1 comments about Tortilla Lovers Cook Book.

1. We bought this as a gift. And from what we have tasted it has come in very very handy. All the recipes are easy to follow and very descriptive. If you really don't know much about tortillas or if you are an expert, this book could give you a little helping hand. A great buy! Give it as a gift today.

5 comments about Vegetarian Times Low-Fat & Fast Mexican.

1. I disgree with the reviewer from NYC. I've been cooking out of this book for a couple of months now and find the recipes easy and very tasty. Even my 17-year-old stepson really likes them. I've prepared Calabacita Vegetable Burritos, Eggplant and Red Bean Chilaquiles, Tamale Bean Pie, Portobello Burritos with Spinach and Goat Cheese, and Baked Tempeh Chilaquiles. OK, so they all don't take less than 30 minutes to prepare. I guess that's because I choose to chop, slice, and dice the veggies myself rather than use a food processor. I'm happy if dinner is on the table an hour after I get home from work

   The other books in this series are also good--Low Fast and Fat and Low Fast and Fat Pasta. I also got the Low Fat and Fast Asian, which is a disappointment because it has so many weird ingredients that you can't pick up at the grocery store.

   But try the Low Fat and Fast Mexican--you'll like it!




2. This is terrific cookbook! After reading the reviews below I had mixed fellings about spending the money on this book, but I am glad I did! Our family has tried numerous recipes from the cookbook and each one has been excellent. The ingredients and measurements are right on the mark and each dish leaves you wanting more. The Calabacita Vegetable Burritos, Mexican Rice and Peas, Vegetable and Brown Rice Burritos, and Risotto Burrito with Sweet Potato were excellent. Even my husband asked for seconds which is saying at lot! Try this book...you will enjoy it!



3. Definitely helped me get started on a few basic ones. Some salsa tips are great. I had a hard time finding some of the ingredients though. All said and done, it's a good value for money.



4. The back cover of the book lists several titles of sample recipes, such as the Pumpkin-Rum Rice Pudding. So I looked up the recipe in the cookbook. Although the side note on page 149 writes, "Canned pumpkin brings a taste of autumn to this savory rice pudding treat," there is no pumpkin in the list of ingredients! and it is not mentioned in the recipe steps either! This is poor editing of a cookbook and makes me wonder whether other recipes in the cookbook have the complete list of ingredients and right amounts... Also, if you are used to GOOD authentic Mexican food, the recipes won't satisfy your cravings.



5. This cookbook has some interesting recipes which are not particularly hard to make (like all vegetarian recipes, tends to use lots of ingredients). My main complaint is that it's not particularly authentic and is more an Americanized-vegetarian version of Mexican. If you want authentic, I think you need to keep looking.

5 comments about The cuisines of Mexico.

1. We've had this book for years and have enjoyed most recipes - there was one lackluster soup we tried. The duck mole is so amazing and easy!! We even tried it with watercress in place of radish leaves and used leftover cornmeal & ground walnuts (used to coat our souffle pans) in addition to the pumkin seeds she calls for - excellent! We finally mastered her Mexican rice - you really do need to put the cloth on it at the end - but so delicious!!! The turkey mole makes for a great change for Thanksgiving!



2. This is actually the second authentice Mexican cuisine cookbook that I have purchased. The recipes are very authentic (from what my Mexican friends have told me) and I can tell you from personal knowledge that the recipes are delicious. Among my favorites are the frijoles recipes and duck mole. I would consider this book a must have for any kitchen that serves or seeks to serve authentic Mexican food.



3. Several factors have conspired to keep most North Americans
   and Europeans from grasping the wonder and complexity of
   Mexican food.
   First, there's the smoke screen created by greasy-spoon and
   fast-food imitations. It's hard to imagine great tastes when
   you've just gobbled down a two-buck taco that smells a bit
   funny. In fact, it's hard to find real examples of wonderful
   Mexican food outside of that country.
   Then there's the question of fashion: in the first
   world we are eating a slimmer and healthier cuisine these
   days and a lot of Mexican dishes with their high saturated
   fat and sodium, seem to be the opposite of that.
   There's also the problem of hard-to-find ingredients and the
   taste of cornmeal which is problematic for those of us
   raised on wheat-breads and pasta.
   
