Customer Reviews

The Cuisines of Mexico

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Throughout my many years of preparing Mexican meals, whether cooking for my family or to please guests entertaining, I've found this book indispensable. I've been using this book for twenty plus years and continue to this day to use it for quick reference. The recipes are authentic, equisite and often exotic culinary delights explained in simple text with instructions that any novice cook can follow. If you like to create your own recipes this is a good springboard to follow one's own inclinations as well. The book is divided into three sections. Part one gives an informative tour of the ingredients and procedures used in Mexican cooking, complete with historical background and identifying drawings and photographs. Part two is the corazon(heart) of the book with all the delicious recipes from way down south. Part three is the conclusion and it includes information on sources and a pronuncaition guide. I have found part one to be particularly interesting and helpful especially when it comes to the use of the lesser known herbs. Some of the ingredients are nearly impossible to find and there are no satisfactory replacements. This is where I learned about huitlacoche, a fungas that forms on the ears of corn that makes for a delicious soup or filling for quesadillas. I've sampled this dish on both sides of the border but never found the fungas at local markets. Another simple treat is squash blossoms used for a filling in quesadillas The recipes are easy to follow and when several stages are involved it is explained perfectly. After travelling in the interior of Mexico I longed for some of the dishes I sampled and this book has allowed me to prepare the dishes north of the border. Have some broth left from the frijole(bean) pot, tortillas, some chicken leftovers and tomatoes or tomato soup? If you do then you have the basis for Sopa Tarasca which will warm you up on a winter day. Sopa Tarasca, a meal in itself, is an example that is easy enough to prepare and well worth the effort. There are countless recipes that employ ingredients that may be thrown out rather than eat the same thing. The colored photgraphs and drawings are a nice touch, but this isn't a cook book with glossy perfection on each page, the recipes are what counts here. Diana Kennedy is a world renowned expert on the cuisines of Mexico and has been decorated with the order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor given to foreigners. She is the high priestess of Mexican cooking and her book is a tresure that belongs in any kitchen that prepares authentic Mexican cuisine.

We've had this book for years and have enjoyed most recipes - there was one lackluster soup we tried. The duck mole is so amazing and easy!! We even tried it with watercress in place of radish leaves and used leftover cornmeal & ground walnuts (used to coat our souffle pans) in addition to the pumkin seeds she calls for - excellent! We finally mastered her Mexican rice - you really do need to put the cloth on it at the end - but so delicious!!! The turkey mole makes for a great change for Thanksgiving!

Diana Kennedy's The Cuisines of Mexico is a fabulous book for those who are interested in making the best tasting Mexican food you have ever had. Not only are the recipes fantastic, but she also includes detailed explanations of ingredients and a pronunciation guide. This book is worth every penny just for part one, which is the ingredients and procedures. You will learn everything you need to know in order to cook truly authentic and fantastic Mexican food.

While Diana Kennedy does offer a source list for ingredients, I would like to add that the online store Mesa Mexican Foods offers many of the authentic Mexican ingredients needed to make Diana's great dishes.

After all these years, this still is the best book around with the perfect combination of technique and recipe instructions.

I am currently on my second copy of this book. Someone 'borrowed' my first copy and never returned it--if you have a copy with recipes for scampi, minestrone, and dolmas handwritten on the back pages, please email them to me! And do try them, they are wonderful.

For many years, it was difficult (if not impossible) to find a really good Mexican food cookbook that contained truly authentic recipes. I'd seen books that purported to offer recipes for 'Mexican' foods, only to discover that they just weren't quite right--example: one had a recipe a for a batter, claiming that flour tortillas are 'Mexican crepes'! When I originally discovered the tome, The Cuisines of Mexico, on the bookshelf of a friend, I became entranced.

Not only did the author of this book go to great lengths and difficulties to research authentic recipes and methods, but she also painstakingly tested and recorded her observations. Something I've noticed over the years is that recipes, like language, often drift from their origins until it is nearly impossible to discern how they used to be made. With this book, you get the best of all worlds--both original recipes/methods, as well as adaptations and suggestions/room for modernizing recipes and techniques.

After reading about how a simple dish of Mexican rice cooked over an open fire tasted and smelled to Ms. Kennedy, I adapted a recipe using fresh (homegrown) tomatoes and peppers--roasted on the barbeque using mesquite chips to give them that nice smoky flavor she found so wonderful--that I cook in my rice cooker. All of my friends (many of which are of Mexican descent) say it is 'the best.' At our town barbeques, it is invariably the first thing gone--and I have a really big rice cooker. Thank you, Ms Kennedy.

All hail Diana!

Several factors have conspired to keep most North Americans
and Europeans from grasping the wonder and complexity of
Mexican food.
First, there's the smoke screen created by greasy-spoon and
fast-food imitations. It's hard to imagine great tastes when
you've just gobbled down a two-buck taco that smells a bit
funny. In fact, it's hard to find real examples of wonderful
Mexican food outside of that country.
Then there's the question of fashion: in the first
world we are eating a slimmer and healthier cuisine these
days and a lot of Mexican dishes with their high saturated
fat and sodium, seem to be the opposite of that.
There's also the problem of hard-to-find ingredients and the
taste of cornmeal which is problematic for those of us
raised on wheat-breads and pasta.

So Diana Kennedy's The Cuisines of Mexico is both a cook-
book and a revelation. Just the acknowledgement that there
are more than one Mexican cuisine will be a surprise for many.
Her discussion of the ingredients and procedures of those
cuisines will be a revelation to even most sophisticated
cooks. This discussion comprises the first of three parts of
the book and as a prod to the imagination, is worth the price
of the book. Kennedy's view of kitchen equipment is Mexico-
centric and one could imagine an update that included more
on food processors, blenders and pressure cookers.
Then the recipes begin. Contrary to the title's promise, they
are not organized geographically, but rather by food type. Some
of these recipes are breathtaking. Two moles, the poblano and
the green mole with duck will probably change the way you
think about stews forever.
The recipes for beans could keep you entertained for a month.
Frijoles colados y refritos a la Yucateca can be modified to
make an almost-instant treat that's remarkably healthy. (see
the Amazon.com site for Beano )
You should also take some time to learn from Buñuelos (fritters)
and the remarkable Budins-puddings that unite vegetables and
cheese.
This book is the perfect gift for any imaginative cook.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN
9781601640005

It's the only Mexican cookbook I brought back with me to Mexico. The texts lively and thoughtful - as complex and as entertaining as a Mexican market itself. - Ron Mader, El Planeta Platica journal

Do you want to cook real Mexican food and get the history of the area along with the cooking. You will also get a description of the ingredients used, how to use them and what dishes, bowls or cooking utensils you will need to make each dish. The food itself is so authentic. The author is truly a Mexican cook and brings us into her world to enjoy each mouthful. You won't need another Mexican cook book except another of the author's books.

I received my book in good condition, as advertised and delivered in a week. Book was carefully packaged, in top condition and the price was just right. It will now be part of my cherished collection of great cookbooks, and will provide many fine Cuisines of Mexico meals for my family. Thanks!

This was a gift to my daughter for Christmas. She has tried a couple of recipes already and absolutely loves the cookbook.