While researching Texas Eats Robb Walsh set out on a journey of Chicken-Fried Steak discovery. He ate his way around rural Texas, seeking out the best versions of this big Texan standard. Some where memorable, and some not so much, but if you've ever experienced the weighty dish known as the CFS, you've got to hand it to Walsh, his search for the best steak was a stomach stretching exercise to say the least. More

This Indian Pudding from Robb Walsh's Texas Eats is a decidedly old fashioned dessert. It's a wonderfully wobbly custard made from cornmeal and eggs and sweetened with dark molasses. Warm spices are added to the mix along with a handful of chopped raisins. More

Robb Walsh, author of Texas Eats, keeps his Fresh Field Peas simple with a soul food-inspired recipe that begins (as many good things do) with bacon. Onions are sweated in the bacon fat, and the peas are added and simmered with chicken broth, with a few pods of okra as a thickener, and a lone chile for heat. Fresh peas don't need too much time on the stovetop; just simmer until tender and serve. More

As part of Robb Walsh's Tex-ploration for Texas Eats he spent time on a shrimp boat making his way around Corpus Christi Bay trawling for shrimp. One of our favorite shrimp recipes in his new book is Shrimp and Grits. Walsh steps up the recipe by sautéing the shrimp in bacon fat along with mushrooms, scallions, and garlic. More

Folks love to say that everything is bigger in Texas, and while we're not sure about everything, these Ancho Brownies from Robb Walsh's Texas Eats by Robb Walsh are certainly big, sweet, and spicy. More

Robb Walsh has been called "the Indiana Jones of food writing" and is arguably the foremost authority on Texas food. He's traversed the state, seeking out the familiar (think cowboy cooking and Tex-Mex) and the lesser known (did you know that Viet-Tex was a thing?). In his latest volume, Texas Eats, Walsh takes readers and cooks on a journey throughout the Lone Star state. Enter to win a copy here! More

When noted food writer Robb Walsh set out to write an article on oyster fishing, he knew the formula for writing such a piece. Find a curmudgeonly oysterman, jot down a few quotables while out on his boat, crack open a fresh oyster back on shore and enthuse about its particular delectability. But his first outings led to the quick realization that the oyster business is much more complex and manipulated than this simple, preconceived story. Thus commenced five years of research, culminating in Sex, Death & Oysters: A Half-Shell Lover's World Tour. More

With those endless baskets of chips and salsa, pitchers of frozen margaritas, sizzling fajitas, and chile pepper Christmas lights it's pretty difficult not to enjoy a Tex-Mex meal. But somehow this Americanized, Texas-sized adaptation of Mexican food isn't a cuisine that gets too much respect in the food world. Robb Walsh, former restaurant critic of the Houston Press is changing that one grill at a time with his newly released cookbook, The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook. Enter to win a copy of the book here. More

I made my first road trip for the Serious Eats book last week. How did I do? Don't know. What I do know is that these book trips are not going to be easy for my serious diet. Why? Because these trips demand concentrated, focused eating in a faraway place that I'm not likely to get back to again before the book gets handed in. More

For this week's Serious Diet, I am coping with eating for two days in Houston nonstop with friend and food writer Robb Walsh. So far I have been to 16 taco joints, barbecue joints, and every food place in between, in less than 48 hours. And yet I am not worried about my weigh-in? How could that be? More