   So Diana Kennedy's The Cuisines of Mexico is both a cook-
   book and a revelation. Just the acknowledgement that there
   are more than one Mexican cuisine will be a surprise for many.
   Her discussion of the ingredients and procedures of those
   cuisines will be a revelation to even most sophisticated
   cooks. This discussion comprises the first of three parts of
   the book and as a prod to the imagination, is worth the price
   of the book. Kennedy's view of kitchen equipment is Mexico-
   centric and one could imagine an update that included more
   on food processors, blenders and pressure cookers.
   Then the recipes begin. Contrary to the title's promise, they
   are not organized geographically, but rather by food type. Some
   of these recipes are breathtaking. Two moles, the poblano and
   the green mole with duck will probably change the way you
   think about stews forever.
   The recipes for beans could keep you entertained for a month.
   Frijoles colados y refritos a la Yucateca can be modified to
   make an almost-instant treat that's remarkably healthy. (see
   the Amazon.com site for Beano )
   You should also take some time to learn from Buñuelos (fritters)
   and the remarkable Budins-puddings that unite vegetables and
   cheese.
   This book is the perfect gift for any imaginative cook.
   
   --Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
   the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN
   9781601640005



4. Diana Kennedy's The Cuisines of Mexico is a fabulous book for those who are interested in making the best tasting Mexican food you have ever had. Not only are the recipes fantastic, but she also includes detailed explanations of ingredients and a pronunciation guide. This book is worth every penny just for part one, which is the ingredients and procedures. You will learn everything you need to know in order to cook truly authentic and fantastic Mexican food.
   
   While Diana Kennedy does offer a source list for ingredients, I would like to add that the online store Mesa Mexican Foods offers many of the authentic Mexican ingredients needed to make Diana's great dishes.



5. I am currently on my second copy of this book. Someone 'borrowed' my first copy and never returned it--if you have a copy with recipes for scampi, minestrone, and dolmas handwritten on the back pages, please email them to me! And do try them, they are wonderful.
   
   For many years, it was difficult (if not impossible) to find a really good Mexican food cookbook that contained truly authentic recipes. I'd seen books that purported to offer recipes for 'Mexican' foods, only to discover that they just weren't quite right--example: one had a recipe a for a batter, claiming that flour tortillas are 'Mexican crepes'! When I originally discovered the tome, The Cuisines of Mexico, on the bookshelf of a friend, I became entranced.
   
   Not only did the author of this book go to great lengths and difficulties to research authentic recipes and methods, but she also painstakingly tested and recorded her observations. Something I've noticed over the years is that recipes, like language, often drift from their origins until it is nearly impossible to discern how they used to be made. With this book, you get the best of all worlds--both original recipes/methods, as well as adaptations and suggestions/room for modernizing recipes and techniques.
   
   After reading about how a simple dish of Mexican rice cooked over an open fire tasted and smelled to Ms. Kennedy, I adapted a recipe using fresh (homegrown) tomatoes and peppers--roasted on the barbeque using mesquite chips to give them that nice smoky flavor she found so wonderful--that I cook in my rice cooker. All of my friends (many of which are of Mexican descent) say it is 'the best.' At our town barbeques, it is invariably the first thing gone--and I have a really big rice cooker. Thank you, Ms Kennedy.
   
   All hail Diana!

5 comments about Seasons of My Heart: A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico.

1. I just want to concur with the other reviews and add that Susana Trilling is a brilliant chef, period -- in Mexican cooking or otherwise. I don't understand it, but she really knows how to balance flavors in a way that is unique, compared to similar recipes I've followed. What makes one chef good and another great? I don't know - but she's got it, whatever it is!



2. These tamales were delicious with lots of chili-laden pork wrapped with a specially coarse ground masa mixture and wrapped with banana leaves and finally wrapped in Al foil and steamed. While not done in the same mole variation as Trilling shows on p261, they were called the same on the menu board. They had a homemade creamy red salsa available on request too. I've had these cheap, savory, and filling lunches a few times, and taken them home and reheating them in a microwave for a nice snack.
   
