Texas tastes

H-E-B advertises its food as being made ‘for Texas tastes’. I’m starting to understand what that means.

First off, spicy is good, whether it’s Mexican or Tex-Mex or Indian or Thai or whatever. I agree with this, though there are limits. For example, the new Doritos Fiery Habanero flavor exceeded my limits for snack food. Where’s the fun if you can only eat two or three before your mouth and throat start burning and you have to drink a glass of milk? That and they gave me a dose of the Brad Fitz. We eventually threw out half a bag.

On the plus side, I’ve also decided that HEB’s own brand tortilla chips are the best, much nicer than Tostitos.

Next, pecans can be added to almost everything, sweet or savory. According to the Austin Chronicle, the name comes from the Algonquin for “nut too hard to crack by hand”. However, with so many of the trees around, you can take them to a store to be shelled by machine. I like ’em.

Also approaching ubiquity in Texas food is chipotle—or smoked jalapeno pepper. I agree that chipotle is the best option with migas, but I’m not yet convinced that chipotle hummus is appropriate. That said, I ate most of it.

Finally, dead steer. This is where I depart from Texas tastes entirely.