Customer Reviews

The Essential Cuisines of Mexico: Revised and updated throughout, with more than 30 new recipes.

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This book is the best Mexican cook book on the market. If you seriously love Mexican cooking, this cook book is absolutely essential.

I first discovered Diana Kennedy from a friend who was also seriously addicted to good Mexican food in 1973. I immediately bought a copy of her first book, The Cuisines of Mexico, and authentic Mexican food began to appear in my kitchen. Mexican food is the only food I make, other than something that can go directly into the microwave. Believe me, if I can get good results with this cook book, you'll be a regular Julia Child by comparison.

In fact, Diana Kennedy is a lot like Julia Child in many ways. Ms. Kennedy is an American who came to live in Mexico after she married a New York Times foreign correspondent. There, she learned Mexican food from the local people. Her book is full of beautiful tales about how people prepare and enjoy each dish. For years, she has offered cooking instruction, so she knows the kinds of things that people need to learn. For example, the book contains general information about what kind of equipment you need, basic descriptions of the various ingredients (which can get pretty complicated with the various chilies), and how to handle various ingredients for advance preparation (something I always do), storage, and freezing (something that always happens because I make so much).

The reason I say that this is the book to have is because this book contains the essential material from her three earlier cook books (The Cuisines of Mexico, The Tortilla Book, and Mexican Regional Cooking) updated and improved. She has added more basic information and included 33 new recipes not in the originals (such as pico de gallo with peaches from the state of Mexico, rice with sea food from Veracruz, chicken in corn fungus sauce, many snacks from cantinas in Merida and Yucatan, and barbecued chicken from Chiapa).

Concerned about how healthy your Mexican food is? By making it from scratch, you can leave out the pork lard that makes it so tasty, and substitute some healthy vegetable oil instead. Or you can broil rather than fry. You get the idea. It won't be authentic, but it will taste a lot better than most of the other healthy food you eat. Most of the wonderful flavor actually comes from the vegetables and seasonings rather than the oils.

The book is broken out into the following sections: appetizers; Masa (corn meal) fantasies; tortillas and tortilla dishes; tamales; soups; soup stews; beans, rice, and pasta; egg dishes; light meals; salads; vegetables; sauces and relishes; meats; pork; beef; assorted meats; poultry; seafood; sweet yeast breads; desserts and cookies; drinks (included Craig Claiborne's favorite, Sangrita); and general information.

After you have finished enjoying this book, I suggest that you make a Cinco de Mayo dinner or party an annual event. I always like to have Mexican food for my birthday, as well.

Vaya con Dios!

`The Essential Cuisines of Mexico' is Diana Kennedy's Mexican answer to Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. It has a similar style and quality and, like Child's encounter with French cooking, it came about as a result of her marriage to a husband who was posted to Mexico by his newspaper, `The New York Times' as their Caribbean / Mexican correspondent. This, plus a little help from New York Times colleague and friend, Craig Claiborne lead Ms. Kennedy to start teaching Mexican cooking and prompting her to write a book on the subject.

There are two big differences between this book and Ms. Child's `magnum opus'. The first is that this volume is an amalgam of three earlier books, while `...French Cooking' was a distillation from a manuscript at least twice the size of the final published volume. The second major difference is that while Ms. Child is documenting `cuisine bourgeois', Ms. Kennedy is looking at Mexico's `cuisine provincial'. This is highlighted by the fact that the geographical home of all recipes is cited, and the geographic specifics are given for all the major ingredients cited in the appendix.

The three earlier books being combined here are `The Cuisines of Mexico', `The Tortilla Book', and `Mexican Regional Cooking'. The author also states that some new material has been added to the recipes from these three books. To my eye, the integration of the three volumes is seamless. The author and her editors have not simply pasted the three volumes together, they have merged all the material to create a single work easily superior to the original three.

By the time this book was published, it should be evident to the English speaking world at large that Ms. Kennedy has some serious competition from Chicagoan, Rick Bayless in the world of Mexican culinary authorities. Just as Ms. Kennedy presents recipes very similar to fellow amateur Julia Child and fellow `culinary archeologist' Paula Wolfert, chef Bayless does a much more analytical approach to Mexican cuisine, deconstructing dishes into their component parts in `Rich Bayless' Mexican Kitchen' and giving us multiple versions of important dishes in `Mexico One Plate at a Time'.

