The Texas Historical Commission has designated 40 locations as Texas State Historic Sites. “These unique places honor Texas history and inspire an understanding of what it means to be a Texan,” the commission’s website says.
The closest site to Waco is the Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site in Mexia, on the banks of the Navasota River. It’s the site where Confederate Civil War veterans and their families gathered for reunions from 1889 to 1946. “Held during the full moon each July or August, the reunions were grand affairs,” according to the commission. One of the highlights of each reunion was the firing of the Val Verde cannon, which is still on display at the site.
After attendance at the reunions dwindled, the place sat unused for a number of years. A drive was started to save the grounds in the 1960s; Texas Parks and Wildlife took over operations in 1983; and control of the site was given to the Texas Historic Commission on January 1, 2008.
The Confederate Reunion Grounds and each of the other historic sites are all mentioned in “A Culinary Journey Through Texas History: A State Historic Sites Cookbook,” edited by Hal Simon, the chief of interpretation for the commission.
The book provides history of the sites and recipes, beginning with the chapter “Indigenous and Hispanic Texas, 1800–1836.” Following chapters include “Republic Era, 1836–1846,” Early Statehood, 1846–1961,” and ends with “20th Century Texas.”
It’s a lovely book with color photographs throughout of the dishes mentioned as well as of actors in period costumes — including the author himself — at the historic sites.
The recipes from the Confederate Reunion Grounds in Mexia include Hokey-Pokey Ice Cream, Molasses Pie, Chicken and Dumplings and Opossum with Dressing. We checked our freezer and, unfortunately, found no opossum. Aside from “1 cleaned and dressed opossum,” the rest of the ingredients are pretty standard: sweet potatoes, onion, butter.
We also found ourselves lacking “a sliced cold boiled beef tongue,” called for in a recipe from the French Legation site on San Marcos Street in Austin. That recipe was adapted from “Domestic French Cookery, Chiefly Translated from Sulpice Barue,” the first French cookbook translated for American cooks.
We did end up finding a couple of more accessible recipes. One, Green Corn Soup, is from the Sam Bell Maxey House site in Paris. The recipe was also adapted from an earlier publication, “The Texas Cookbook: A Thorough Treatise on the Art of Cookery,” published in 1883 by the women of the First Presbyterian Church of Houston. Green corn is called for in the recipe to differentiate it from dried corn.
We did our own adaption of the recipe after it reminded Abby of a corn chowder we had at a bistro in Little Rock when we lived there. The name of that particular restaurant escapes us, but the memory of that chowder lives on nonetheless.
We paired our version of Green Corn Soup with Mary Mark’s Corn Dodgers from the San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site. Mary Mark was an enslaved woman who worked as a waitress and cook at the Whiteside Hotel there. Noah Smithwick, a resident of the area who was a memoirist, was an ardent fan of the corn dodgers. “Early Texans were accustomed to having corn or cornbread with practically every meal because of the abundance of the crop,” according to the text accompanying the recipe.
The San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site is where Stephen F. Austin established a colony in 1823. It’s a little bit west of Houston and about a three-hour drive from Waco.
The Recipes
Green Chile Corn Chowder
- 6 ears corn, husks and silks removed
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon fennel seed
- 1 teaspoon coriander seed
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorn
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 ounces green chiles, chopped
- 2 medium zucchinis, grated
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 4 cups cooked chicken, shredded
- Cilantro, lime, avocado and jalapeno slices, for garnish
Cut the corn kernels from the cobs. Then use the back edge of a knife and scrape the cobs to extract any remaining milk. Set the corn and cobs aside.
Pour the chicken stock into a large pot and set over high heat. Add the corn cobs, bay leaf, fennel seed, coriander seed and peppercorn. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.
In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the onion, garlic, corn and corn milk. Cook until tender, about 7 minutes.
Strain the chicken stock mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl and discard the corn cobs and spices. Return the liquid to the pot and turn the heat to high. Add the onion mixture, green chiles, zucchini, half-and-half, cumin and salt and pepper, to taste. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Use a stick blender to blend to desired consistency.
To serve, place 1/2 cup chicken into a soup bowl, and ladle over the chowder. Top with desired garnishes. Makes about 6–8 servings.
Mary Mark’s Corn Dodgers
- Canola oil, vegetable oil or lard, for frying
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup water
- 1 egg
Pour about 1 1/4 inches of oil into a large skillet over medium heat. While the oil heats, mix together the flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder. Add the water and egg to make a workable dough.
Form pieces of dough about 2–3 inches wide and 1 inch thick. Fry evenly on both sides until done, about 2–4 minutes per side. Makes about 10–12 corn dodgers.
