{"id":149,"date":"2007-02-11T12:28:24","date_gmt":"2007-02-11T18:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/?p=149"},"modified":"2007-02-11T12:51:56","modified_gmt":"2007-02-11T18:51:56","slug":"heritage-of-unusual-recipes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/?p=149","title":{"rendered":"Heritage of unusual recipes"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the early 1990s, I was invited on a three-day roundup at Helen Groves’ Silverbrook Ranch in Baird, TX. It was September and the weather was fine. We rode all day, ate meals prepared over a campfire, and slept in tepees near the chuck wagon.<\/p>\n

My birthday fell on the last day of the roundup and I considered the whole experience a wonderful gift, although no one there knew about my birthday. At least I thought they didn’t.<\/p>\n

That night I was feted with a cake and the next morning, insisting that I couldn’t go home without a present, Helen gave me a copy of a cookbook published by the Hidalgo, Texas County Historical Society. The Heritage Cookbook<\/em> features a roundup of wild and regional foods with recipes for such delicacies as cattail stew, mesquite bean jelly, and baked rattlesnake.<\/p>\n

Hidalgo County, located in the lower Rio Grande Valley, has a rich history dating back to the the 16th century and the age of Spanish exploration. In the 19th century, it became a ranching center within the larger region that includes Kenedy and King counties.<\/p>\n

Helen Groves is the great-granddaughter of Richard King, the founder of King Ranch, hence her interest in the region and the cookbook. Helen has also written a splendid memoir about her parents Robert and Helen Kleberg and her experiences growing up on the legendary King Ranch. Bob and Helen Kleberg of King Ranch<\/a><\/em>is not only a fascinating read, but a feast for the eyes with more than 200 never-before-released photographs.<\/p>\n

The Heritage Cookbook<\/em> is out of print, but according to Lynn Beeching, with the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg, the seat of Hidalgo County, there is a new cookbook that includes many of the old recipes, along with historical photos and a history of the region. The 286-page Mesquite Country Cookbook, Tastes and Traditions from the Tip of Texas<\/em>, won the annual national Tabasco Community Cookbook Award and is available through the Hidalgo County Museum at 956-383-6911.<\/p>\n

Gorditas de Queso, an unusual cookie recipe from the Heritage Cookbook, is one that I can recommend:<\/p>\n

1 large carton small curd cottage cheese
\n1 cup corn oil
\n1 cup margarine
\n4 eggs
\n1 cup brown sugar
\n2 tsp. cinnamon
\n1 cup dark Karo syrup
\n1 cup chopped nut
\n4 cups masa harina
\n2 1\/2 cups flour
\n6 tsp. baking powder
\n1 cup sugar
\n1 3\/4 cups milk
\n1\/2 cup honey
\n1 cup grated white cheese<\/p>\n

Cream first ingredients thoroughly. Add the rest and mix well, adding cheese last. When everything is well mixed, drop on greased cookie sheet using a rounded spoon and bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes or until done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the early 1990s, I was invited on a three-day roundup at Helen Groves’ Silverbrook…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-movies","category-food","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}