If Norman Rockwell had painted a typical Gulf Coast Thanksgiving, the dinner table might have included honey-lacquered sweet potatoes, dressings shot through with andouille or oysters, collard greens swimming in fatty potlikker and swampy critters like duck or crawfish.
Those distinct flavors aren’t set in amber. They’re still very much a part of the year’s most important dinner in these parts, where Texan, Cajun and Southern foodways merge easily and deliciously.
This year we tasked a handful of Houston chefs to share recipes that say something about our unique cornucopia — whether it’s pecans, shellfish, smoked meats or autumnal vegetables. Treebeards, that bastion of Southern cooking, provided a Fall Bounty Salad that uses pears, dried cranberries and honey-roasted pecans. From Feges BBQ: smoky collard greens with barbecue brisket. Dominic Mandola at Ragin’ Cajun, whose mother’s family is originally from Lake Arthur, La., gave us his savory dirty rice recipe to which we added chopped pecans. Restaurateur Elouise Adams Jones of Ouisie’s Table shared her chunky sweet potato recipe fragrant with cinnamon and fresh ginger. Our oyster dressing with a jalapeño kick? It comes from the Brennan’s of Houston kitchen. And pastry chef Ruben Ortega’s pumpkin cheesecake glossed with a maple/pumpkin glaze makes a decadent finale.
Recipe: Eunice chef Drake Leonards’ Stuffed Roasted Turkey
Recipe: Fall Bounty Salad from Treebeards
Recipe: Cinnamon-Ginger Sweet Potatoes from Ouisie's Table
Recipe: Braised Collard Greens from Feges BBQ
Recipe: Dirty Rice from Ragin’ Cajun
Recipe: Crawfish Corn Bread Dressing from Eunice chef Drake Leonards