Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen: Capturing the Vibrant Flavors of a World-Class Cuisine

by Rick Bayless and Deann Groen Bayless

Book Overview

Bursting with bold, complex flavors, Mexican cooking has the kind of gusto we want in food today. Until now, American home cooks have had few authorities to translate the heart of this world-class cuisine to everyday cooking.

In this book of more than 150 recipes, award-winning chef, author and teacher Rick bayless provides the inspiration and guidance that home cooks have needed. With a blend of passion, patience, clarity and humor,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684800063
• ISBN13: 9780684800066
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 2.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 7.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Classic

A must to have in my library. Always a go to from my home town. He really knows how to make Mexican dishes tasty and delicious

The Master of Mexican Cuisine Does Staples and more!

`Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen' is restaurateur / PBS show host Rick Bayless' second major book on Mexican cuisine in cooperation with his wife, Deann Groen Bayless, and the first with collaborator, JeanMarie Brownson. The primary point of view which distinguishes this book from both his earlier `Authentic Mexican' book and his later PBS tie-in, `Mexico, One Plate at a Time' is that it deconstructs major aspects of Mexican dishes by breaking them down into `Essential' recipes and recipes which use these essential preparations as an ingredient. This has a lot in common with Ming Tsai's technique in his latest book, `Simply Ming', with the difference that while many of Ming Tsai's preparations were of his own devising, Senor Bayless is presenting us with the fact that the Mexican cuisine by its very nature, lends itself to this `modularization'. Almost all of the essential recipes are sauces and salsas. As Rick explains, the notion of a salsa is much broader to the Mexican mind than it may be to us gringos looking at the notion from the outside. The essential recipes are: Simmered Tomato-Jalapeno Sauce Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa from the Stone Mortar Chopped Tomato-Serrano Salsa Chopped Tomato-Habanero Salsa Simmered Tomato-Habanero Salsa Quick Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce Simmered Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce Roasted Tomatillo-Serrano Salsa Roasted Tomatillo-Chipotle Salsa Sweet and Spicy Ancho Seasoning Paste Sweet and Smoky Chipotle Seasoning Salsa Bold Pasilla Seasoning Paste Simmered Guajillo Sauce Roasted Poblano Rajas with Seared White Onions and Herbs Garlicky Achiote Seasoning Paste Corn Tortillas I reproduced all these titles here to give you the best possible sense of what is at the heart of this book. Like the Italian cuisine and its preserved meats, cheeses, pasta and vinegars, the great variety of Mexican cooking is based on a few essential ingredients and the most important ingredient family, the dried chile and corn flour, came about, like Italy's meats and cheeses, from the need to preserve important ingredients from spoilage. If this book were nothing more than these recipes plus the dishes which can be built from them, it would be a great book of recipes, but not quite the `IACP Cookbook of the Year' winner from the Julia Child Cookbook Awards. Each recipe is presented with a variety of different methods, mostly based on alternatives between using the Mocajete (volcanic stone mortar), using the food processor, or using the blender. I give enormous credit to Bayless for not encouraging us to immediately going out and ordering ourselves a Mocajete since they are both rather expensive and (authentic versions are) difficult to find. While I am something of an atavistic cook, I may have been inclined to search one out anyway, but Bayless confession that the modern appliances are quite satisfactory in most applications leaves me satisfied with the equipment I already have. In addition to the richly detailed and annotated recipes,

Excelente!

Hats off to Bayless, this is one of the best cookbooks I have ever come across - regardless of culinary topic. He really does provide everything you would want in a cook book...he reveals the story behind the food with valuable insight, provides a good balance between finished dishes and understanding the raw materials and techniques, and he provides you with great sources for deeper research. Its interesting that I was hesitant about Bayless's book in the beginning because my only previous experience with him was watching a few episodes of his show. From what I saw, I thought he spent way too much time on Antojitos...and that was definitely not what I was interested. See, I was born in Mexico City, and have dined on most of the regional cuisines of Mexico so what I craved were the incredible savory, complex dishes that I could not even dream of finding in California, where it is relatively easy to find authentic Mexican "junk" food. To that end, this book really delivers. I have successfully prepared the Barbacoa, utilized his method of simmering chicken straight in a rich sauce, his basic sauce recipes answered a few lingering questions that allowed me to perfect my own recipes. In addition, I am exclusively dry roasting garlic on a griddle, and rinsing chopped onions which has improved just about every dish I prepare. Finally, he has given me valuable insight for deeper research on Mexican cuisine...such as identifying a Mexican cookbook that is entirely devoted to Mexico's wild mushrooms & truffles. And those who don't think the foods he presents are traditional are completely wrong. If anything, he steers clear away from Contemporary trends in Mexican cuisine. As a matter of fact, if I would suggest any changes, it would be to add a chapter on the recent fusion cuisines of Mexico....Italian-Mexican, Japanese-Mexican, Thai-Mexican; and a chapter on the trendy insect dishes....escamoles (ant eggs), gusano de maguey (agave worm), chapulines (crickets) etc.,

Wonderfully authentic and accurate.

I'm mexican and a lover of good food. I can say that Rick Bayless knows about Mexican food more than most Mexicans. His deep understanding of Mexican culinary culture amazes me given that he wasn't born in Mexico. I have cooked many recipes from his cookbook and found them very detailed and easy to follow. In addition, having tasted authentic Mexican food (as opossed to the American version of Mexican food) duting all my life, I can attest that Rick's recipes really go to the heart of Mexican cooking. His recipes are a manual for authentic Mexican cooking techniques, to a level I have not seen in cookbooks written by native Mexicans. I travel frequently to Chicago and always enjoy eating at one of Rick Bayless' excellent restaurants (I like them so much that I have repeteadly arrived several times when it's closed on Mondays). Like another reader, I would have liked more color photographs, however, Rick Bayless' superb prose more than compensates for this omission.

Buy it, eat it, love it!

Coming from LA I grew up with great Mexican food. Now living in NZ I miss it. Rick Bayless's book turned our home into the best Mexican food spot in the country. I highly recommend this book to any lover of Mexican food....and especially those who do not have easy access to Mexican restaraunts. The recipes are simple to follow and, in most cases, not too time consuming. I now pre-make many of the basics and keep them on hand so a Mexican meal is only minutes away.

From introduction to index, this is one of the best!!

It is not often that an introduction written in a cookbook captures your attention, and most people probably don't even read them yet the one in Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen really sets the tone of this book. The publication claims over 150 recipes but with Bayless's 'variations and improvisations' section after almost every recipe, there are many more possibilities to choose from. True Mexican cuisine jumps from each page and each menu item also contains words from the heart, giving history to each. Recipes include: Shrimp Seviche with Roasted Cactus, Ripe Plantain Turnovers with Fresh Cheese Filling, Mexican-Style Sweet Roasted Garlic Soup, Spicy Yucatecan Beef "Salad" Tacos, Smoky Braised Mexican Pumpkin with Seared White Onion, Chipotle Shrimp, Lamb Barbacoa from the Backyard Grill and Modern Mexican Chocolate Flan with Kahlua. A lot of heart and soul as well as time went into this book. Most recipes not only contain variations and improvisations, but also include some shortcuts and many with advanced preparation ideas to help today's busy cook. With 150 recipes in over 420 pages these recipes were written in complete detail. Ingredients are almost all available in regular grocery stores with only a few at specialty stores. Mexican Kitchen is definitely a cookbook to add to your collection. Mexican Kitchen by Rick Bayless is published by Scribner Publishing. Exceptional recipes written with a lot of passion and love for food. A good book to add to any shelf