100 books like The Homesick Texan Cookbook

By Lisa Fain,

Here are 100 books that The Homesick Texan Cookbook fans have personally recommended if you like The Homesick Texan Cookbook. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of AMA: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen

Jackie Alpers Author Of Taste of Tucson: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona

From my list on southwestern regional home cooking.

Why am I passionate about this?

Jackie Alpers is an award-winning professional food photographer and author. She is a longtime contributing recipe developer & photographer for The Food Network, Refinery29, TheKitchn, TodayFood, Real Simple, National Geographic, and Edible Baja Arizona Magazine among others. She has been featured in articles for Reader’s Digest, CNN, Good Morning America, The New York Times & NPR. She writes, cooks, and styles recipes from her sun-lit studio in Tucson, Arizona.

Jackie's book list on southwestern regional home cooking

Jackie Alpers Why did Jackie love this book?

Josef Centeno honors the food he grew up with in San Antonio. The book is named for his great-grandmother, “Ama´” and the influence of both his family, and his life as the chef of Los Angeles’s Bar Ama permeate the book. “Reimagined” is the word Josef uses to describe his recipes, and I think it’s a perfect descriptor for his particular vision.

Chef Centeno’s taste leans towards acidic, with lots of citrus and vinegars. Words like pickled and vinaigrette appear often in recipe titles and there is no shortage of chiles and salsas. I learn something every time I make a new recipe from this book, which is something I aspire to have my own cookbooks to do for others.

By Josef Centeno, Betty Hallock, Ren Fuller

Why should I read it?

1 author picked AMA as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An Eating the West Award Finalist 2020

Tex-Mex is a delicious, irreverent cuisine that combines the deep traditions of Texan and Mexican cooking. Think meaty stews, breakfast tacos, and tres leches cake. Home cooks will learn how to make them all-in addition to crunchy salads, slow-cooked meats, and fresh cocktails-in this collection of more than 100 recipes from San Antonio native and Los Angeles chef and restauranteur Josef Centeno. Organized into chapters by type of food-including breakfast, vegetables, main courses, desserts, and a super nacho party-this is down-home cooking and grilling at its most inspiring. Presented in a colorful package…


Book cover of El Charro Cafe: The Tastes and Traditions of Tucson

Jackie Alpers Author Of Taste of Tucson: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona

From my list on southwestern regional home cooking.

Why am I passionate about this?

Jackie Alpers is an award-winning professional food photographer and author. She is a longtime contributing recipe developer & photographer for The Food Network, Refinery29, TheKitchn, TodayFood, Real Simple, National Geographic, and Edible Baja Arizona Magazine among others. She has been featured in articles for Reader’s Digest, CNN, Good Morning America, The New York Times & NPR. She writes, cooks, and styles recipes from her sun-lit studio in Tucson, Arizona.

Jackie's book list on southwestern regional home cooking

Jackie Alpers Why did Jackie love this book?

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Flores family for hiring me on as a busier/bartender shortly after I moved to Tucson from Ohio in 1993. Carne Seca, albondigas and topopo were all new words to me that have since become embedded in my daily experience.

Carlotta Flores published a cookbook of recipes from the restaurant in 1998 and I reference it often in my own cookbook, Taste of Tucson. It’s a must-have book for anyone interested in learning more about Sonoran style Mexican food.

By Carlotta Flores,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked El Charro Cafe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Recipes and lore from El Charro Café, a Tucson landmark famous for its vibrant, fresh Mexican food.


Book cover of The Border Cookbook: Authentic Home Cooking of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico

Jackie Alpers Author Of Taste of Tucson: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona

From my list on southwestern regional home cooking.

Why am I passionate about this?

Jackie Alpers is an award-winning professional food photographer and author. She is a longtime contributing recipe developer & photographer for The Food Network, Refinery29, TheKitchn, TodayFood, Real Simple, National Geographic, and Edible Baja Arizona Magazine among others. She has been featured in articles for Reader’s Digest, CNN, Good Morning America, The New York Times & NPR. She writes, cooks, and styles recipes from her sun-lit studio in Tucson, Arizona.

Jackie's book list on southwestern regional home cooking

Jackie Alpers Why did Jackie love this book?

The Border Cookbook will teach you just about everything you need to know about the many different styles of Southwestern cuisine from the southern border regions. Trailing from northern Mexico to southern California, across Arizona and up through northern New Mexico, the book is organized by recipe instead of region so you can see how ingredients are uniquely utilized. Headers explain the history and regional significance of each dish.

