Jon Harvey introduced me to Adán Medrano after a performance of my most recent play Rome, which featured horrible people talking about horrible things, which they may have or may have not done. Adán loved the play, admitted he also loved Scotch, and also revealed he’s a chef with a new book coming out called Truly Texas Mexican. Boom. A friendship formed. Adán’s book reshapes our understanding of Texas and Mexico by eliminating national boundaries, and instead, focuses on the hundreds of native tribes that cooked and lived from South Texas to Northern Mexico. He argues mortars made out of volcanic rock, dried chilies, avocados, corn masa, earth ovens, and roasting gar on an open fire define not only the culture and cuisine of these people, but us as well, those who live in their land now and often cook with the same ingredients. Truly Texas Mexican offers a hundred recipes and an in-depth history lesson so we can harvest, cook and know our food and who we are. Not Bad. Here’s a link to his book.
http://www.amazon.com/Truly-Texas-Mexican-Culinary-Southwest/dp/0896728501