In spite of these differences, Ms. Kennedy and Mr. Bayless agree on virtually everything important when they address the same subjects. The most important point on which they agree is the central place of Oaxaca as, to coin a phrase, the Provence of Mexican cuisine. On which author to prefer, if you are a fan of Mexican dishes, buy both authors, bypassing the earlier books which were folded into the current volume and also bypassing Mr. Bayless' `Salsas That Cook' as there is some overlap with `Rick Bayless's (sic) Mexican Kitchen'. If you are a culinary professional, Mr. Bayless may be just a bit more useful. If you simply want lots of good recipes, go with Ms. Kennedy. Also, Ms. Kennedy probably has the edge when it comes to giving recipes for Mexican baking, as that is one of her special interests. And, if that is where your strongest interest lies, go for her latest book, `From My Mexican Kitchen'. On which writer is more `authentic' I am taking it on faith that both authors are incredibly faithful to the tastes and the spirit of the Mexican originals while being very considerate of their gringo audience's kitchen equipment and skills.

The one thing about which one may be disappointed in this book, based on the title, is that there is very little discussion of general regional differences. There is not even a dusty little map of Mexico and its regions. This is surprising in that, for example Penelope Casas includes a map of Spanish regions in all her major cookbooks and Diane Kochilas includes one in her excellent book on Greek cuisines. And, both authors give us recipes by region. Ms. Kennedy's omission is doubly puzzling as chef Bayless' first book, `Authentic Mexican' opens with a very good map of Mexican regions. This, of course, is only important if you are really interested in regionality, as when you plan to travel to Mexico. If all you want is recipes, this consideration is of no importance.

Following the model of her spiritual mentor, Julia Child, Ms. Kennedy's recipes are exceptionally well written. To those of us for whom this is important, note that all volumetric measurements are given in both English and metric units. And, Ms. Kennedy's admonition on careful measurement, regardless of the unit, is well taken. In spite of the fact that these are interpretations of very provincial recipes, Ms. Kennedy goes to great lengths to add warnings and suggestions regarding what can be prepared in advance, what should be served immediately, and what can be refrigerated or frozen safely, without loosing flavor or texture.

This book is not compulsively chatty, if that is something which annoys you. Many recipes have short headnotes, but not all recipes do. The overall book is organized by type of recipe, which makes it ideal for quick reference. In that regard, it is much better than Mr. Bayless PBS tie-in volumes. I went directly to the egg recipe chapter and was greeted immediately with the familiar `Huevos Rancheros', only to discover that Ms. Kennedy does anticipate Mr. Bayless a bit (and copies her Julia Child model as well) by separating the Salsa Ranchera recipe from the egg recipe with citations in the Salsa recipe for the dishes in which it is used.

I do not miss pictures in cookbooks, but if you do, go for Bayless' first book, `Authentic Mexican'. Otherwise, if you simply need Mexican recipes, pick this book first, especially as Ms. Kennedy is a better and more engaging writer than chef Bayless in his first book. My only real regret with this book is that there is no `analytical' listing of recipes by Mexican region. Otherwise, this is a real classic!

I'm the biggest Diana Kennedy fan ever. I wouldn't be without her earlier books except MY MEXICO, which is good but for me not essential. This is a compilation and some things are cut, some are added and some recipes refer to the earlier books that this one volume is supposed to replace. An example is tamales. Her earlier books have pages of instructions and theories in addition to stories. Here, we get the same story but then are referred to CUISINES OF MEXICO for detailed instructions for tamale masa. CUISINES has overly-pedantic recipes in the style of MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING so the update in style is welcome, but I wouldn't dream of not having the complete versions of the earlier books. Personally, I think her editor needs to be spanked.

This is the first book written by Diana Kennedy that I read, so I don't know how it compares with her previous books. I can say, however, that this is one of the most complete books on Mexican cuisine that I have found. I also like the fact that all of the recipes are as authentic as can be. My only dissapointment is that some recipes call for hard to get ingredients and are very labor intensive, but this is not Ms. Kennedy's fault, that is just the way aunthentic Mexican food is. Even if you don't prepare any of the recipes the book is highly enjoyable.

