Williams-Sonoma Collection: Mexican [Hardcover]

Marilyn Tausend (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 27, 2004 | Series: Williams-Sonoma Collection

Mexico's rich and diverse culinary traditions include countless complex and vibrant dishes. In these pages, you will find recipes that capture the best of the cuisine, from mole poblano, a long-simmered blend of chiles, seeds, and spices, to bright-flavored ceviche dressed with fresh citrus juice. A chapter on desserts also tempts, whether you crave chocolate cake with chile-infused whipped cream or coffee and KahlÚa flan.

Williams-Sonoma Collection Mexican offers more than 40 recipes, including well-loved classics and many other timeless dishes. For a casual dinner, fill warm corn tortillas with tender morsels of carnitas or chunks of fresh fish lightly fried to a crisp golden brown. Or, plan a summer supper of watercress salad tossed with orange, jicama, and avocado; creamy corn and poblano chile soup; and delicate sea bass topped with salsa verde. Versatile and delicious, Mexican food is always irresistible.

Full-color photographs of each dish help you decide which one to prepare, and each recipe is accompanied by a photographic side note that highlights a key ingredient or technique, making Mexican more than just a superb collection of recipes. Including all the basics and an extensive glossary, this essential volume will help you create and enjoy many delicious Mexican meals.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; First Edition edition (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743253345
• ISBN-13: 978-0743253345
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Mexican

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Mexican Simplified (3+/4-) July 6, 2006

By Michael Twa

Format:Hardcover

I have lived many years in southern California where my tastes were influenced by everything from quick-stop hole in the wall cuisine, to first rate gourmet; from cricket tacos to walk-up taco stands near the Tijuana airport slums. I have traveled all over Mexico and the American southwest as well. If there is one thing I learned it is the wide variety of food labeled Mexican in the US. Having a step-mother of Mexican descent, I also leaned the time and effort put into authentic home-made cooking.

This book does an excellent job of simplifying many of my favorites including carnitas, enchiladas, and tortilla soup. They have some nice shortcuts that bring authentic flavors to the front in their recipes for fish tacos, and carne asada. My biggest gripe is too much emphasis on meats and not enough on vegetables.

The photos are excellent, jst as they are with the other books in this series. The cooking tips are useful for newbies, and most of the recipes stick to readily available ingredients and list suitable substitutes when needed. There is a nice geographic representation of dishes, but they do seem to concentrate on pacific/Baja Mexican cuisine. Nonetheless, there are a few dishes from elsewhere like mole poblano, pork tatemado, and duck in green pipian.

I like cookbooks for ideas. Aside from preparing the dishes I use this book as a starting point for other creative dishes and this is where I love the shortcuts and substitutions suggested. I would have given marks higher than 3+/4- if there were more vegetarian dishes and some good basics (e.g. rice, refried beans) presented with the same flair and creativity of the existing recipes.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good, but occasionally flawed March 22, 2006

By Married ...with Dinner

Format:Hardcover

It's beautiful and oddly comprehensive for such a small volume -- definitely not a must-have for anyone who knows even the basics of Mexican cooking, and I don't know if a beginner would ultimately be well served by such a slim offering.

The guacamole was good (although not drastically different than many others I have made, or even my basic "throw it all together" method), the chocolate-almond cake with ancho cream is excellent and not as odd as it sounds, but the posole verde recipe seems to have a serious flaw in the ingredients list: the author calls for 3 *pounds* of posole for a single batch, which would have been an amazingly awful mistake. (Luckily, this seemed odd to me, so I checked with other sources. Yep, more like 1/2 pound was the right amount.)

It's not a bad book, especially considering the source. But I'm finding it hard to know why anyone would buy this book, unless they were collecting all of the W-S series. Maybe for a vacation house or some other kitchen with limited space?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars No complaints!! March 18, 2006

By T. M. Guzman

Format:Hardcover

I've made several of the recipes in this book and have yet to receive a complaint from anyone. I've tried at least 6 of the recipes and have not been disappointed. The empanadas and the carnitas are my favorite things to serve, and everyone loves them! Coming from an americanized mexican household, my knowledge on cooking mexican foods has been very limited. Needless to say, many people have been impressed with my cooking lately!