|
Authentic Mexican 20th Anniversary Ed: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico | 
 enlarge | Author: Rick Bayless
Creators: Deann Groen Bayless, John Sandford, Christopher Hirsheimer
Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy Used: $11.98
You Save: $18.02 (60%)
New (36) Used (17) Collectible (2) from $11.98
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 9842
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 20 Anv
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 7.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0061373265
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5972
EAN: 9780061373268
ASIN: 0061373265
Publication Date: April 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: May have small mark or shelf wear / Legendary independent bookstore online since 1994. Reliable customer service and no-hassle return policy.
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Americans have at last discovered Mexico's passion for exciting food. We've fallen in love with the great Mexican combination of rich, earthy flavors and casual, festive dining. But we don't begin to imagine how sumptuous and varied the cooking of Mexico really is. After ten years of loving exploration, Rick Bayless, together with his wife, Deann, gave us Authentic Mexican, this now classic, easy-to-use compendium of our southern neighbor's cooking. This all-embracing cookbook offers the full range of dishes, from poultry, meat, fish, rice, beans, and vegetables to eggs, snacks made of corn masa, tacos, turnovers, enchiladas and their relatives, tamales, and moles, ending with desserts, sweets, and beverages. There are irresistible finger foods such as Yucatecan marinated shrimp tacos and crispy cheese-filled masa turnovers; spicy corn chowder and chorizo sausage with melted cheese will start off a special dinner; you will find mole poblano, charcoal-grilled pork in red-chile adobo, and marinated fish steamed in banana leaves for those times when you want to celebrate; and exotic ice creams, caramel custards, and pies to top off any meal. There's even a section devoted to refreshing coolers, rich chocolate drinks, and a variety of tequila-laced cocktails. The master recipes feature all the pointers you'll need for re-creating genuine Mexican textures and flavors in a North American kitchen. Menu suggestions and timing and advance-preparation tips make these dishes perfectly convenient for today's working families. And traditional and contemporary variations accompany each recipe, allowing the cook to substitute and be creative. Rick and Deann Bayless traveled more than thirty-five thousand miles investigating the six distinct regions of Mexico and learning to prepare what they found. From town to town, recipe by recipe, they personally introduce you to Mexico's cooks, their kitchens, their markets, and their feasts. If, like the rest of us, you have a growing love for Mexican food, the reliable recipes in this book and the caring, personal presentation by Rick and Deann Bayless will provide meal after meal of pure pleasure for your family and friends.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 28 more reviews...
 Essential Resource for Authentic Mexican. Buy It! May 3, 2005
B. Marold (Bethlehem, PA United States)
64 out of 66 found this review helpful
`Authentic Mexican' by notable Chicago chef and Mexican cuisine expert, Rick Bayless and wife Deann Groen Bayless is easily one of the very best books on basic Mexican cuisine. For a subject which is so big that Bayless has devoted at least three other books to it, not to mention the five thick volumes from fellow Mexico culinarian Diana Kennedy, it is hard to describe this as a comprehensive treatment of Mexican cuisine, as it weights in at only 380 pages, compared to the over 450 pages Penelope Casas devotes to much smaller Spain and 480 pages Diana Kochilas devotes to even smaller Greece. But don't let any of this put you off. This is, I am certain, one of the very best sources of information on true Mexican food for us gringos. I am almost certain that Bayless' coverage of Mexico is much better for the state of Oaxaca than for many other regions. I see this name pop up far more than any others and I have read that this is one of his favorite parts of Mexico.
The stated impetus to Bayless' writing this book lies in the fact that in spite of the close contact between Mexico and the United States, Mexican food in the US has undergone the same kind of metamorphosis as we find in Italian-American food.
It is an interesting exercise to highlight what is distinctive about Mexican cooking to cite the differences between Mexican and Spanish cuisines.
