10 Forgotten Texas Morning Meals That Should Stay Forgotten (And 10 Worth Remembering)
Texas breakfast has always been about bold flavors and big portions. Cowboy classics and Mexican-inspired dishes have fueled generations, though not every morning creation has stood the test of time.
Some deserve a comeback, while others are best left as memories. Here’s a closer look at the state’s morning culinary highs and lows.
1. Should Stay Forgotten: Brains & Eggs
Scrambled eggs mixed with pork or beef brains once graced breakfast tables across Texas. Popular in mid-century Southern homes and Tex-Mex kitchens, this protein-heavy dish fell from favor as modern diners grew squeamish about offal.
Health concerns eventually hammered the final nail in this breakfast’s coffin when BSE (mad cow disease) prompted regulations restricting certain cattle brains.
Even the most adventurous modern foodies typically draw the line at cerebral breakfast offerings.
2. Worth Remembering: Breakfast Tacos
Flour tortillas wrapped around fluffy eggs, potatoes, cheese, and your choice of protein represent the ultimate Texas morning convenience. Born from the blending of Mexican and Texan culinary traditions, these portable delights have fueled generations.
San Antonio and Austin both claim to be the breakfast taco’s birthplace, sparking friendly rivalry between the cities. The beauty lies in their versatility – from simple egg and cheese to elaborate creations featuring brisket, avocado, or refried beans.
3. Should Stay Forgotten: Milk Toast
Toast floating in warm, sweetened milk was once considered ideal for invalids and the elderly. This bland concoction gained popularity in the late 19th century as a gentle meal for those with delicate constitutions.
My grandmother swore by milk toast when anyone felt under the weather. I still remember the soggy bread dissolving in my mouth while I longed for real breakfast.
With virtually no nutritional value beyond simple carbs and dairy, this sad breakfast has rightfully vanished from Texas tables.
4. Worth Remembering: Migas
Crunchy tortilla strips fried with scrambled eggs, peppers, onions, and tomatoes create the perfect morning texture contrast. This Tex-Mex adaptation of Spanish and Portuguese dishes transforms yesterday’s tortillas into today’s breakfast gold.
Austin and San Antonio restaurants elevate migas with additions like avocado, queso fresco, or chorizo. Served with warm tortillas on the side, migas embody the waste-not philosophy of Texas border cooking while delivering satisfying flavors that wake up your taste buds.
5. Should Stay Forgotten: Cornbread-and-Milk
Leftover cornbread crumbled into a glass of cold buttermilk or sweet milk was once a common Southern snack. Rural Texans consumed this simple dish for breakfast, especially during lean times when protein sources were scarce.
While nostalgic for some, this starchy meal lacks nutritional balance and flavor complexity. The mushy texture becomes increasingly unappetizing as the cornbread dissolves.
Modern Texans have wisely moved on to breakfasts that offer more substance and satisfaction.
6. Worth Remembering: Chorizo con Huevo
Spicy Mexican chorizo crumbled and fried until crisp, then scrambled with eggs, creates a flavor explosion that’s been waking up Texans for generations. The paprika-red oil from the sausage coats each bite with smoky, garlicky goodness.
I grew up watching my Tejano neighbor make this dish every Sunday, carefully removing the chorizo from its casing before cooking.
The aroma would drift across our yards, inevitably leading to an invitation to join their family table. Perfect in tacos or alongside beans and tortillas.
7. Should Stay Forgotten: Fried Cornmeal Mush
Cornmeal boiled to a thick porridge, cooled in loaf pans, then sliced and fried sounds practical in theory. This Depression-era staple aimed to stretch ingredients while filling hungry bellies.
The reality? A one-dimensional, stodgy breakfast that lacks protein and flavor complexity. While some defend it as a precursor to polenta, the typical Texas version came drowning in syrup yet remained stubbornly bland.
Modern Texans deserve more exciting starts to their day than this beige breakfast brick.
8. Worth Remembering: Machacado con Huevo
Shredded dried beef rehydrated and scrambled with eggs, tomatoes, jalapeños, and onions delivers a protein-packed breakfast with deep border country roots. The chewy texture of the carne seca contrasts beautifully with fluffy eggs.
Found throughout South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, this morning meal sustained generations of ranchers and vaqueros. The beef’s concentrated flavor means a little goes a long way, making it economical as well as delicious.
Served with warm flour tortillas and refried beans, it’s the breakfast of champions.
9. Should Stay Forgotten: Canned Pork Brains in Milk Gravy
Shelf-stable brains swimming in gelatinous milk gravy once occupied space on Texas pantry shelves. This ready-to-fry breakfast offering promised convenience for those craving brains with their eggs without the hassle of fresh preparation.
Opening the can revealed a gray mass that resembled wet cement more than food. With each serving containing over 1,000% of your daily cholesterol intake, this breakfast literally threatened hearts across Texas.
Modern nutritional understanding and evolving tastes have rightfully relegated this to culinary history.
10. Worth Remembering: Kolaches & Klobásníky
Czech immigrants brought these pillowy pastries to Central Texas in the 1800s. True kolaches feature sweet dough cradling fruit fillings, while their savory cousins (klobásníky) wrap the same dough around sausage, creating what Texans mistakenly call “sausage kolaches.”
Towns like West, Texas, built their identity around these treats. Road-trippers know to exit I-35 for these handmade delights.
The dough’s slight sweetness balances perfectly with fillings ranging from traditional prune to uniquely Texan jalapeño-cheese sausage, creating a breakfast worth remembering.
