The Homesick Texan Cookbook

Fain is a seventh-generation Texan who moved to Manhattan in her mid-20s, mourned both the absence of cream gravy on the East Coast and the illegality of buying whole cow heads in New York, and eventually created a successful food blog, the title of which she has borrowed for her first, and Texas-sized, book. Her writing style is free of both Longhorn exaggeration and New York cynicism. It's as if the two forces have canceled each other out, resulting in a levelheaded, down to earth tone that, like her blog, often refers to family and friends. With a goal of celebrating the "bounty and joy that is Texan cuisine," Fain's most important lessons are that there is much to enjoy beyond the familiar triumvirate of "Tex-Mex, barbecue, and chicken-fried steak," and that there are major culinary differences among the north, east, west, and Gulf Coast regions of her homeland. Witness the West Texas stacked enchiladas, which are layered rather than rolled. Chili, of course, is a requisite recipe, and Fain provides two options: there is a rather amazing seven-chile Texas chili in which chuck roast and the varietal dried chilies soak up the flavors of coffee, beer, garlic, cinnamon, and Mexican chocolate. And for those who would rather not endure the five-hour simmering time, there is the one-hour Texas chili with just two types of peppers and faster-cooking ground beef (Sept.)