Lone Star Menu: Tastes of Texas
In This Exhibit: Chips and Salsa | Surf and Turf: Seafood | Surf and Turf: Beef | On the Side | Something Sweet | Wash it Down | Lone Star Recipes | Take Away | HOME
Something Sweet
Use the nut from the official state tree, the pecan, to whip up a tasty pie or sweet pralines. Texas companies like Adams Extract, Imperial Sugar, and Pioneer Mills flour have helped bakers create desserts for generations. Peach season adds a delicious fruit flavor to ice cream and, of course, to the official state cobbler. Our first ladies have also contributed to the menu with their own recipes for cookies, pies, and other treats added to the permanent record.
Eggs and egg dishes, April 1, 1970. Texas Department of Agriculture photograph collection, 2001/078-4-70-58. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Recipe, First Lady Anita Perry’s Buttermilk Pie, 2003. Texas Governor Rick Perry First Lady Anita Perry’s files, 2015/067-2815. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Anita Perry served as First Lady of Texas from December 20, 2000, to January 20, 2015. Not only was she the longest serving first lady, but her files are included in the records of her husband Rick Perry’s papers at the State Archives. This buttermilk pie recipe, adapted from a friend of her mother’s, appears on her official letterhead.
Selection of Pies Courtesy of Furr’s Pie Kitchen, about 1970s. Texas Department of Agriculture photograph collection, 2001/078_001_70_102. Click or tap on links and images to view larger versions.
Texas native Roy Furr expanded on the original Furr Food Stores to build a chain of supermarkets in the western region of the state in the middle of the twentieth century. Furr and an associate innovated by also opening Furr’s cafeterias as the dining format became popular in the American south. A slice of Furr’s pie was the perfect way to end a Sunday afternoon meal.
Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson’s Peach Ice Cream, Cooking with Texas Highways, 2014. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
The Texas Hill Country surrounding President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s (LBJ) ranch has a reputation for producing delicious peaches. This recipe for peach ice cream from his wife, Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson, also includes a handy tip for “an easy way to peel all those peaches.”
GO TEXAN® Pecan Recipes: A Delectable Delight,” about 2011. TX Documents, A900.8 G 534PE.
Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Get Cracking with Texas Pecans: Featuring Pecan Recipes from Appetizers to Desserts,” 1980. TX Documents, A900.8 G335CRP.
Click or tap on image to view larger version.
The Texas Department of Agriculture created programs such as the GO TEXAN® campaign to promote Texas products. These publications offer recipes and information about pecans from the official tree of Texas, like the origin of the word from the Algonquin term “paccan,” meaning “tough nut to crack.”