By Bill Jamison, Cheryl Jamison,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Border Cookbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now more than ever, Southwestern food is a hugely popular trend. As ingredients are becoming more readily available to at-home cooks, there is a great demand for simple, delicious, and authentic recipes that bring Mexican and Southwestern food to our own tables.
In their James Beard Book Award-winning cookbook, authors Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison combine the best of Mexican and Southwest cooking, bringing together this large region's Native American, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo culinary roots into one big, exuberant book-The Border Cookbook. In over 300 recipes they explore the common elements and regional differences of border cooking. They…


Book cover of Coyote Cafe: Foods from the Great Southwest, Recipes from Coyote Cafe

Jackie Alpers Author Of Taste of Tucson: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona

From my list on southwestern regional home cooking.

Why am I passionate about this?

Jackie Alpers is an award-winning professional food photographer and author. She is a longtime contributing recipe developer & photographer for The Food Network, Refinery29, TheKitchn, TodayFood, Real Simple, National Geographic, and Edible Baja Arizona Magazine among others. She has been featured in articles for Reader’s Digest, CNN, Good Morning America, The New York Times & NPR. She writes, cooks, and styles recipes from her sun-lit studio in Tucson, Arizona.

Jackie's book list on southwestern regional home cooking

Jackie Alpers Why did Jackie love this book?

Can a cookbook change the course of your life? Perhaps. I attended art school in the late 1980’s. A favorite Sunday morning diversion was wandering through the aisles of the nearby Book Loft in Columbus, Ohio. One day I came across the Coyote Cafe Cookbook and my life was subtly changed forever. It put the seed of what would grow into a passion for Southwestern cuisine into my being, and it may have been part of the catalyst for me moving to this region. The recipes are intriguing and a little fancy. Cooking from this book is a treat.

By Mark Charles Miller,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Coyote Cafe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now in paperback!When Mark Miller opened the doors of Santa Fe'¬?s Coyote Cafe in 1987, the face of American cuisine changed forever. Blending centuries-old culinary traditions with modern techniques, Miller pioneered the emerging Southwestern cuisine, earning accolades and thrilling diners at the Coyote with his robust, inspired cooking. Originally published in 1989, COYOTE CAFE was Miller'¬?s first cookbook, and it has since sold over 200,000 copies, making it one of the best-selling full-color cookbooks ever. Nearly 15 years later, with Southwestern influences entrenched in kitchens across the country, we'¬?re excited to make this landmark book available to a new generation…


Book cover of A Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen

Jenne Bergstrom and Miko Osada Author Of The Little Women Cookbook: Novel Takes on Classic Recipes from Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy and Friends

From my list on food and cooking in Victorian America.

Why are we passionate about this?

Miko and Jenne are librarians who love to eat. Their love of classic children’s literature led them to start their 36 Eggs blog, where they recreate foods and experiences from their favorite books. In 2019, they published the Little Women Cookbook, which required extensive research into the food of the Victorian era.

Jenne's book list on food and cooking in Victorian America

Jenne Bergstrom and Miko Osada Why did Jenne love this book?

Until 2000, What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking (1881) was considered the first cookbook authored by a Black American. It was then that historians chanced upon an incredibly lucky finding: a copy of A Domestic Cookbook at the bottom of a box. As far as we know, there’s only ONE copy left of this little 39-page collection of recipes, which was first published in 1866.

Historians and researchers have delved deep into the mystery of author Malinda Russell, but we barely know more than she tells us in her introduction -- a life story laid out in stark, gripping first-person over just two short pages. As a business owner who specialized in pastry, Russell’s book has upended assumptions about 19th-century Black women and African American cuisine. In such a slim volume, she still includes 70+ kinds of cake and comments that “a great many ladies have wished to…

By Malinda Russell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Domestic Cook Book as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

{Size: 15.34 x 23.59 cms} Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden Leaf Printing on round Spine (extra customization on request like complete leather, Golden Screen printing in Front, Color Leather, Colored book etc.) Reprinted in 2021 with the help of original edition published long back [1866]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur…


Book cover of An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

Anne Biklé Author Of The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health

From my list on microbiomes, gut health, food, and farming.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been enamored with the natural world and how it works. This trait, among others, led me into the fields of biology, natural history, and environmental planning. Even as I witness our species chiseling away at the planet, I find hope and solace. Working alongside the tenacity and resiliency of plants, animals, and soil microbes, I've helped landscapes as large as a river basin and as small as a garden come to life and flourish. Give nature half a chance and she can do wonders.  

