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

Rick Bayless (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 21, 1996

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, he unerringly finds his way into the very soul of Mexican cuisine, from essential recipes and explorations of Mexico's many chiles to quick-to-prepare everyday dishes and pull-out-the-stops celebration fare.

Bayless begins the journey by introducing us to the building blocks of Mexican cooking. With infectious enthusiasm and an entertaining voice, he outlines 16 essential preparations-deeply flavored tomato sauces and tangy tomatillo salsas, rich chile pastes and indispensable handmade tortillas.

Fascinating cultural background and practical cooking tips help readers to understand these preparations and make them their own. Each recipe explains which steps can be completed in advance to make final preparation easier, and each provides a list of the dishes in later chapters that are built around these basics. And with each essential recipe, Bayless includes several "Simple Ideas from My American Home"-quick, familiar recipes with innovative Mexican accents, such as Baked Ham with Yucatecan Flavors, Spicy Chicken Salad, Ancho-Broiled Salmon and Very, Very Good Chili.

Throughout, the intrepid Bayless brings chiles into focus, revealing that Mexican cooks use these pods for flavor, richness, color and, yes, sometimes for heat. He details the simple techniques for getting the best out of every chile-from the rich, smoky chipotle to the incendiary but fruity habanero.

Then, in more than 135 recipes that follow, Bayless guides us through a wide range of richly flavored regional Mexican dishes, combining down-home appeal and convivial informality with simple culinary elegance. It's all here: starters like Classic Seviche Tostadas or Chorizo-Stuffed Ancho Chiles; soups like Slow-Simmered Fava Bean Soup or Rustic Ranch-Style Soup; casual tortilla-based preparations like Achiote-Roasted Pork Tacos or Street-Style Red Chile Enchiladas; vegetable delights like Smoky Braised Mexican Pumpkin, or Green Poblano Rice; even a whole chapter on classic fiesta food (from Oaxacan Black Mole with Braised Chicken, Smoky Peanut Mole with Grilled Quail and Great Big Tamal Roll with Chard with the incomparable Juchitan-Style Black Bean Tamales); and ending with a selection of luscious desserts like Modern Mexican Chocolate Flan with KahIua and Yucatecan-Style Fresh Coconut Pie. To quickly expand your Mexican repertoire even further, each of these recipes is accompanied by suggestions for variations and improvisations.

There is no greater authority on Mexican cooking than Rick Bayless, and no one can teach it better. In his skillful hands, the wonderful flavors of Mexico will enter your kitchen and your daily cooking routine without losing any of their depth or timeless appeal.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Not since his first book, Authentic Mexican, has there been such an accessible opportunity to learn about real Mexican cooking. Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen offers translations of authentic Mexican dishes that preserve their authenticity. The book opens with 14 salsas, sauces, and seasonings that Bayless calls "cornerstones of Mexican dishes." Other than some chile peppers essential to certain dishes, most ingredients are found in any supermarket. For any less common ingredients, a mail-order source or an easy substitution is provided. This brilliant book is engaging, informative, and inspiring.

From Publishers Weekly

This definitive collection from Chicago chef and James Beard Award winner Bayless, in collaboration with his wife (and fellow restaurateur) and food journalist Brownson, proves comprehensively that the best Mexican food requires?and amply rewards?dedication and, often, time. Bayless begins with 15 Essential Recipes for salsas and sauces that work as "building blocks." Substitutions are suggested for uncommon ingredients, and excellent descriptions identify fresh and dried peppers. Throughout the text, sidebars inform about such items as tortilla presses, cactus paddles, pumpkin seeds and the delicacy huitlacoche (black corn fungus). Bayless explains fat's importance in the Mexican diet and tells how to make good lard at home. The chapter on salads includes two versions of guacamole, one given a fresh twist with roasted tomatillos; the chapter on soups offers Chilied Tortilla Soup with Shredded Chard and Oaxacan Black Bean Soup. An array of authentic Mexican fare is explored in "Tacos, Enchiladas and Other Casual Fare" (Simple Red Mole Enchiladas with Shredded Chicken) and "Vegetable, Bean, Rice and Egg Dishes" (e.g, Green Poblano Rice). "Fiesta Food" includes recipes for moles and tamales. Gringo cooks can relax with simpler main dishes?Red Chile-Braised Chicken wreathed in ancho and garlic sauce, smoky Chipotle Shrimp or zesty Chile-Glazed Country Ribs. Desserts are as delectable as Modern Mexican Chocolate Flan and as unusual as Crunchy Amaranth Tart and Creamy Lime Pie. Mail-order sources and a bibliography are included. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (October 21, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684800063
• ISBN-13: 978-0684800066
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 1.5 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Mexican

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 99 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully authentic and accurate. December 21, 1999

By Luis Benavides

Format:Hardcover

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.

96 of 98 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Master of Mexican Cuisine Does Staples and more! July 8, 2005

By B. Marold HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

`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, there are terrific sidebars on ingredients and methods. This is the first place I have read that there is an important difference in taste between the yellow and the white onion, and that the white onion is preferred for Mexican dishes, unless otherwise specified. Senor Bayless also makes it clear that the Habanero and the Scotch Bonnet are two different plants, and identifies those features that distinguish one from the other. Note that the level of heat is NOT one of the things that separate the two fruits.

The remainder of the recipes fall into all the usual categories, with a few Mexican specialities. These are:

Salads and Other Starters

Light and Hearty Soups

Tacos, Enchiladas, and other Casual Fare

Vegetable, Bean, Rice, and Egg Dishes

Classic Fiesta Food

Main Dishes

Desserts

Wine and Margaritas

As egg dishes are one of my favorite criteria for judging a cookbook, I looked at these more carefully than the others and found more than just your usual omelets, scrambles, and fried eggs with Mexican sauces and Fritos. Mr. Bayless' version of Huevos a la Oaxaquena gives us an egg cooking method which I have not seen in any French cookbook, although the result is not too different from scrambled eggs cooked hard rather than the French preferred moist result.

One section that caught my eye was the recipes for moles (in Classic Fiesta Food). The first two recipes required 28 and 27 different ingredients respectively and the procedures for both took three pages of text. Fortunately, aside from the stock, none of the ingredients required a lot of additional preparation, but, I can easily see why moles are relegated to recipes for special occasions.

I wish I could say that Mr. Bayless' books, especially this award winning volume, were the best sources for Mexican recipes, but he has strong competition from Ms. Diana Kennedy. I have reviewed several of her books, and I suspect that if you simply want good Mexican recipes, Ms. Kennedy may have the edge, but go with Mr. Bayless if you have an interest in what it is that makes the Mexican cuisine tick.

You may have noticed Mr. Bayless little trade paperback on Salsas, which have a strong resemblance to some of the material in this book. Some reviewers believe the salsa book is lifted from this volume. This is not true. The approach is the same in both books, but the names of the salsa recipes in the two books do not exactly coincide. And, the salsa book has the added feature of giving the same recipe in several different sizes, which is simply great for entertaining and a real Mexican food junkie.

This may be the best of Mr. Bayless books to get first. His writing is better than in `Authentic Mexican' and he covers more dishes than in `One Dish at a Time'.

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente! November 19, 2004

By J. Marquez

Format:Hardcover

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.,