So, what's a real life cowboy like Grady Spears doing in the kitchen of West Texas's noted Reata restaurant? Simple-he's putting his brand on some of America's favorite food, with regional Texas ingredients, traditional cowboy dishes, and his own sometimes quirky culinary inspirations. This is real cowboy cooking, but with some decidedly uptown flavors. The restaurant itself has been praised by everyone from Texas Monthly to Martha Stewart Living. A Cowboy in the Kitchen dishes up real food for real people, along with tasty helpings of cowboy folklore and unusual cooking hints. A book for the cowboy in all of us.

By Grady Spears and Rob Walsh