   This is a wonderfully illustrated cookbook has many black & white pix of people & illustrations and also 16 pages of color plates of people and food. While this unusually organized cookbook is separated into microclimates of Oaxaca, a small state south of Mexico City, I found the chap 7 on Tuxtepec as having the most savory sounding recipes.

   Be aware that this cookbook is quite vegetarian and fish oriented, for example, in chap 6 for the mountainous region of the state, there were 16 recipes with only one with meat. There were no menudo recipes or any recipes with variety meats, such as calves' foot, tongue, and tripe in the entire book.

   I found her book at a local library along with Diane Kennedy and Rick Bayless. Kennedy's classic Cuisines cookbook was my first introduction in Mexican cooking many years ago.




3. After recently attending a cooking class by Susana Trilling, I can attest to the wonderful recipes in this book. Not only that, but Susana is a wonderful person with great knowledge of the culture.

   However impressive the recipes may be though, there is a huge problem with this book. Many of the recipes in the book call for ingredients that can't be found even in a speciality mexican store, and some are unique to Oaxaca itself. While this in itself is not a problem, Susan does not provide any help with suitable substitutions for those unique ingredients. For an advanced cook maybe this isn't a problem, but for a beginner or intermediate cook, this makes the book nearly unusable. In general, the recipes are quite involved and complex in comparison to other mexican cook books I have seen.

   I would not recommend this book to someone who is newer to cooking or does not live in an area where an ample supply of mexican cooking ingredients can be found. Perhaps Susana will make a second addition for us newbie cooks that provides us with better alternatives.




4. Some twelve years ago chef Susan Trilling said goodbye to an alive New York City catering business to follow her heart to a remote and exotic region of Mexico - Oaxaca. Today, deep in the heart of this Mexican state is Rancho Aurora, home of the Seasons of My Heart cooking school and inn.

   A companion to the well received National Public Television Series, Seasons of My Heart is a tribute to the people, culture and cuisine of this far-off area which has remained virtually untouched. "Oaxaca invites a deep appreciation of Mexican culture," the author writes. "Here time has stood still in the small village where I went to visit my husband for the first time. I was enchanted with every burro laden with corn going to the mill, every horse-drawn cart filled with alfalfa for the cows and horses......"

   A veritable armchair travelogue, this colorfully illustrated volume takes readers to a tomato lunch in the field, to harvest time by dawn, to a traditional wedding feast, and to see a primitive altar laden with dishes for religious holidays.

   Trilling wisely not only shares these treasured recipes, but offers her personal alterations and advice for successfully preparing them in American kitchens. Imagine sitting down to a platter of "Tamales De Ragas" (Chile and Tomato Tamales) with its appetizing marriage of sweet tomatoes and onions or "Empanadas De Mole Amarillo (Baked Mole Amarillo Turnovers), which are often prepared to order on charcoal grills set up outside local churches.

   Seasons Of My Heart nurtures not only bodies, but minds and imaginations as well.
   
   - Gail Cooke




5. Seasons of my Heart is the best book on Mexican recipes from Oaxaca I have ever read and owned. Living in Columbus, Ohio I have been able to find all of the ingredients required for most recipes. There are individual recipes which by themselves would make this book worthwhile owning. To name just a couple of these, the basic chicken stock recipe, the tortilla soup recipe and the three milk cake are extraordinary and easy. It is well written and the instructions are easy to follow. It is a very treasured cookbook in my collection. Anybody who enjoys great food, and in particular Mexican food should have this book.

3 comments about The Habanero Cookbook.

1. This book is great for the history of habaneros. I did not know there were so many varieties of habanero. However, there are only a few recipes I would try. My taste runs differently from those in the book.



