That’s right. Breakfast tacos. Also Huevos Rancheros Especial, enchiladas, Banana Dream Cake, and the Best Danged Buttermilk Pie you’ve ever tasted. Also Chorizo, “THAT” BLT (sort of a BLT on steroids), and the mythical Double Trouble Dog, so dangerous it’s shortened to DTD.
What does this have to do with cookbooks? These are just a few of the recipes in The Mossback Cafe Cookbook, a companion book to my Traces of Treasure novel series.
I first wrote about “The Mossback Cafe” in my novel, The Fever. It’s a small cafe in the crossroads ranching town of Van Horn TX. Van Horn is real. The Mossback is not.
“Mossback” has a lot of meanings, including an old Elk or Moose, or an old “lunker” fish, or an ancient tortoise or turtle. But there’s another “old-west” meaning … an old wild (and wily) Texas longhorn. Hence the longhorn on the cover. In the novel, owner Smidgeon Toll serves up good food with friendly banter. It keeps her place popular with both locals and people passing through. Although it was an invention, I fell in love with the place I created and based most of the sequel, A Curse That Bites Deep, in and around The Mossback. The third book in the series will be based there too.
The cookbook is crafted to read as though owner Smidgeon Toll has put it together as a promotional piece for the cafe, and I’ve added a little more biographical info on her and her family and the restaurant. Her homespun humor is a lot of fun and she gives insight into some of the workings of the cafe with the sections divided into practical restaurant divisions. “Basics” starts off with items such as biscuits and chili and a few other things that are used as components in other recipes. There are popular and unique “On The Side” dishes, recipes for dishes served up as specials are in “Y’all Wanted Something Special?”, a few of the standards are in “Standard Bearers”, a small helping of wonderful desserts are in “Just Desserts”, and it ends up with a couple of recipes for items she calls “Weekenders.” Not to be outdone, be sure to read the afterword … there are a couple of more surprises there.
A lot of the recipes serve double duty (some even more) and she even gives some insight into innovations they use. For instance, she mentions that the sauce for their version of Arroz con Pollo (a Mexican chicken and rice) can, with a few minor alterations, also serve as a base for Chicken Cacciatore.
In short, if The Mossback Cafe actually existed, these are a few of the offerings that might have made it famous. In reality, they are some of my favorite recipes. So, here you go, your Crazy Cookbook Guy created his own cookbook. How about that.
What I was going for was the “look” of a small self-produced cookbook of a type that a small-town cafe might make for themselves in the mid-1980s. I think I hit the nail on the head. Even better: IT’S FREE. Well, it’s a free ebook anyway. It’s also a lot of fun.
The ebook is available in formats compatible with Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPad and most other e-readers. There is also a PDF version, in case you just want to browse it at work. I won’t tell.
The link below will take you to Smashwords, the world’s largest distributor of ebooks. They have help files if you need a hand, but generally, if you can browse there in your reader you should be able to download the ebook right into your reader or tablet.
In short, epub works with Nook-iBooks-Kobo, and mobi works with Kindle.
For your free download >>> — >> click here
I am hoping this little cookbook will get hungry readers interested in the books that inspired it. So feel free to browse for my books too… they’re on Smashwords as well as on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iBooks. No paperback of the cookbook yet, but there are paperbacks of the novel. There are links for everything are on my website, click my name below. Enjoy!
Thomas Fenske, writer and cookbook collector currently lives in central North Carolina.
But I found treasure, literally. The GOLDEN TREASURY OF COOKING, a Better Homes and Gardens publication from 1973. The gleaming golden cover doesn’t photograph well, but, in a bit of irony, bad photography is why I love older BH&G books and this one does not disappoint in that respect.
I can not in any way, shape, or form imagine a book editor looking at some of these things and say “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m looking for.” It isn’t just me. James Lileks has created an industry out of making fun of these sorts of photos. I just regret that he got there first. Still, I can not resist picking up a BH&G book from that era. I probably have most of them. It’s like a horrible accident, you don’t want to see it but you can’t help but take a peek. Then another. I’ll laugh out loud in the used bookstore aisle, even if I already have the book.
I mean, look at this Beef Wellington.
Here we have a marvelous example of truly bad food photography. I know what the top picture looks like. What it actually might be, really doesn’t matter, but what the heck? I mean, remember what I said about photo editors? Did they see this? Why didn’t they say, “don’t give me a plate of crap, give me something that looks like food!”
Oh, one thing this book does is arrange itself chronologically. To that end, as a first in modern (ala’ 1973) cookbooks, is include what amounts to a few centerfolds chronicling the various decades.
I guess, for me, the most disturbing thing about their food photography is the abusive use of color.
What is this … a mound of something? … reminds me of the Blancmange from Monty Python, you know, when they came from the Andromeda Galaxy and sought to take over the world by winning at Wimbledon?
And what on earth are those things sitting in a skillet? Obviously, they are intended to be served in individual skillets.
I’m convinced that these last two food pictures inspired Dr. Suess in Grinch.
I’ll close with the classic 1970’s kitchen. They included kitchen shots for each era. I don’t know, maybe we all were on drugs or something. This sort of image comes up from time to time … listen, I lived in the 1970s and even look back on those years with some nostalgia. If my kitchen had looked like this, well … hey, maybe it did and I’ve just blocked it out or something. Although I do kinda like that light fixture …
That “I am not a fan” thing might change. This signing table was populated by an engaging young woman named Fanny Slater. The cookbook? ORANGE, LAVENDER & FIGS. A couple of years ago, Fanny was the winner of Rachel Ray’s Great American Cookbook Competition.
I bought this cookbook several months ago, but I had a problem with cataracts at the time … I kept putting off reading the cookbook simply because I couldn’t read. For a collector of vintage cookbooks, buying a new one is always an interesting opportunity. Okay, she was funny and cute and we talked about a lot more than just cooking … like book marketing. All authors struggle with that. And it was an opportunity to get a really nice cookbook signed … to ME! That is actually a unique addition to my collection. Looks good, right?
I’m not sure I’m so crazy this time. I just went shopping because I needed a new coffeemaker. Have you shopped for one lately? The market seems to be about half and half right now between drip and Keurig style. And about half the drip makers are higher end. In fact, the coffee aisle seems to share that same division.
TCC-GUY 