Santa Fe School of Cooking: Flavors of the Southwest [Paperback]

Susan D. Curtis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2008

For over fifteen years, visitors to Santa Fe have learned that the best meal they'll have there may be one prepared by a guest chef at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. Now anyone can share in the expertise of some of this culinary hot spot's top chefs with this follow-up cookbook to the original Santa Fe School of Cooking. Here are dozens of recipes, techniques, traditions and flavors that helped define a region. Fresh ingredients, local foods and products, Native American and Mexican flavors, and the blessed green chile are the hallmarks for Santa Fe-style cooking. All original recipes, exemplifying traditional New Mexican, Spanish, and contemporary Southwest cuisine. Sidebars and features include chiles, equipment, wines of New Mexico, farmers market, techniques for nopales and tamale.

Susan Curtis, with her husband, David, founded the Santa Fe School of Cooking in 1989. She has coauthored several cookbooks, including Tacos and Salsas and Summer in Santa Fe. She has been on the board of directors of the Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta for fifteen years.

Nicole Curtis Ammerman grew up in Santa Fe and is a graduate of the University of Arizona. She handles day-to-day operations of the cooking school.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In this long-awaited follow-up to the original Santa Fe School of Cooking Cookbook, authors Susan Curtis and Nicole Curtis Ammerman share dozens of new recipes, techniques, traditions, and flavors from one of America's culinary hot spots. Fresh ingredients, local foods and products, Native American and Mexican flavors, and the blessed green chile are the hallmarks of Santa Fe-style cooking. Now anyone can share in the expertise of some of the Santa Fe area's top chefs with this new cookbook that features original recipes exemplifying traditional New Mexican, Mexican, Spanish, and contemporary Southwestern cuisine.

Flavors of the Southwest offers more than 100 recipes made easy for the home cook. The school's philosophy is that of buying fresh ingredients from farmers markets and local food artisans, using nature's bounty to create traditional recipes as well as menus for healthier eating. Bring together your own mix of Southwest flavors by following easy directions to create delicious appetizers, side dishes, soups, salads, main dishes, and desserts with a taste that's unmistakably Santa Fe.

Growing up on a cattle ranch in Idaho, Susan Curtis picked chokecherries for homemade jam, ate fresh grouse for dinner and,simultaneously, developed a love of the land and locally harvested foods. She moved to New Mexico in 1978 and founded the Santa Fe School of Cooking in 1989. More than sixteen years later, the school is thriving and has garnered acclaim in publications such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe. When not planning growth strategies for the school, Susan usually can be found cooking a family meal for husband, David, their two epicurean daughters and three grandchildren. Susan has co-authored several cookbooks, including Salsas and Tacos and, of course, the Santa Fe School of Cooking Cookbook.

Manager of the Santa Fe School of Cooking, Nicole Curtis Ammerman grew up in Santa Fe hiking the red lands and green mountains of New Mexico and making dinner for the whole family by the time she was ten years old. A graduate of the University of Arizona, Nicole briefly managed a retail clothing store before returning to her hometown in 1993 to oversee the school's day-to-day operations. Nicole and her husband, Mike, have a two-year-old daughter who loves to tag along on hiking excursions and takes great pride decorating homemade pizza with peppers and olives.

From the Back Cover

Learn the subtle difference between an aji amarillo chile and a cascabel pod- Master the flavors of the real southwest!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith (June 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423604709
• ISBN-13: 978-1423604709
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An exciting Santa Fe institution for the foodie, November 11, 2008

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Santa Fe School of Cooking: Flavors of the Southwest (Paperback)

The Santa Fe Cooking School is located just a couple of blocks from the Plaza, and offers a host of opportunities for anyone looking for information on Southwestern cooking. It's well worth checking out the home page of the school listed in the first Comment to this Review.

Santa Fe Cooking School Flavors of the Southwest by Susan D. Curtis, owner of the school, is the second "official" cookbook for the school; the first is The Santa Fe School of Cooking Cookbook.

The first book is a good introduction to the school and its approach, but the second is clearly a better book. There are dozens of new recipes, techniques, traditions and flavors with more of a focus on fresh ingredients, local foods and products, Native American, Mexican, and Spanish flavors. The photographs by Eric Swanson are especially good and add to the value of the book. And, frankly, Curtis has become a better teacher; the recipes seemed clearer and more friendly to this intermediate cook.

Amazon provides a very generous selection of pages from "Southwest Flavors" so I'll not provide a sample recipe. Instead, the following list of recommended Santa Fe oriented cook books was provided by an excellent cook who has spent ten years cooking and eating in Santa Fe. She warns that the quality of the books varies, but "I like to get books and compare their versions of standbys like green chile stew or enchiladas or posole. So it might seem like I have a lot of these, but I use them all at various times for various dishes."

Cafe Pasqual's Cookbook: Spirited Recipes from Santa Fe by Katharine Kagel.

Cooking With Cafe Pasqual's: Recipes From Santa Fe's Renowned Corner Cafe by Katharine Kagel.

The Food of Santa Fe: Authentic Recipes from the American Southwest by Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach.

Coyote Cafe by Mark Miller.

Harry's Roadhouse Cookbook by Harry Shapiro.

The Red Chile Bible: Southwestern Classic & Gourmet Recipes by Kathleen Hansel and Audrey Jenkins.

Green Chile Bible: Award-Winning New Mexico Recipes from readers of the "Albuquerque Tribune." [According to my friend, "This one is really hit and miss as it's a compilation of submitted recipes by everyday people. Some things just seem odd. But then again, they are mostly the way the majority of people here eat."]

The Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook: The Traditional Cooking of New Mexico by Cheryl and Bill Jamison.

I've signed up for a short course at the school, and have been practicing several of the recipes in anticipation of getting professional guidance. I've also put together a collection of these books. It will be great fun to learn about the ins and outs of Santa Fe cooking.

Robert C. Ross 2008

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Santa Fe School of Cooking, February 28, 2010

By 

Jerry M. Foster (Elephant Butte, New Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Santa Fe School of Cooking: Flavors of the Southwest (Paperback)

This book has great recipes and great photos. I'd love to go to the school to further educate my southwestern cooking skills.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm from New Mexico, August 4, 2011

By 

L. Cork "Mother of Four." (Albuquerque, NM.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Santa Fe School of Cooking: Flavors of the Southwest (Paperback)

The only advice I have for New Mexican cooking is:

Make it spicier and serve it with beans, rice, and a garnish of lettuce and tomatoes.