2. For anyone who has ever eaten, grown, or even heard about the Habanero, this is the book you must get. The Habanero Cookbook contains a plethora of information on the world's "hottest" pepper from its history and growing to its safe handling and cooking. The book has dozens of fantastic recipes, altough they all seem to be of the exotic type and mysteriously they exclude the mighty buffalo wing, which make waiting for my garden to grow an excruciatingly long time. One word of advice, if you already own "The Pepper Pantry; Habanero," skip this book, it's simply a larger version of the Pepper Pantry



3. If you're a garden grower of habaneros and don't quite know what to do with your harvest this book provides some good ideas. Since the habanero is so hot not much is needed to heat up a dish, but this little book provides so many suggestions that you'll have many choices. Many of the recipes are very exotic and unless the caribbean is your usual vacation spot you may not have tried these recipes. Jerk sauces abound, as do searing soups, spicy seafood and that super bowl favorite, salsa. The recipes are worldly yet simple. Wouldn't your seafood loving guests just love a little grilled Salmon Borracho, topped with habanero-lime butter with a side of Belizean Coconut Rice? The average stocked kitchen could serve this fare without a trip to the store. This is just one example of your passport to fiery cuisine. There are so many different types of salsa recipes that the combinations will amaze you. After browsing this book you'll be ready to create your own salsa variations or follow the easy recipes provided. The glossary is basic but the mail order sources provided are valuable for those who need seeds to grow their own heat or have some habanero products delivered to their home. An addional treat is the bibliography which lists various books for further exploration. A great book for the habanero chile head.

3 comments about Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures: Recipes and Stories.

1. Mix family dynamics, personality, food, and travel, and dish up an entertaining, humorous and, yes, useful father/daughter cookbook venture. Rick, chef/owner of the Mexican restaurant, Frontero, and his daughter, Lanie, 13 (younger when they began the project), eat and cook their way from Mexico to Thailand, by way of Oklahoma, France and Morocco, with side trips to Spain, Japan and Hong Kong. The occasions are family vacations or celebrations and the cooking is done in relaxed settings with friends. Each chapter begins with essays by each of them describing the travel and food experience, from shopping and cooking to bad roads and old memories. Rick's tend to be more rhapsodic and reminiscent; Lanie's are sassy, direct, and funny. Each chapter also includes "five cool CDs" to play while cooking, like Johnny Cash for barbeque and Kahled for Moroccan food.
   
   Each attractively designed, well-organized recipe starts with a brief intro from both authors. Rick's include cultural background and cooking tips; Lanie's are conversational and opinionated. For example, Rick describes choosing exactly the right peppers and accompaniments to a tapas of Spanish Ham Salad. And Lanie says: "This tastes exactly like an Italian sub without the bread."
   
   It's a teaching book with "do this first" boxes included in each recipe and thorough step-by-step directions. Lanie (who likes steak tartare but isn't crazy about raw tomatoes) often describes the experience of cooking, the taste sensations, and her personal ratings. The dishes, from breakfast to dessert, are mostly simple classics: Huevos Rancheros; Bangkok-Style Chicken Satay; Moroccan Meatballs (cumin) in Tomato Sauce; Tartiflette (French potato and cheese supper); Hickory House (his parents' barbecue restaurant) Deviled Eggs; Pad Thai; Potato-Leek Soup with Bacon; Profiteroles; Chocolate Truffles. There are a few more complex, or at least time-consuming dishes too, like Crispy Meringue Shells with Ice Cream and Fruit Salsa (France), an Oaxacan Red Mole, and Chinese Pot Sticker Dumplings. Color photographs throughout accent the recipes, the ingredients and the people.
   
   This is a book for anyone who'd like to cook with their kid (Lanie has cooked all of these recipes) or enjoys a wide variety of thoughtful classic recipes, or just likes to laugh while reading about food, families and travel.



2. `Rick & Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures' by Rick Bayless and his daughter is the third kids oriented cookbook I have reviewed and I am very pleased that I gave the earlier two books by Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray only four stars, as this volume by Bayless and daughter has really shown us how such a book should be done.
   
   To be sure, Bayless and daughter have done the book where the child is a mid-teenaged daughter who has been around the cooking all her life of a world-class teaching chef. Therefore, the book does not address all the important safety issues involved when you put kids into the most dangerous room in the house. But, this is definitely a book with which a cooking minded teenager could connect. That is, if the kid is a good reader, this is the book you want to give them.
   
   The book is made doubly interesting in that the Bayless family are great travelers and have a long and interesting history of family in the food service industry. This sets up one of the two main themes of the book by setting each chapter in a different location around the world, some of which are very familiar to the Bayless clan and some of which are being seen for the first time.
   
