Customer Reviews

Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I grew up in L.A. with a Mexican stepmom, so I've eaten my fair share of real Mexican food. I bought this book in 1997 thinking I could use it to feed my Mexican-American husband. It served its purpose in a way - it taught me what NOT to do. Authentic Mexican food doesn't have fourteen different kinds of salsa. It has one, the ingredients and preparation style of which vary with regional availability and family tradition. Authentic Mexican cooking doesn't involve making chilaquiles with the water from cooking black beans. Real Mexican food isn't gigantic vegetarian tamales baked in the oven as a casserole. Real Mexicans warm up their tortillas by laying them on top of the plain, unromantic modern gas burner - certainly not by steaming! (Husband: "why are the tortillas soggy?!") Real Mexicans don't put zucchini in their fideo.

I could go on. I realize part of the stated purpose of this book is to expose readers to the cuisine of the various regions of Mexico, different from the northern Mexico/Southwest U.S. type stuff my husband and I grew up with. If you are really interested in that kind of thing, I would advise you to take the money you would have spent on this book and start saving for a trip to go see those places for yourself, at which point you will realize that it is no more possible to make the regional specialties of the Yucatan using mail-order delicacies and a bestselling American cookbook than to make a moon rock out of Philadelphia cream cheese. After you've been playing around with cookbooks for a while, you start to get a feel for how much of the fancy stuff is genuine pursuit of excellence and how much is just upper-class pretentiousness. Maybe Bayless really did get the ideas for his recipes on his many trips to Mexico, but if so I suspect that most of it was from the Mexican counterparts of the fashionable restaurants he runs in Chicago. To pretend that the fanciest and the most obscure must also be the most authentic is snobbery, and applying that idea to a culture other than your own borders on cultural chauvinism. I verified this for myself first hand when we visited his restaurants in Chicago and the only Mexicans in view were the valet parking guys. It's the rich folks' version of Chi-Chi's. If you are in Chicago, go to one of the little hole-in-the-wall taquerias where the waitresses don't speak English, and get some real Mexican food.

The recipes look good and there are significant details on technique and products however, I can't believe the limited number of pictures, for me it is a must in any good cookbook, unfortunately if you eat with your eyes this book with leave you guessing...

Sometimes a cookbook is so comprehensive, in terms of recipes and in capturing an attitude toward cuisine, that its greatness is obvious. This is such a book. If you know anything at all about Rick Bayless, you know that this isn't your Chi-chi's Mexican cooking. Within the pages of this book you will find dishes of incredible depth and you will learn a lot about the culture that engendered this cuisine.

If the complicated main course items are rather daunting, the salsas are quite do-able. By going through the salsa section I feel like my own cooking has gained a new syntax. Whether this is going to be a frequently used cookbook depends on your ambition and of course the amount of time you can devote to cooking. Even if you make a small fraction of the recipes, you will gain a lot of insight into Mexican cooking just by reading the book.

The stuff in here is authentic and delicious. Some of the ingredients might be a little hard to find, and the recipies are often time-consuming, but the results are worth it. Rick is a master of Mexican cooking.

I found this book very informative and easy to use. I especially enjoy the "soups" recipes...I must use at least three times a month.

I can't believe that I am capable of creating the meals that I can with this book...cheers to Rick Bayless!

"Absolutely Ridiculous" below is mistaken. He or she doesn't even mention having visited Mexico. Having traveled to Mexico, I can tell you that the various regions of Mexico have vastly differing cooking styles and signature dishes. Bayless has managed to represent a portion of those styles and dishes -- and that's all you could expect a cookbook to do. These recipes are reminiscent of authentic, regional Mexican dishes. These recipes are not like most of the Mexican cooking that you see in this country. These recipes are delicious -- and they work. For me, that's the most important thing about a cookbook. If it's beautiful, extensive, and the recipes sound delicious -- that doesn't mean a thing if the recipes don't work. These do.

From from the cover photo, one realizes this is early Bayless. Likewise, one senses upon investigation that Bayless knows Mexican cuisine.

This is just marvelous stuff, even if one like me doesn't right away go into every interesting food area.

There is much for all who want to delve into this growingly exciting gourmet area. My ventures from this collection have been excellent, easy to follow and outstanding in taste and visual appeal and rich and vibrant in flavor: Yucatecan Grilled Fish Tacos, Tomato Braised Grouper with Achiote and Roasted Peppers and Tangy Yucatecan Grilled Pork with Roast Onions and Fresh Garnishes. Topped off with fantastic pleasing desserts such as MangopLime Ice or Creamy Lime Pie.

Bayless' books are replete with basics on peppers and salsas and techniques and sources. He even know has own website to purchase supplies.

Still use this one as well as his latest offerings. He's led so many of us down these new paths of our Latino/Hispanic friends and their great food!

I've owned this book for two years and every time I try to find something to cook I end up putting it down with nothing selected. The recipes are creative but overly complicated. Authentic Mexican food, in my opinion, is deliciously simple and unpretentious. If you want a definitive or authentic guide to Mexican food, don't buy this one. If you want a good read and some fairly creative American gourmet takes on Mexican food this is for you.

I have never read a cookbook to match this one. Although some of the ingredients and cooking methods of Mexico are not practical in the U.S. (especially in California), this book sheds light on the origins of an incredible cuisine. Bayless native shows a sincere reverence toward a culture that has been underappreciated for too long. He brilliantly describes his personal experiences of interior Mexican food... so well that you know what it is going to taste like before you ever start cooking. He truly believes (and has convinced me) that the Mexican culture has mastered the flavors of the ingredients that come from its region. With exotic ingredients becoming increasingly more available in the U.S., we can witness in our own kitchens what goes on South of the border.

Leaving aside the question of how 'authentic' these recipes are--though it is worth observing that something is not unauthentic simply because it does not conform to what a reader may have been told was Mexican food while growing up in the U. S.--this book is full of delicious, easy-to-follow recipes that would be a welcome addition to any cook's bookcase. I have other books on Mexican cooking by Diana Kennedy and Elisbeth Ortiz, yet it is Bayless' books that I reach for time and again. Check this one out--you won't be disappointed!