Customer Reviews

The Best of Quintana

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For those who aren't already familiar with authentic Mexican cuisine, you should know that it has been long regarded as one of the world's five great cuisines...along with Chinese, French, Italian & Spanish (of course more recently Turkish has cracked the top five...and depending on who you ask either Italian or Spanish leaves the list). It has earned its billing as a great cuisine through its 6,000 year history of creativity & complex, sophisticated development of flavor. As such, don't expect these recipes to be simplistic, effortless solutions to a quick weeknight dinner....these are for serious foodies who have grown tired of repeating their French & Italian recipes...and who are looking for a cuisine that is equally gourmet, but a lot healthier, with a greater reliance on colorful produce rather than cream, butter & cheese.

For those who aren't already familiar with Patricia Quintana, you should know that she was Mexico City's premier cookbook author for many years, and in the last decade she has become the most celebrated Chef & Restarateur. This is one of the must have books for a serious Mexican foodie. However, I must agree with the editor...if you don't know how to make a basic seared Mexican sauce, or dry roast garlic then you will be a little lost. In that case, I wholeheartedly recommend purchasing Bayless' Mexican Kitchen first, then buying this book once you have exhuasted his recipes.

Note, if you get the Bayless book then you should purchase Qunitana's Taste of Mexico to reduce the # of overlapping & recipes & because you will get more pictures.

This is an elegant book with lots of lovely photos that captures the essence of authentic Mexican cusine. It's the total oposite of the stereotype of Chevy's burritos an whatnot that so many people associate with Mexican food. This book shows that Mexican food can be as involved as French food with many steps and ingredients. This isn't something I often have time for but when I do, it's worth it.