   The five venues are a combination of the obvious and the unexpected. The first is (big surprise) a trip to the southern highlands of Mexico and the Oaxaca valley which is one of Bayless' favorite parts of his favorite country. This chapter is spiced up by a side trip to Peru and an essay in ceviche recipes. The second location, small town Oklahoma may be a big surprise to most of us until Bayless tells us the story of his parents who ran a very successful barbecue restaurant in Capitol Hill, Oklahoma. The highlight of this chapter is Bayless' attempt to write out his parents' recipes from the `Hickory House' restaurant with very mixed results when his family gathered together to make the recipes from paper rather than from memory. The third destination is France, almost as predictable as the trip to Mexico. This chapter is spiced up with culinary side trips to Italy and Ireland. The fourth venue, Morocco and southern Spain is not to surprising to foodies, as the Moroccan cuisine is one of the most distinctive centers of Mediterranean cuisine next to Italy and Provence, especially after the attention paid to it by Paula Wolfert's books. The fifth venue, Thailand, with side trips to Japan and Hong Kong are only a surprise in that Thai cuisine is about as different from Mexico as you can get. There is not even the distant connection in play between Japan and the West Coast of Latin America that fertilized the development of ceviche.
   
   The main format of each chapter is that Rick introduces each locale with a relatively long narrative of why this venue was chosen and the family's general reaction to both the familiar and the unfamiliar. This is followed by a similarly long take on the same location and events by Lanie. And, Lanie provides a very clear counterpoint to her father's take on things. She clearly did not show the same enthusiasm for raw fish and goat barbacoa, a classic dish of southern Mexico. Both speakers do a great favor to the reader in picturing all the ups AND downs of their travels. One of the most surprising events was the failure of a world class chef and his food experienced family to recreate his parents' recipes from Bayless interpretations of these dishes. On the other hand, one of the most gratifying experiences is when Lanie makes a very difficult mole with no help from dad, and the result is very successful.
   
   Each recipe is also presented with a headnote from Rick, followed by Lanie's take on the same recipe. An important aspect of all these recipes is that, on the one hand, none of the recipes are simplified for the adolescent amateur. On the other hand, the recipes are not pictured as the very best exemplar of the dish. The `Hickory House' cole slaw recipes are a perfect case in point. The recipes are not important because they are the greatest cole slaw recipes around, they are important to a family which produced a great chef who writes about them as part of his legacy. Therefore, this is a cookbook that is meant as much or more for reading as for cooking. But that doesn't mean the recipes here are not worth your effort.
   
   There are a lot of recipes for classic comfort food here. In addition to the cole slaws, there are great recipes for biscuits, chocolate cake, guacamole, pasta with both marinara sauce and pasta with a pesto sauce, crepes, truffles, gazpacho, paella, potstickers, poached salmon, and potato leek soup.
   
   This is by far my first choice for a first cookbook to be given to a teenager or near teenager with an interest and a talent for cooking. Bayless and clan are far more successful in conveying a passion for cooking than most of the cute moves by other writers. I think Lagasse and Ray are just a little less successful in that they are writing with a voice for very young readers, except that this material will be interpreted by adults for the youngsters. Thus, the material will not hold the adult's interest long enough to involve the kids. Ray and Lagasse have done good books, but Bayless has done something better.
   
   Highly recommended for all foodies, teenage and above.



3. How many kids get to grow up, travel and publish a cookbook? We the purchasers get to enjoy this achievement.
   
   Famous Mexican chef Rick Bayless teams up with his teenage daughter Lanie to provide a 230 page beauty filled with their trips to Peru, Oklahoma, Mexico, Morocco, Thailand and France. In each destination they each relate their highlights and lowlights of the trip. Lanie's are so cool, e.g. "Eating in Peru basically means eating potatoes ... my dad bought two of EACH One, 'Research,' he kinda barked at me--I mean all I did was ask politely WHAT he was doing. He didn't even seem to care that it took an hour."
   
   This is getting some great cooking basics, plus intro to this family's favorite recipes, and exposure to other culture's culinary creations. Both Rick and Lanie comment on each, so you get both perspectives: gourmet chef and teenage daughter. There are sidebars which provide great tips and even suggests for CD listening as well as what to buy when in a Mexican grocery, how to grow three popular herbs indoors. Great, unique, well thought out fun stuff to read and cook with. There is also a limited mail-order source listing for ingredients, music and cooking supplies.
   
