Southwest: The Beautiful Cookbook [Hardcover]

Barbara P. Fenzl (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Beautiful Cookbook | Publication Date: March 9, 1994

Southwest the Beautiful Cookbook explores a cuisine as diverse as the terrain and the people who settled there. The region's culinary originality derives from a historic union of native American, European and Mexican cultures, each contributing its own distinctive cooking traditions to produce what we know today as Southwestern fare. This cuisine is sumptuously presented in Southwest the Beautiful Cookbook with more than 200 recipes illustrated with stunning full-color photography. Noted Pheonix-based cooking teacher and food writer Barbara Pool Fenzl has gathered recipes that combine innovative techniques and dynamic food combinations with historic methods and ethnic contibutions to produce dishes as vibrant and exciting as the Southwest itself; shellfish tamales with ancho cream, quail salad with pumpkin seeds, sopiapillas and jalapeño chutney and so much more.

Complementing the recipe chapters are informative essays by noted author and Southwest enthusiast Norman Kolpas, along with glorious photography that bring this wonderful region to life on the printed page. The people, geography, and history of the area are skillfully portrayed in scenic photography and richly anecdotal text. Home to such awe-inspiring natural wonders as the Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, Mesa Verde and the Sonoran Desert, this region is a land of austere beauty, rich culture and a uniquecuisine that is very much alive in this gorgeous addition to the Beautiful Cookbook® series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fenzl, food editor of Southwest Passages , who also runs the Les Gourmettes Cooking School in Phoenix, Ariz., and Kolpas ( Pasta Menus ) add a new regional volume to the "Beautiful" series. Like the forerunners in the series, this one is scaled oversize to accommodate not only color photographs of avocado pasta and tomatillo soup, but also of the local landscapes, such as a Native American powwow and New Mexico's San Juan mountains. As such, Southwest can be read as a gastronomic travel book, filled with escapist textures and tastes. The book is organized by locale (e.g., the Rio Grande Basin gets one chapter) and by genre (desserts and beverages; soups, stews and chilis). It's both picturesque and practical: Kolpas sets the scene well for upscale-indigenous meals with his surveys of Southwest history and habits, while Fenzl offers practical and appealing recipes (especially for salsas and the like, and for appetizers). So while the book looks glamorous, it is also useful.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This series ( Provence , LJ 9/15/93; Mexico and California , both LJ 11/15/91) is perennially popular, but the titles that focus on regions rather than entire countries tend to be more satisfying. In this volume, the dozens of recipes from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Colorado represent both trendy restaurant fare and good home cooking, ranging from new-fangled Southwestern cuisine to Tex-Mex favorites to traditional Mexican dishes. The food photographs are stunning, though sometimes overly stylized; the stock pictures of landscapes and people are less interesting. For most collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Beautiful Cookbooks; 1st Ed. edition (March 9, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002553481
• ISBN-13: 978-0002553483
• Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 10.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #576,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara Pool Fenzl is the owner of Les Gourmettes Cooking School in Phoenix, Arizona, and author of three cookbooks focused on the cuisine of the Southwest. She hosted a PBS television series, Savor the Southwest, which aired in over ninety cities, and appears regularly on local television in Phoenix. In addition to her classes in Phoenix, Barbara teaches at La Combe en Périgord in southern France, Rancho La Puerta in Mexico, and the Spa at Lake Austin in Texas.

Barbara is a past president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, was a member of the James Beard Restaurant Awards Committee for ten years, and still serves as a Beard Awards judge from the Southwest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Cookbook, January 15, 2000

By 

N. David Guarneri (Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Southwest: The Beautiful Cookbook (Hardcover)

This was my first cookbook, and I loved it. I usually eat on the go, and I wanted to buy something for special occasions. Most cookbooks I saw seemed to be aimed at housewives or low-fat faddish consumers. When I saw this book, the huge pictures and great presentations convinced me to take it home, but the fun began when I began to use it. The glossary of ingredients at the end was very helpful for a beginner like me. I did my own variation of the Guacamole recipe and combined it with my own variation of the green salsa recipe for an office pot-luck. (I am a musician, I can't help but tinker with things). I even used the molcajete. (I think the variety of fresh vegetables combined with the non-blender approach really did it here). I never heard the end from everybody on how they loved the guacamole. (It was gone in about 10 minutes even though I made quite a bit). I also tried dishes I never had before, such as the jicama salad. That was great. Also, the smoked salmon enchiladas were awesome. I tried the chimichangas, but I think that was a little advanced for my level (especially since I tried to use tamale flour mix)....they did not hold together very well, although they were still delicious. I did better than most restaurants, and I've been to quite a few good ones. Too bad this book is out of print, and no, don't e-mail me 'cause I aint' selling it to ya.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only five stars?!!!, December 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Southwest: The Beautiful Cookbook (Hardcover)

This is one of the best cookbooks I've ever had the pleasure to work with. (The Whole series for that matter) If you get the chance, definitely try the chocolate ancho pie and the Navajo Tacos.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great cookbook and a lovely book!, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Southwest: The Beautiful Cookbook (Hardcover)

If I had to pick a single, favorite cookbook, this is it. "The Beautiful" series all have nice pictures, but this one really stands out due to it's superb collection of recipes: a great mixture of 4-star restaurant entrees, simple-and-healthy, and more basic, stick-to-your-ribs fare. This is the first book I turn to for knock-out appetizers, and the tortilla soup recipe is a favorite.