A trip to Dan’s Meat Market, here in Denton, was required today. That’s the best place in town to get some Texas beef! I needed some.

You see, I was just sitting here checking my e-mail when out of the clear blue sky (of Chicago) an e-mail came to me. A fella invited me to try a beef recipe, blog about it, and be entered in a drawing to win a prize! Well, I figure I’ll win a prize about the time I win the Texas Lottery, or when pigs fly (whichever comes first). But, I was pondering what to cook for supper, and the recipes sounded good! Particularly, this one for Gazpacho Beef Salad. I decided to give it a whirl.

My correspondent said he is working with the Texas Beef Council and that they are trying to “get bloggers engaged with Texas beef.” Little did he know that I’m almost married to it! Well, no…I’m married to Mr. Tucker (he’s not a Texas native). But, I am definitely a carnivore!

I perused the meat counter

and, since Dan didn’t have any shoulder steak or top round, I settled for sirloin tip. I also picked up a couple of rib-eyes for another day! My mouth is already watering!

I gathered up all the items I would need for the salad.

Then, I got out my knife to chop. I cut the recipe in half (not literally), because it’s just the two of us. Now I never follow a recipe exactly, but I didn’t change much. I think it would be perfect “as is.” I added a teaspoon of onion to the dressing, and I switched the bell pepper in the salad part to roasted red bell pepper, because my husband likes it better.

I put the steak in the V-8 juice (that’s what the recipe really means when it says “spicy 100% vegetable juice”) and popped it into the fridge.

Everything was chopped and ready in less than 15 minutes. It has taken me longer to blog this than it did to prepare it. I broiled the steak indoors, because it’s too dadgum hot to go outside! Actually, I could have put the meat on a flat rock in the sun and it would have been cooked in 20 minutes. But, I broiled it for about 18 minutes, slice it and tossed the salad, and we had ourselves a meal.

Oh, man! THAT is delicious!

I’ll be looking through the Texas Beef Council’s Recipe Book some more. I’ve already found a recipe with beef AND bacon!! I could cry for joy. Y’all come over and I’ll cook for you.

My daddy loved to cook, whether we were on a camping trip or at home. My momma was always delighted that he did, because she wasn’t what you would call a “domestic goddess.”

Not by a long shot.

She never learned to cook until after she married, and (as much as I loved my momma) I have to say she never mastered the art. Daddy, on the other hand, could have been a chef if he had so desired. The problem was that daddy hated cleaning up dishes. When he cooked, there were lots of messy dishes.

Daddy enjoyed chopping stuff. Maybe it’s a guy thing with the sharp knives, I don’t know. He’d start chopping fruit for a salad. His first bowl would be about the size for salad for a family of six. Then, he’d keep chopping. He kept graduating to bigger bowls until he had to have a bowl the size of a garbage can and could have fed the whole Dallas Cowboys football team.

Daddy also enjoyed deep fat frying, broiling, baking, and boiling. He liked to concoct new dishes.

At some point, my daddy discovered the joys of using aluminum foil instead of pots and pans for his oven experiments. He liked to take a round steak and hammer it thin, then fill it with finely chopped vegetables, roll it like a jelly roll, wrap it in foil and bake it. I liked that dish, but I went delirious when he cooked an onion or a cabbage!

He quartered either vegetable, put salt, pepper, a garlic clove and a strip or two of bacon in it, wrapped it and either baked it or threw it on the grill. Oh, my word! It was delicious! It’s the bacon, of course, that makes it so.

Even though I grew up watching daddy cook with foil, I very rarely used it until recently (when I got sick and tired of washing the broiler pan). Pam Anderson, the author of several cookbooks, had an article in USA Weekend called “It’s A Wrap.” She offers recipes that mix and match ten vegetables, a choice of meats, and three flavor options to create meals in 15 minutes! You simply mix them together and bake at 500 degrees.

For you vegetarians out there, Marcia, I’m thinking you could use a portabello mushroom, another vegetable, and one of the flavorings, and you’d probably love it. We have enjoyed the Italian flavoring on both chicken and pork. I plopped the cooked concoction on top of some pasta and added mozzarella cheese. With some fruit on the side, it made a great meal.

Print off Anderson’s recipes and give it a try. They are designed to serve four people; we halved it and the servings were generous. I’d offer one other flavoring combination: Tex-Mex!

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 4 large green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 (to 3/4) cup of your favorite picanti sauce
• 1 tsp. each, salt and ground black pepper

While that cooks, make some guacamole and you have yourself a meal!

Anybody else have any flavoring ideas? Or, other recipes to cook in foil? Now that I’m “foiled again,” I almost like cooking!

Y’all, these days you don’t have to look far to find controversy. If you have the mind to do it, you can debate politics, the war in Iraq, the merits of various sports teams, or the price of tea in China. For me, the only controversy bubbling around here is:

That’s right. It’s a cold day, and I’m talking chili.

Here in Texas, there are chili aficionados who think that chili cooking is a science. Others think it is a high art form. In the summer time, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting another town having a chili cook-off. Why in thunder would anyone want to eat chili in the unrelenting Texas heat? That beats me, but folks do it.

It’s hilarious talking to some of the chili cooks, because chili making is a serious subject. There is no room for levity. Every one of them has a special recipe with a “secret” ingredient. Some cooks make chili with chicken. Those cooks aren’t from Texas, of course. Chili is made with beef!

At a chili cook-off, the cooks try to get exotic, and it can get pretty dadgum disgusting. I’ve tasted chili that purportedly contained ostrich, or buffalo, or quail, or squirrel, and one cook even claimed to have included armadillo. One can only hope that it wasn’t “road kill.” All those meats taste like chicken, if you were wondering. I’ve even seen vegetarian chili, which is just downright un-American, if you ask me. You didn’t ask me, but I told you anyway.

Now, I love to eat chili, but I don’t claim any secret recipe. Heck, I’ll eat Wolf Brand chili if I must. Neighbor, how long has it been since you had a big steaming bowl of Wolf Brand chili? Well, that’s too long.

My favorite chili recipe comes in a package:

And, my “secret” ingredient is:

Yep, the Two Alarm Chili is pretty darned good, and you can adjust it to be One Alarm, or No Alarm, if you choose. We usually make it about One and a Half Alarm. Add some beer to it, or drink the beer. Either way, it makes the chili go down good.

Again, the boiling controversy is Beans or no Beans. I want your point of view, so here is your chance to vote. If your state has already had the primary elections, you’ve already gotten the chance to practice voting. If not, then this will be a good exercise for you. Which do you choose? This handy counter will measure the velocity of your eruptions.

We chose to add beans this time. I’ll spare you any commentary about the velocity of our eruptions.