While Spanish cuisine is all about olives and grapes, neither of these two products transplanted well to Mexico. Thus, Mexico did not acquire any taste for many of the things you can do with olive oil and vinegar. For these key tastes, they had animal fat and citrus juice. While Spain took to the tomato and the potato, they did not take to corn (maize). And, oddly, while Spain adopted sweet peppers like they were long lost sons, they did not take to the very picante hot chiles. And, while chocolate became very popular as a drink, it never pervaded Spanish dishes the way it runs through Mexican dishes.
Many cookbooks of this type include the seemingly obligatory chapters on ingredients, techniques, and equipment. And, many times these sections are a waste of time in that they are incomplete, and someone not familiar with the subject will not know they are incomplete. None of this is true of Bayless' appendices on ingredients and tools. The depth of Bayless' treatment of important subjects such as chilis is just short of magnificent.
Like every good cookbook on an ethnic cuisine, Bayless gives both the English and Spanish names for all dishes, and some naming contains little surprises. The very first recipe for `Salsa Mexicana' looks very familiar, yet I have never seen a recipe with that name before. It turns out that this is the authentic version of what we gringos call the `pico de gallo'.
Practically every recipe contains several important cooks' notes on techniques, ingredients, and planning ahead.
The book contains a chapter on practically every major subject in Mexican cuisine, including special chapters on Tortillas, Masa, Tacos, Turnovers and their Fillings, Enchiladas, Moles, and Drinks. The level of detail in the explanation of the recipes would make Julia Child proud. The one major subject on which Bayless does not seem to touch is bread baking. The easiest way to supplement this book with material on Mexican baking is to get Diana Kennedy's book `In My Mexican Kitchen'.
One odd aspect of this book for which I blame publisher Morrow's editors is the less than fluid prose. Bayless is much too good with his facts to state any errors of fact or even judgment, but his sentences have this vague feeling of clumsiness about them, as if he is using just a few too many words and he is trying to achieve an effect with an odd choice of words which doesn't work. As Senor Bayless is a masterful cook and interpreter of a major world cuisine, I write this off as the result of the author's first book being edited on a budget.
This is The Real Thing. April 28, 2000
47 out of 49 found this review helpful
I am of Mexican descent. I have avoided Restaurants and cookbooks that try to pass themselves off as "Mexican", for years. The recipes in this Tome so remind me of my childhood, that the book is falling apart. Rick truly knows his subject. Any one seriously interested in the cuisine must seek out this book.
A lot of thought and work went into this cookbook. April 28, 1999
39 out of 42 found this review helpful
I am a third and final year culinary student at a college in Columbus, Ohio. I've read a lot of texts and cookbooks in my life. I wanted to take the time and get online to comment on this book. I see and buy a lot of cookbooks that give you the good recipes but very little knowledge of the foods that you are cooking and how they will react to the processes that you will be putting them through. Five stars to this great piece of writing.
Excellent cookbook November 18, 2000
DrBombay (St. Louis MO)
38 out of 41 found this review helpful
This book is an excellent addition to your cook book collection if you like truly authentic Mexican food. The recipes are great, most of them easy to prepare, and so what (as one person complained) if they take a little time--good things are worth waiting for. If you're in a hurry go to Taco Bell. To my mind, what this book shares with all truly great cookbooks is the combination of great recipes with clear instructions and an immensely readable and informative amount of information, instead of just listing recipes. The layout is very user friendly as well. I like a little history, I like to learn things I didn't know about a culture and their cuisine, or about unfamiliar ingredients, etc. Along with Dianne Kennedy's Mexican cookbooks I'd say these are the best books out there on this subject.
No yellow cheese anywhere... March 13, 2006
LatinaGirl (California)
35 out of 35 found this review helpful
If your idea of Mexican food is tortillas covered in red glop and yellow cheese then you are in for a surprise. This is one of the most impressived and authentic cookbooks on Mexican food I have ever seen. You get the feel for Bayless's love of Mexican food and flavors as well as the culture. This is the type of food my Mom and my grandmothers make...
|
|
|
|
| |