   Some great recipes which most family will dig into include: Lime Zest Ice Cream with Mexican Caramel; Vegetarian [or not] Soft Tacos with Guacamole; The World's Greatest Chili; Grilled Pizza with Goat Cheese, Green Salsa and Bacon; Chinese Potsticker Dumplings; Moroccan Meatballs in Tomato Sauce.
   
   All this done beautifully with prose and great photos and layout. Fine addition to one's own collection and/or for giving.

4 comments about Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert: Norteño Cooking of South Texas.

1. Of of the few, rare, authentic looks at some exceptionally wonderful food. The book is beautiful, and enhances the feel for understanding the landscape and people that authentic south Texas ranch cooking comes from. Thank God Melissa is secure enough in tradition that she did not feel the need to throw Mangos in everything to prove she was a creative chef. I have pet goats that were adopted as orphans, and they are very sweet and loving, so I no longer eat Cabrito, but have had it enough in the past to appreciate the recipes.



2. I am a beginning cook that moved from South Texas and love this book! Now I can make all of my favorites in my own kitchen far from home. The background Melissa gives is so interesting and it makes you feel like she is in the kitchen with you almost!



3. Great cookbook for those that are looking for TRUE South Texas-Northern Mexico cuisine. It is beautifully written and a cookbook you will keep in your library forever.



4. With so many cookbooks, the layout can really turn me off of a book. The first thing that struck me when I flipped open to a random page how it drew me in. Most recipes include a bit of the author's personal history with the dish and many introduce with the "old way" of making the dish as well as present a new way that is less labor intensive. Often she will follow up with a recipe for those who want to try the traditional method.
   
   A very thorough book that explores local ingredients, explains when they were served, what you might find in your supermarket and then clearly describes how to prepare the dish.
   
   I'm a recent transplant to Texas and have had my eyes opened to Mexican and Tex-Mex food. This book introduces Norteno cuisine that is found in many traditional border homes. I couldn't wait to try my hand at these recipes.
   
   Also, if you're someone who likes to read cookbooks for enjoyment, you'll love this one.

1 comments about Cooking The Central American Way: Culturally Authentic Foods, Including Low-Fat And Vegetatian Recipes (Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks).

1. My husband and i have visited Costa Rica and couple of times and have actually purchased property there for retirement. The kind people, flora fauna and, of course, the fresh foods are magical for us.
   
   This little book has helped me to get the real flavor of these countries cuisine and has definitely widened my cooking skills. Some of the receipes are a little overwhelming, but not actually that difficult once you get into it and have the ingredients. This is the reason for 4 instead of 5 star rating.
   
   The plantains, bean soup and seviche camarones (although i used a variety of white fish) are all time favorites around our house. Get ready for lot's of compliments!

5 comments about My Mexico: A Culinary Odyssey with More Than 300 Recipes.

1. `My Mexico' by leading authority on Mexican food, Diana Kennedy is her eighth book, seven of which are on Mexican cuisine. This easily puts her in the forefront of writers on national cuisines, along with Julia Child, Penelope Casas, Marcella Hazan, and Diane Kochilas. It even puts her ahead of the very well known writer, educator, and Chicago restaurateur, Rick Bayless, who has paltry four books on Mexican food to his credit.
   
   I have reviewed Ms. Kennedy's ninth book, `From My Mexican Kitchen', which I consider a real gem among treatises on the techniques of national cuisines. It goes into various techniques, especially baking, on which Ms. Kennedy is a certifiable expert, to a level of detail that one rarely sees in other books. The current book under consideration is much different from the later volume and should expect to find a much narrower audience.
   
   `My Mexico' is a personal culinary diary, with echos of a John Steinbeck `Travels With Charley' air about it. Like many other culinary surveys, it is organized by Mexican province rather than by type of dish. And, unlike Ms. Casas' excellent `Delicioso!' culinary geography of Spain, with lots of interesting summaries of characteristics of the various regions, Ms. Kennedy is purely the tourist in this book, dwelling on the specific people and places and dishes she encounters in her travels throughout Mexico.
   