Anne's book list on microbiomes, gut health, food, and farming

Anne Biklé Why did Anne love this book?

I would be remiss if I didn't have a "food" book from my list. While I have read and liked many such books, Adler's is the top gem. 

As I read her book, I pictured us in my kitchen conversing about how we had modified a recipe to save time, money, or both. We compared notes on the lost art of thrift in the kitchen; how to turn bread heels, beans, and bones into tasty components of a meal. 

Adler shows us that we can be cooks on our terms, in our own kitchens, delightfully free of pretense and convention. May this book free your mind and inspire you to get creative in the kitchen to discover what's possible!

By Tamar Adler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Everlasting Meal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'The most beautifully written description of what cooking is all about, and what it actually is, with recipes' Nigella Lawson

Through the insightful essays in An Everlasting Meal, Tamar Adler issues a rallying cry to home cooks.

In chapters about boiling water, cooking eggs and beans, and summoning respectable meals from empty cupboards, Tamar weaves philosophy and instruction into approachable lessons on instinctive cooking. Tamar shows how to make the most of everything you buy, demonstrating what the world's great chefs know: that great meals rely on the bones and peels and ends of meals before them.

She explains how…


Book cover of The Big, Fun Kids Cookbook

Mary Boone Author Of Bugs for Breakfast: How Eating Insects Could Help Save the Planet

From my list on food facts.

Why am I passionate about this?

I baked my first loaf of bread when I was eight. It was shaped like a brick and weighed about the same. With my grandma’s help, I tweaked the recipe, learned the importance of precise measurements, practiced my kneading, and ultimately won a blue ribbon for my efforts at the 4-H county fair. In the years since, my passion for food has grown. I love to learn how various crops are grown and harvested, I nearly cried when I tasted cheese I made myself, and I’ve been known to arrange travel around specific culinary adventures. For me, learning about food is nearly as enjoyable as eating it!

Mary's book list on food facts

Mary Boone Why did Mary love this book?

Kids’ cookbooks are about 1,000 times more awesome than they were when I was a kid. Recipes are easy to follow, they’re accompanied by colorful photos, and they feature foods kids actually want to make. For me, this cookbook, takes fun to the next level by including little food facts alongside most of the recipes (Did you know french toast isn’t actually French? The dish can be traced back to the Roman Empire – long before France was even a country!) The cookbook features standard breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes but my favorite chapter is about Fake-Out Cakes. That’s right – they’re cakes, but they look like other things. There are instructions for making cakes that look like everything from a cheeseburger to mac and cheese. Bon appétit!

By Food Network Magazine,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Big, Fun Kids Cookbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

It's the ultimate kids cookbook from America's #1 food magazine: 150+ fun, easy recipes for young cooks, plus bonus games and food trivia!

"This accessible and visually stunning cookbook will delight and inspire home cooks of all ages and get families cooking together." -School Library Journal

"This is an exceptional introduction to cooking that children and even novice adult home cooks will enjoy." -Publishers Weekly

The Big, Fun Kids Cookbook from Food Network Magazine gives young food lovers everything they need to succeed in the kitchen. Each recipe is totally foolproof and easy to follow, with…


Book cover of Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs

Molly Stevens Author Of All about Dinner: Simple Meals, Expert Advice

From my list on cookbooks for everyday meals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have spent my entire working life teaching others how to cook – in the kitchen, in the classroom, and through my cookbooks and countless magazine articles – and I can sum up all my cooking lessons into one word: Cook! The more you cook, the more confidence you gain – and the more joy and success you will experience. But where to start? My best advice is to find a few cookbooks that you trust - ideally ones that offer plenty of explanation. From these, select several dishes that sound appealing and commit to learning to make them by heart. With repetition, you will learn to cook without relying on the recipes, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a more confident — and intuitive — cook.


Molly's book list on cookbooks for everyday meals

Molly Stevens Why did Molly love this book?

The premise behind this jubilant and personal collection is that cooking is "simply a huge and often very fun puzzle of piecing together techniques with different ingredients." Throughout the 98 recipes (everything from breakfast to mains, from drinks to dessert), Turshen highlights essential techniques (labeled as "small victories") and then offers inventive ideas and inspirations for creating other dishes (called "spin-offs"). It's a cookbook designed for anyone looking to become a more relaxed, confident, and creative cook. Turshen's love for cooking and feeding others is infectious, and her down-to-earth approach makes it easy to be swept along. 

