." Superlative "Sides"--delicious in their own right--haven't been forgotten. And lovers of the grape will get a unique fix from Thompson-Anderson's delightful, chapter-long tribute to Texas' fast growing wine industry. These wineries have paired their wines with selections from her book.

With recipes to suit Texans (and Texas-lovers) of every stripe, combined with an inspiring, 4-color photographic journey through the vast Lone Star State, Texas on the Plate turns every meal into a Texas-sized adventure! From 4-star, white tablecloth entries such as Roast Beef Tenderloin with Two-Mushroom Essence Sauce to updated down home Texas favorites like Slow Smoked Brisket with Hellfire and Brimstone Sauce, Thompson-Anderson delivers dishes exuding irresistible Texas appeal. Simple pleasures like Texas Toast and Chile Con Queso with Homemade Tortilla Chips are up for grabs. And distinctive Texas specialties, such as Slow-Smoked Quail on Savory Bread Pudding with Three-Chili Sauce, Wild Turkey or Deer Jerky, and Tequila-Beef Fajitas with Pico do Gallo are demystified.

Texans of the shore will appreciate Thompson-Anderson's myriad of ways for preparing Gulf Coast shrimp and oysters, while recipes for fish, among them Brazos Catfish with Crawfish Cream and Shark Steaks Grilled in Hoja Santa with Sun-Dried Tomato and Walnut Pesto, will bring out the fisherman in everyone! Urbanite adherents to the high-octane happy hour will find a handful of Texas-inspired pizzas, Wild Mushroom Nachos, and Crabmeat Quesadillas to pair with their cocktails, while entrees such as Grilled Hot Pepper Crabs with Ginger and Garlic and Roast Pheasant with Caramelized Pears on Seared Foie-Gras are equally at home for entertaining and romantic dinners for two.

From beginning to end, Texas on the Plate does just what its title says it will. This fabulous cookbook brings all the flavors of the Lone Star State--flavors old and new, cowboy and cosmopolitan, German, Mexican, Vietnamese and more--to the table, and piles them up on the plate with true, undeniably Texan style!

As one of America's foremost pundits of southern regional cooking, Terry Thompson-Anderson's extensive background in food comes from working with and studying under some of the most highly regarded masters of contemporary American cooking. Add to this Terry's passion for seeking out the time-proven cooking techniques, ancestral recipes and culinary traditions of Texas families from the Gulf of Mexico to the state's arid Panhandle Plains, and you begin to understand how this talented chef has managed, quite literally, to bring Texas to the plate with her latest cookbook.

Thompson-Anderson grew up in the Houston of the 1950s and moved to Austin as a college student. It was in Austin that her culinary awakening began. Terry's mother-in-law, a gracious southern lady and excellent cook from Macon, Georgia, took the budding chef under her wing, exposing Terry to a wide new world of tastes, then teaching her how to create them. In no time, cooking became a passion.

Thompson-Anderson's newfound love of cooking flourished in Austin's thriving arts and music scene of the 1960s. Texas'capital city had become a Mecca of sorts for country music lovers, and the vibrant young crowd that filled Austin was hungry for nourishment of a new and different kind. Although Mexican food remained a mainstay of the Texas diet, and barbecue was still regarded as the quintessential Texas fare, changes were underfoot. Southwestern influences from New Mexico and Arizona found their way into Austin's pots, and exotic new techniques from Southeast Asia invaded the land of beef and burgers. Terry then relocated to Louisiana, and the young chef was hooked on creating her own pleasures of the table. Thompson-Anderson's move coincided with the Cajun-Creole cooking explosion, which in turn provided her with both the incentive and the venue to plunge headfirst into the professional food world.

Thompson-Anderson's formal culinary training began as an apprentice at the legendary Lee Barnes Cooking School in New Orleans, under the watchful eyes of Lee Barnes and her wealth of visiting chefs and culinary instructors. Of particular interest to Terry was the distinctive Creole-Italian cooking style made famous by New Orleans' Mosca family. Thompson-Anderson soon became a kitchen groupie at Sal Impastata's restaurant, "Sal and Judy's," on the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain. And soon thereafter this rising culinary star was begging her way into the kitchens of Cajun grandmothers to study the roux, the etoufees, the jambalayas, the turtle soups and the nutria stews of the gastronomically rich state of Louisiana.

Professional culinary studies began at Francois Dionot's acclaimed L'Academie de Cuisine, at its original location in Bethesda, Maryland, where Thompson-Anderson pursued French Culinary Theory and Technique. Terry was eventually tapped as a charter member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals where she met the influential Nathalie Dupree, America's Doyen of southern food, cookbook author, and TV food peronality who became her mentor.

In 1991, Terry returned to her native Texas and re-iginited her love affair with Lone Star cuisine, savoring the state's rich diversity of flavors and marveling at the changes her years away had brought. Thompson-Anderson currently does recipe development and staff training for restaurants around the country and has taught more than 20,000 students at cooking schools in the United States. She is also Executive Chef for the Halliburton Corporation at Maner Lake Lodge, the company's conference center and hunting/fishing lodge in West Columbia, Texas, where she resides in a country home with her husband, Roger.