Customer Reviews

Cocina de la Familia/the Family Kitchen : More Than 200 Authentic Recipes from Mexican-American Home Kitchens

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Marilyn Tausend tells the real story of what Mexicans eat at home and what a delicious story it is! There is none of that goopy cheese-laden pseudo-food that passes for "Mexican" in inferior emporiums. What you have here is the real enchilada. As a Southern Californian "of a certain age", who is only Mexican by taste buds, I can attest to the authenticity of these recipes. As a retired teaching chef, I can promise great-tasting dishes from Cocina de la Familia. Because recipes are only a guide, most - if not all - of these dishes take kindly to alterations, substitutions and tinkering. Caldillo de Papas is wonderful made as directed. It is equally good made with large chunks of beef, additions of tomatillos, carrots and zucchini, topped with cilantro and a swirl of salsa fresca. Chilaquiles are usually made with leftover corn tortillas, but when I substituted some sliced tamales, sauced it with the Salsa Verde (pg. 215)our breakfast guests broke into cheers! This is a book to own yourself and a book to give to those you love -- especially if you want to eat well when visiting them. Bravo Marilyn. Please write Volume Two soon.

I have always loved Mexican food. This is a particularly great book, because it describes favorite recipes of dozens of Mexican-American families throughout the United States. Unlike many recipes I have cooked from other Mexican cookbooks, the recipes in Cocina De La Familia are traditional recipes that have often been altered and simplified by families here in the U.S., using local and easier to get ingredients. I find these recipes easier to cook and shop for, but always tasty and authentic. I have cooked many of the recipes and loved nearly all of them. Thank You for this wonderful cookbook Ms. Tausend!

I'm fascinated by this book. I cook Mexican food all the time- my inlaws are Mexican. I've taken notes of their legacy recipes along side of the actual cooking experiance with "Mom" many times and have recorded her technique and food. This book and the recipes ring true to what I know about Mexican cooking in the USA. I have many cook books about Mexican food that are "purist" in their approach and I read them for insight into technique and ingrediants. This "Cocina De La Familia" cookbook more accurately approaches what happens in my own kitchen when I modify a purist recipe. I've cooked several dishes from this book and plan to cook more... The history of lost and then regained ingrediants, over generations, in cooking Mexican food in the USA is a special treat.

I've tried them all, being that my significant other is from Mexico, I'm always looking for true, traditional Mexican recipes and this book is it! Truly the best I've seen!!! Excellent explainations of each dish, its origens, and how to serve it. I highly reccommend it!

We had friends over for dinner last night and I made, among other things, this book's chiles rellenos, racy red salsa, pickled vegetables, and sangria. Everything was quite tasty and really quick to make.

I saw this book at the library, and after checking it out for a month, decided I had to have it. It does have recipes for Mexican foods commonly served in US restaurants, but there are also many unusual dishes from obscure places. The short anecdotes with some of the recipes make it all the more interesting to read. For these reasons, several of my friends and I have ordered copies, both for ourselves and for gifts. Buen apetito!

After living in California and Arizona all my life, I recently moved to the Midwest and have been homesick for all my favorite foods. This cookbook came to the rescue! The recipes are easy to follow, even the complicated ones, and they taste just like I remember. I made my first tamales for Christmas Eve and they were a huge success!

I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of recipes offered here. If you love Mexican AMERICAN food, you are going to love this. Most of the ingredients are things you have on hand. The recipes are easy to read and follow. Overall, I am quite pleased with this purchase.

Not exactly a Mexican cookbook but many of the recipes are authentic and/or adapted to American tastes. We have a lot of experience eating and cooking authentic Mexican and thoroughly enjoyed the style of recipe in this book. Very creative and hearty recipes from Mexican-American communities all over the U.S. that represent Mexican communities all over Mexico. There are recipes for Pork Chile Verde and Chiles Con Queso plus a lot of novel things that use Mexican and American ingredients to create an undoubtedly Mexican flavor.

It is a true, authentic Mexican-AMERICAN cookbook. This is what is really happening in the kitchens of Mexican immigrants all across the United States. If you are looking for an authentic Mexican cookbook you have come to the wrong place...this is a Mexican-American cookbook. (try anything by Diana Kennedy for Mexican) But I love it because it really captures the dance of two cultures that occurs in an immigrant's kitchen.