By Julia Turshen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Small Victories as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"I can't wait to cook my way through this amazing new book!" - Ina Garten (Host of Barefoot Contessa)

"Simple, achievable recipes..." - Chef April Bloomfield (Owner of The Spotted Pig)

This cookbook of more than 400 simple cooking recipes and variations from Julia Turshen, writer, go-to recipe developer, co-author for best-selling cookbooks such as Gwyneth Paltrow's It's All Good, and Dana Cowin's Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen, and author of her cookbooks Now & Again and Feed the Resistance. The process of truly great home cooking ideas is demystified via more than a hundred lessons called out as…


Book cover of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

Christine Buckley Author Of Plant Magic: Herbalism in Real Life

From my list on that prove eating locally is also delicious.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm an herbalist dedicated to teaching people practical approaches to herbalism and creativity. I do this on my Substack, in clinical intakes with my herbal clients (I work mostly with artists), and in workshops and classes. My life and herbal practice revolve around food. I’ve cooked professionally for over 15 years, worked on organic farms, and grow food at home for myself and pollinators in my region. The best bet we have at caring for ourselves and our communities is through the food we grow, buy, prepare, and eat. I like to say most people are already doing herbalism, they just don’t know it's happening in their kitchens at breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.

Christine's book list on that prove eating locally is also delicious

Christine Buckley Why did Christine love this book?

I believe 2 things without a shred of doubt: all humans are creative and anyone can cook. Samin Nosrat adds the critical finale: “…and make it delicious.”

Everyone can benefit from this book, especially those who appreciate good, well-executed dishes but dont quite understand what makes them so irresistible. As someone who didnt do much better than fail at high school and college science, Nosrat makes incredibly complex concepts simple and doable! Not to mention, its delightfully illustrated.

The infographics, tables, and flowcharts make the content engaging and accessible. It is a cookbook, indispensable kitchen reference, and testament to the power of creative collaboration. Here is evidence that cooking is an art and a science. 

By Samin Nosrat, Wendy Macnaughton (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major Netflix documentary
A Sunday Times Food Book of the Year and a New York Times bestseller
Winner of the Fortnum & Mason Best Debut Food Book 2018

While cooking at Chez Panisse at the start of her career, Samin Nosrat noticed that amid the chaos of the kitchen there were four key principles that her fellow chefs would always fall back on to make their food better: Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat.

By mastering these four variables, Samin found the confidence to trust her instincts in the kitchen and cook delicious meals with any ingredients. And with…


Book cover of Giada's Feel Good Food: My Healthy Recipes and Secrets: A Cookbook

Lauren Thomas Author Of The Modern Hippie Table: Recipes and Menus for Eating Simply and Living Beautifully

From my list on lifestyle books for cooking, entertaining and tablescaping.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child of divorce who moved around often, cooking and entertaining was consistent in my life on both sides of my family. The comforting smells and traditions around food in the home became a religion to me—something I could count on. My grandmother was a hostess to be admiredher impeccable entertaining etiquette was where my love of hosting was born. My degree in psychology lends itself to sharing what’s so important about creating intentional gatherings at the table. My education and passion for creative arts pair well with my husband’s expertise as an Architect, where we understand the importance of creating inviting spaces for people to occupy.

Lauren's book list on lifestyle books for cooking, entertaining and tablescaping

Lauren Thomas Why did Lauren love this book?

We all love to know what someone we admire does beyond the scope of what they are most known for. I love how this cookbook goes beyond recipes—Giada also shares her beauty secrets such as hair and makeup routines, how she stays trim with lifestyle and exercise, tips for choosing healthy options when eating out, and what she packs for snacks while on the go. It’s truly a lifestyle that I want to subscribe to!

By Giada De Laurentiis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Giada's Feel Good Food as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Food Network's most beautiful star shares her secrets for staying fit and feeling great in this gorgeous, practical book with healthy recipes including nutritional information, and personal lifestyle and beauty tips.

The number one question that Giada De Laurentiis is asked by fans is, "How do you stay so trim?" Admirers then ask about her favorite recipes, her nail polish color, her exercise routine. . . and much more. In Giada's Feel Good Food, she answers all of these questions in her most personal and also most hardworking book yet.

Here are 120 recipes for breakfasts, juices, lunches, snacks, dinners,…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in cooking, Texas, and American cuisine?

Cooking 105 books
Texas 222 books
American Cuisine 24 books