No store does more than H-E-B to impress the editors of Food & Wine magazine. On July 28, the venerable publication sang the San Antonio company’s praises, naming the five best pre-made foods every Texan should add to their grocery list.
Unsurprisingly, some H-E-B heavy-hitters made the cut, including True Texas BBQ spicy pickles, the tarragon pecan chicken salad, fresh guacamole, pre-marinated taco and fajita meats, and the store’s revered flour tortillas. To compose the list, food writer Derin Yilmaz, an H-E-B neophyte, polled a gaggle of the magazine’s editors who either live or have lived in the Lone Star State.
“There was a time I didn’t know what H-E-B was and had never even heard the name,” Yilmaz said in her introduction.” When I revealed this naiveté to my Texan best friend, she looked at me in shock…”
Although Yilmaz’s admission might indeed be jaw-dropping, it wasn’t surprising that Food & Wine would want to celebrate the homegrown institution. If readers are making one of the magazine’s chef-driven recipes, chances are they are getting the ingredients at H-E-B. Many experts admitted to keeping the picks in their own pantries.
Southern Smoke founder and CultureMap Wine Guy Chris Shepherd, who serves as the magazine’s “Editor in Chef,” called the pickles a must-try item and the fajita meat a “delicious timesaver,” but practically rhapsodized over the tortillas.
“H-E-B arguably has some of the most delicious flour tortillas commercially made, and yes, those are in our refrigerator at home almost every day of the year,” said the Houston-based chef and TV personality.
Food & Wine news editor Merlyn Miller, a native of Beaumont, raved about the convenient chicken salad, giving a secondary shout-out to the dill and mustard seed-seasoned pimento cheese.
“Almost every time I go home, my mom has one of H-E-B’s prepared, mayo-based salads in her fridge, and this one is my favorite. It has crunchy pecans, sweet grapes, and isn’t overly dressed,” she told Yaniz of the chicken salad.
It’s perhaps no surprise that H-E-B would blip on Food & Wine’s radar. Although a regional chain that only has locations in Texas and Mexico, it’s no stranger to national recognition. Its corporate culture regularly lands it on national lists, like a recent Fortune ranking of America’s most innovative companies. The grocer’s charitable arms, most recently deployed in the aftermath of the July 4 Kerr County floods, have earned admiration far outside state borders.
And chances are, if someone is making one of Food & Wine’s elaborate recipes in Texas, they are using leeks, herbs, and olive oil picked up at one of H-E-B’s hundreds of stores. Still, if Yaniz truly wants to have her mind blown, maybe she should ask her bestie about Central Market.