What's On Our Counter
The Lone Star of Texas Olive Oil
For over a decade, olive oil from Texas Hill Country Olive Company has been a staple in my kitchen. Co-founded in 2008 by John and Cara Gambini, a father-and-daughter team who are the descendants of Sicilian immigrants, the 17-acre olive orchard and production facility is located in Dripping Springs. Though humans have been producing and using olive oil for around 6,000 years, commercial production in Texas only began in the 1990s, mainly in central Texas where the soil and climate are suitable for growing olive trees — though Texas’ volatile hot and cold temperature spikes can disrepute the fruiting cycle. Since they opened, the Gambinis have been one of the state’s premier producers, winning several awards along the way
Texas Hill Country Olive Company currently offers five varieties of extra-virgin oil, which are pressed and bottled within 24 hours of harvest. My favorite is the Sola Stella, which won the 2017 Les Olivalies Argent Award in Cannes, France. Made from 100 percent Arbequina olives, a varietal popular in Spain, it expresses a delicate blend of floral and grassy flavors and finishes with a peppery burn, which indicates a healthy dose of the antioxidant oleocanthal. It’s great for making vinaigrettes and pestos, drizzling over pasta to give it an extra hit of flavor and other everyday uses.
Texas Hill Country Olive Company also offers a range of olive oils infused with aromatics such as garlic or rosemary and a line of barrelaged balsamic vinegars. You can find its products at Urban Harvest Farmers Market, Bering’s, Blue Horizon Seafood and Central City Co-op, or order online at texashillcountryoliveco.com.
Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs and Juice
In her new book Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, two-time James Beard-award winning author, Toni Tipton-Martin, who is also the editor in chief of Cook’s Country Magazine, continues the journey she started in her previous two books. In her first, The Jemima Code, she documents the forgotten history and ignored contributions of African American foodways by exploring two centuries of Black cookbooks in America. In her next, Jubilee, she adapts recipes from those cookbooks for the contemporary kitchen while celebrating the depth and breadth of African American cookery.
In her latest, Tipton-Martin delves into those historic cookbooks to highlight the important contributions African Americans made to America’s beverage traditions. “My ambition is to ensure that African American workers who plied their trade behind the bar are not forgotten,” she writes in the introduction. In seven chapters that cover subjects ranging from home fermentation to non-alcoholic beverages, she again translates historic recipes into accessible steps anyone can do at home, while providing extensively researched historical background. It is an approach that gives the reader an insightful everyday cookbook that will have you sipping mint cordials and making homemade coffee liqueur for the holidays. Purchase a copy at your favorite local bookstore.
The Things You Do For Phở
I admit I was skeptical that a microwaved phở kit could recreate the complex richness of a long-simmered broth made with bones, charred aromatics and toasted spices. But I was surprised when I slurped my first spoonful of the noodle soup produced by PhoLicious’s kit. Though it may not be quite on par with the aromatic bowls of phở that you can get in Houston’s top Vietnamese restaurants, it does make a tasty and satisfying quick meal. Which is probably why it won the 2023 Grand Prize in H-E-B’s annual Quest for Texas Best competition.
During the pandemic, PhoLicious’s co-founder and CEO Anh Trousdale, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee from Vietnam when she was 6, couldn’t get phở at local restaurants due to shutdowns and, as an emergency room nurse, didn’t have time to make it. Dissatisfied with the instant phở she found at grocery stores, she along with her mom Thu — who has owned restaurants with her husband — began developing, in Trousdale’s spare time, a quick week-night version based on family recipes. After they perfected the concept, they began sharing the kits with family and friends. They proved so popular that Anh and her husband Joseph, a 17-year veteran of the hospitality industry, launched PhoLicious, which is now based in Houston.
The lynchpin of the ready-in-five-minute kit is a clever mesh “tea bag” of spices that includes star anise, coriander, cardamon, fennel, clove and cinnamon. It along with the other clearly marked, easy-to-assemble components produces a bowl of tender noodles swimming in a fragrant broth. At this point, you can eat it as-is for a quick lunch, or, if you have more time, you can stir in the vegetables, herbs and proteins of your choice. Either way, you can kick it up a notch by stirring in some Mama La’s sriracha. You can find PhoLicious’s beef and chicken phở kits at H-E-B.
To learn more, visit pholicious.net.
When Life Doesn’t Give You Hot Sauce, Make Your Own
During a visit to LuLoo’s Day & Night, a café and bakery in Garden Oaks, co-owner Terry Wong pointed to a familiar-looking rounded squeeze bottle filled with a bright, orange-red sauce. I expected to see a self-assured rooster emblazoned on a green-capped bottle of Huy Fong Foods’ popular, jalapeño-based version of sriracha. The hot sauce was originally developed in the 1930s in Si Racha, Thailand by Thanom Chakkapak, who made it at home for family and friends before selling it commercially as Sriaja Panich.
Instead, I saw a red-capped bottle graced with the smiling visage of Kim Su Tran La (aka “Mama La”), who founded Houston’s Kim Son Restaurant in 1982 after fleeing the Communist regime in Vietnam. This locally made sriracha is being sold by Kim Son’s sister company Mama La’s Kitchen, which produces a retail line of Vietnamese foods such as beef phở broth concentrate and imperial pork egg rolls. Ms. La’s son Tri developed the recipe in his home kitchen specifically to complement Kim Son’s phở. When the sriracha shortage began earlier this year, caused in part by an ongoing drought in Mexico, the company decided to ramp up production and sell their unique version at retail locations
Many sriracha brands offer simple one-note concoctions, but Mama La’s version combines jalapeños, Thai chiles, garlic and more into a rich, complex sauce. It initially expresses a smooth sweetness that dissolves into a sharp tanginess with hints of nutty, garlicky umami before the warming heat of the chilies explodes on the back of your palate. It’s the perfect addition to a grilled pork bánh mì, a shrimp po-boy or scrambled eggs. You can find it at LuLoo’s Day & Night, Nam Eatery, Phat Eatery, Central Market, H Mart, 99 Ranch Market, My Hoa Food Market and other area grocery stores. To find a location near you, visit mamalaskitchen.com.
