Biggest and Best in the West: Attending a Texas Culinary School

Any student at a Texas culinary school can answer that question. Texans have a love affair with beef since the first cattle drive in 1779. After all, being the center of the American cattle industry has its perks. The way to do beef in Central Texas is barbecue, particularly brisket—smoked long and slow over mesquite or hickory and served without sauce—or sauce on the side if you insist.

In West Texas, you'll find your beef served up as chicken-fried steak. Chefs use a thick slab of inexpensive beef, beat it until it's tender, dip in batter and deep-fry like chicken. Then they smother the crispy, crusty steak with cream gravy and serve over a mound of mashed potatoes. It's a satisfying dish carried over from the time of cattle drives and life on the trail.

From San Antonio comes the Texas State dish—Texas chili: meat only, no beans. Originating in the late 1800's, real chili must be meaty, thick and spicy. The level of heat can range all the way up to "three-alarm" or even "devil's soup" spicy.

Tex-Mex started as Texans cooking Mexican food—using local ingredients in Mexican dishes that satisfied the Texan palate. In the 1970's Tex-Mex was embraced around the world as a regional cuisine of cowboys and the Wild West.

Typically, Tex-Mex is what you probably consider Mexican food at your local Mexican restaurant: dishes such as tortilla chips and salsa (which is Texas' official state snack), enchiladas, fajitas, burritos, chimichangas (fried burritos), crispy-shell tacos, taco salad, chili, refried beans, sopapillas, tamale pies and flavored margaritas.

There's also a non-traditional side to Tex-Mex: the fish taco and shrimp burrito, cooked super fresh and light. As a Texas culinary school student, you'll have the advantage of tasting authentic Tex-Mex and creating your own twist on this popular cuisine.

The American Restaurant Association estimates 1,016,300 workers are employed in restaurant and food service, which accounts for 10 percent of total Texas employment. The Association forecasts a 23.4 percent job growth in restaurant and food service jobs by 2019. This is good news for any new graduate of a Texas culinary school.

Here is a list of average salaries for culinary jobs in Texas:

Thinking of going to a Texas culinary school? Consider culinary school in Dallas. The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Dallas, with additional campuses in Houston and Austin, offers culinary programs to prepare you with technical and practical culinary arts skills for chef jobs in the back-of-the-house, or restaurant and catering management in the front-of-the-house.

When you attend culinary school in Dallas, you'll be in the right place for big career opportunities. The "Big D" is a place where dreaming big is the norm. This is where the frozen margarita was created, as well as the founding of national restaurant chains Chili's and Romano's Macaroni Grill.

Austin, the capital of Texas, was selected as the No. 2 Best Big City in "Best Places to Live" by Money magazine in 2006, and No. 3 in 2009; it was named the "Greenest City in America" by MSN; voted America's #1 College Town by the Travel Channel; and ranked the fifth-safest city in the U.S. In Austin you'll find the Texas Culinary Academy, which offers the fine culinary programs of the internationally recognized Le Cordon Bleu schools.

Search All Culinary Schools in Texas to find the right Texas culinary school for you. It's time to take that first step to make your Texas-sized dream a reality.

_{Source: Salary data from Indeed.com 2010}