   As an aside, I will add the opinion that Ms. Kennedy seems to find much ugliness in the urban development, congestion, lack of good highways, and disappearance of natural beauty in her beloved Mexico. The recitation of changes she finds distasteful make one wonder how her affection for the country survives the uncontrolled and somewhat corrupt development in Mexico. But then, she talks about the food and all seems forgiven.
   
   As someone who is not nearly as familiar with Mexico as I have come to be of Italy, France, Germany, or England, the first thing I miss is a good map. This absence is especially noisome as this is about culinary geography, regardless of how personal. The second thing I miss is a listing of recipes by type of dish. As all recipes in the text are located by region or state, many of whose names are unknown to me, a listing by primary ingredient or course in the style of most cookbooks would make this book much more valuable to the novice to Mexican food. The book does include an alphabetical listing of recipes, but since it is alphabetical by Spanish name, it doesn't do me much good. I can barely find my way around culinary Italian, let alone Spanish. My study of German does little good in the largely Latin world of culinary diversity.
   
   This is the kind of book that will be enjoyed primarily by people who already know and love Mexico. I get the picture of such readers being hobbits at Bilbo Baggins 111th birthday party with their feet up on the table and nibbling to fill in the odd, empty corners of their generous stomachs. This is the book for people who would not learn much from yet another book of familiar Mexican recipes. I would get pleasure out of a similar book on German or Austrian cuisine as I have been to many places in Germany and I believe there are not enough books concentrating on Austro-Hungarian cuisine.
   
   Ending on a positive note, I relish the discovery in this book of a culinary treatment of cuitlacoche (on page 456), the fungus that grows on corn and which I understand it is a great delicacy in Mexico. I have been familiar with this foul looking stuff for many years, but I first encountered its culinary interest on the very first Food Network `Iron Chef America' show pitting Bobby Flay against Sr. Bayless of Frontera Grill. I was really rooting for Bayless, who lost by a single point to Flay, and I was left wondering, with Alton Brown, who was the brave soul who first looked at the stuff as something good to eat. Well, Ms. Kennedy fills us in on the subject.
   
   Highly recommended for all who can't get enough of books about Mexican food. For all other, check out Ms. Kennedy's other books.



2. This is a book every lover of fine cuisine must read. It gives a whole new face to Mexican food. I loved Diana Kennedy's tales of how she came to find the various recipes, the harrowing journeys into the country to find the recipes she'd heard of, her description of the people she encountered in kitchens, over open fires, in little inns.
   
   Reading the book makes you want to explore the country, try all the different foods, and try to prepare the foods as well. You can lose yourself in the book. It is written so well that you can taste and smell every detail of Kennedy's description.
   
   This is not just a cookbook, it is a journey into a wonderful culture, and culture "junkey" that I am, I relished every word.



3. it's like going to mexico everytime you read it and the recipes are very authentic and tasty. this is my all time favorite book.



4. This is a wonderful book. Reason I give 4 stars is that it needs pictures of the recipes.
   
   Also, It would be nice to have it in Spanish as well.



5. No one has better brought Mexican cuisine into the forefront of world gastronomy, and this book assembles a privileged collection of recipes, ingredients, techniques, as well as anecdotes on their discovery and preparation. Diana Kennedy, an adventurer in her own right, is a monument to diligence, against the background of her love and appreciation for Mexico's villages, landscape and singular intricacies, which she explores at will.

2 comments about Macho Nachos: 50 Toppings, Salsas, and Spreads for Irresistible Snacks and Light Meals.

1. I'm not a great cook but I thought I knew how to make nachos. Boy, was I wrong! The recipes in this book take nachos to levels I never dreamed of. Now I can make them not just as a snack but as a full meal. Even my girlfriend wonders where I suddenly learned how to cook.

   If you want to salivate, buy this book just for the photos.




2. I own thousands of cookbooks, and this is one of the better one topic books I have run across. All the recipes are easily prepared with easy to find ingredients, and of the 10-12 I have made so far, all have been very tasty. This book will get you out of the typical beef and bean type nachos and into a new world of taste. A lot of the combinations also make excellent pizzas.