11. Should Stay Forgotten: Hot Dr Pepper
Heating Dr Pepper with lemon slices was once promoted as a morning pick-me-up in 1960s Texas. The Waco-born soda company pushed this strange concoction as a winter warmer, particularly around Christmas.
Imagine starting your day with piping hot soda syrup – the thought alone makes teeth ache. While Dr Pepper remains a Texas icon, this misguided attempt to infiltrate breakfast tables thankfully fizzled out.
Some nostalgic Texans still prepare it as a holiday novelty, but most agree it belongs in the past.
12. Worth Remembering: Barbacoa with Big Red
Slow-cooked beef cheek meat, traditionally prepared overnight in underground pits, emerges tender enough to melt in your mouth.
This Sunday morning ritual in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley brings families together over pounds of rich, fatty meat tucked into warm corn tortillas.
The surprising pairing with sweet, red cream soda (Big Red) somehow works magic. The sugary drink cuts through the meat’s richness perfectly.
I remember my first barbacoa Sunday in San Antonio – watching the abuela at the table next door deftly assembling tacos while sipping her Big Red through a straw.
13. Should Stay Forgotten: Milk-Sop Variants
Similar to milk toast but with even less structure, milk-sop involved bread literally sopping in warm milk until nearly dissolved. Sometimes sweetened with sugar or molasses, this barely-food breakfast was popular during hard times.
The term “milquetoast” (meaning timid or bland) comes from a timid comic-strip character named after milk toast; the word thus derives indirectly from the dish.
Lacking nutrition, flavor complexity, or appealing texture, milk-sop represents food as mere sustenance rather than enjoyment. Modern Texans deserve breakfasts with both character and flavor – two qualities milk-sop sorely lacked.
14. Worth Remembering: Menudo
Tripe simmered for hours with hominy, chiles, and spices creates this legendary weekend morning cure-all. More than just soup, menudo represents resilience – transforming humble ingredients into something magnificent.
South Texas families gather over steaming bowls garnished with lime, cilantro, and onions. The soup’s reputation as a hangover remedy ensures its popularity after Saturday night fiestas.
The rich broth clears foggy heads while the chewy tripe provides sustenance. Though preparation requires patience, the results reward the effort abundantly.
15. Should Stay Forgotten: Cornmeal Porridge with Milk
Before cornmeal mush was sliced and fried, it was simply eaten hot from the pot – a bland gruel that filled bellies during lean times. Rural Texas families relied on this simple porridge when options were limited.
Sometimes sweetened with molasses or syrup, the resulting breakfast offered little nutritional value beyond basic calories.
While similar to grits in concept, traditional cornmeal mush lacked the creamy texture and potential for flavorful additions that make grits worthwhile.
This one-note breakfast deserves its retirement from Texas tables.
16. Worth Remembering: Nopalitos con Huevo
Young prickly pear cactus pads, carefully cleaned of spines, chopped and sautéed with onions before being scrambled with eggs, create a distinctly Texan breakfast. The nopalitos provide a tangy, slightly tart flavor and interesting texture similar to green beans.
Tejano families have prepared this nutritious dish for generations. Rich in vitamins and fiber, cactus transforms humble eggs into something special.
My friend’s grandmother taught me to prepare nopalitos, explaining how the desert plant sustained her family through drought years when gardens failed.
17. Should Stay Forgotten: Creamed-Eggs-on-Toast
Chopped hard-boiled eggs suspended in thick white sauce and ladled over toast once represented sophistication at early 20th-century Texas hotels.
This fussy, labor-intensive breakfast fell somewhere between present-day eggs Benedict and SOS (creamed chipped beef).
The bland, monotonous flavor profile and questionable texture make this a breakfast best left in the past. Heavy cream sauce hardly represents an energizing start to the day.
Modern diners prefer breakfast with more vibrant flavors and less artery-clogging cream.
18. Worth Remembering: Pan Dulce with Coffee
Colorful Mexican sweet breads, especially shell-shaped conchas with their crumbly sugar topping, paired with strong coffee create the perfect morning ritual. San Antonio’s panaderías fill with customers selecting these treats from glass cases using metal trays and tongs.
The slightly sweet bread provides just enough substance without overwhelming. Perfect for dipping into hot café de olla or chocolate caliente.
The tradition continues to thrive as new generations discover the simple pleasure of concha crumbs dissolving in coffee, connecting them to their Texas-Mexican heritage.
19. Should Stay Forgotten: Sugar-or-Syrup-on-Bread Breakfasts
Depression-era Texans sometimes resorted to bread sprinkled with sugar or drizzled with syrup as morning sustenance. This barely-counts-as-breakfast option emerged from desperate times when pantries contained little else.
Essentially dessert masquerading as breakfast, these sugar bombs provided quick energy but nothing substantial. Rural Texas children might have enjoyed the sweet treat, but their bodies surely craved protein and nutrients.
While understanding the historical context, we can appreciate that Texas breakfasts have evolved beyond mere survival food.
20. Worth Remembering: Brisket Breakfast Tacos
Leftover smoked brisket chopped and tucked into warm tortillas with scrambled eggs represents the perfect Texas food marriage. This ingenious use of barbecue leftovers combines the state’s two greatest culinary achievements.
The smoky, peppery beef adds depth to fluffy eggs, while additions like avocado, salsa, or cheese create endless variations. Found everywhere from food trucks to fine dining establishments, brisket breakfast tacos showcase Texan resourcefulness.
Nothing honors the state’s culinary heritage quite like enjoying barbecue for breakfast.