This is a wonderful cookbook with authentic Mexican recipes. Diana Kennedy has spent many years in Mexico and her knowledge of Mexican food reminds me of an anthropologist. Its very detailed and well documented. Most of the recipes are authentic and easy to recreate. Others (a few) are more difficult to recreate in an American kitchen but are wonderful to read in order to get an idea of the variety and richness of the food found in Mexico.

Some of the recipes are old and need to be updated (For example, ou can no longer find a bread called "Pambazo" in Mexico City--some of her terms are from the 50's)

I do notice that the anecdotes and introductions to the recipes show how much Diana Kennedy loves Mexican food but dislikes Mexican peasants, maids and servants. She gives credit to middle class and upper class Mexican cooks who give her recipes for this book but she in turn gives little credit or approval to recipes given to her by maids, peasants and Indian people. If she does give credit to a recipe given to her by a maid or a cook she only gives a first name or credits "the maids" that came with her rented house. Its a little offensive and gives you the impression that she loves the food but not the people who eat it.

This is a true shame because many of the best cooking is done by regular home cooks and poor people. This book would probably be better if she "lowered" herself to talk to Indian and peasant cooks and then treated them on equal footing as the wealthy and middle-class "Senoras" who give her most of her recipes.

If you can overlook the attitude toward the people its a worthwile book.

This is a re-issue of Kennedy's first two cook books, and they were getting hard to find. We bought this book for a friend who had just returned from Mexico, and wanted to try the cooking. It was an unqualified sucess. She started the first week she owned it, and by the second week, was hosting a Mexican dinner party. She found the instructions easy to follow and the ingrediants easy to come by. (San Francisco) There are other very good Mexican cookbooks and we own some, but we have ALL of Kennedys. It is hard to imagine a better book to start on.

Being Mexicana, I can attest to the fact that these are truly authentic and traditional recipes. I have tried many and can say, in all honesty, I have never been disappointed! You cannot go wrong if you follow Ms. Kennedy's instructions. To me, her books on Mexican Cuisine are akin to Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". This book should be a part of every serious cook's library.

The thing I like the most about this book is the way the recipes are organized. For example all the sauce recipes are in one chapter and that makes it very easy to find or compare different recipes. Also there is a short introduction to every recipe that really helps to understand the context of the recipe without adding the burden of having to read a huge amounts of unnecessary text.

It goes without saying that every recipe is authentic and fantastic.

I was looking for a gift for a friend that loves cooking and likes Mexican food. This book caught my attention while reading from the "look inside" option.

I am from Mexico City and I have lived in the US for 10+ years. Fortunately there are amazing cookers in my family so I can always call someone back home whenever I am unsure about a recipe, or whenever I crave for something I haven't had in a looong time and just saw in a movie. Sometimes my relatives that live near me will correct me without me having to ask them for help because they saw I was about to make the awful mistake of not boiling the tomatoes first or because I was about to use the wrong pepper... '

Even when I can translate for my friends the recipes they ask me for, sometimes I just don't know how to explain certain details to them. It is even harder when some of those friends have never been anywhere in Mexico, because they don't have any reference point to compare good from not-so-good to bad Mexican food.

What I am trying to say is that I know as a fact that it is not easy to find reliable books written in English for explaining Mexican food. And while I was reading through the selected pages in the "preview" of this book, I got a big smile on my face, and -to tell you the truth- I also felt very nostalgic. The author describes with such a good recollection of details places where I've been and food I've ate that I just started craving for all those places and foods out of sudden.

I bought the book and when it got to my house I devoured it within days. I started making bookmarks, and to highlight information I found helpful. I did not know for example that "Cazuelas ... are not suitable for an electric burner" (page 460). That explained to me why I had ruined mine 10 years ago.

Well, I like the book so much that I decided to keep it... I bought another copy for my friend (she loves it too!).

This book has given me the ability to transport to so many different places without having to leave my own kitchen at home! I am planning on buying few more copies as I can, and give them as a Christmas or birthday presents for some of my other friends that love cooking, and have a tooth for Mexican flavors. BTW, my husband (he is American) has been cooking some of the recipes in this book and he loves them! He has mentioned to me: this taste like that dish we ate when we were on so-and-so place in Oaxaca; these taste like the tacos we ate at the mercado near you mom's house!

I have referred to this book several times -- I am learning how to cook authentic mexican and this book does the job. The stories before the recipes are very interesting. The recipes also give alternates for the Mexican ingredients. I just wish it had photos of the finished recipes.