Preferred Mexican Cookbooks

[lindag]

A friend has asked me if I could recommend her a good Mexican cookbook.  I don't own any but I told her I would inquire about.

Got any that you quite like?

[Darienne]

I own one of the cookbooks put out by Rick Bayless and one by Diana Kennedy....but my long term go-to cookbook is Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, 1967.  I've owned the paperback since 1967, which predates my interest in cooking by a few decades.   

[billyhill]

3 Rick Bayless, 2 Diana Kennedy. Have had success from all of them but walk away feeling somewhere there something better.

[gulfporter]

Agree with Bayless and Kennedy.  Kennedy more traditional; Bayless will sometimes update recipes a bit.  Equally good. 

[weinoo]

I have the full line of Bayless/Kennedy books and they're certainly fine.

 

These 2 are also (the one on the right is from 1965, the one on the left, mid 80s)...

 

 

This one is quite a bit newer (2015)...

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by weinoo (log)

[AAQuesada]

Any of these!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Agree with and own books from Kennedy, Bayless, Lambert-Ortiz.   But when I'm looking for a fast and simple recipe, I grab either Ortho or, gasp, Betty Crocker enhanced paperbacks.    Basic and on target flavors without stress or time consuming shopping or prep.

 

[rotuts]

@Margaret Pilgrim 

 

there is also loss of stuff

 

from Sunset Magazine

 

the Mag  and many of their slimLine Books.

Edited October 16, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Here's a shelfie from my Mexican collection.  I have more on Kindle. 

If I were going to recommend a single Mexican cookbook to learn from, I think it would be Roberto Santibañez's Truly Mexican.  It's co-authored by JJ Goode (@jogoode, when he was posting here) who's written books with a number of chefs and seems to deliver solid recipes while maintaining the voices of his chef co-authors.  It's from 2011, so not a brand new title, but has held up well.  Excellent introduction with tables of fresh and dried chiles and descriptions of other ingredients.   Recipes are clearly written and easy to follow with helpful header and side notes.  It doesn't have photos of everything but quite a few.  I often use his recipes as a sense-check when I'm cooking from another book.  I believe it's still in print but used copies are also readily available for a modest price.

 

Others that I like, in no particular order. 

The older Diana Kennedy books are classics, but like most older cookbooks, they don't have much in the way of photos. My Mexico just has an inset of ~ 5 or so pages, mostly capturing scenes from the country, plants, people cooking or selling food. One can learn a lot from her books but they don't really draw me in and make me want to cook.

Her Oaxaca al Gusto is lavishly illustrated, though most show ingredients rather than dishes.  It's a beautiful coffee-table gift book but not great for cooking.  Lots of very specific Oaxacan ingredients that are difficult to source. The index is by region only, not by recipe name or ingredients, making it challenging to find a recipe, even when you know what you're looking for. 

The Bayless books are very accessible and the recipes are reliable.  More Mexican Everyday starts out with 3 or 4 basic sauces that you can use throughout the book.  No deep dive into unusual regional cuisines but very easy to cook from.  I believe we have "Cooking from..." topics on a few of them.  He has lots of YouTube videos your friend could check out. 

Mi Cocina is the newest in that collection and Rick Martinez writes it with the zeal of a born-again Mexican.  He grew up in Texas, eating mostly American-ized food and wrote this book after taking a deep dive into Mexican cuisines during a 1 year trip around the country.  It gives a nice sampling of regional cooking without being overly exhaustive about it. He also has a lot of YouTube videos available.  

As the title says, My Sweet Mexico is a book about sweets and could be good if your friend is a dessert fiend.  Candies, pastries, breads, beverages, ice creams, paletas, etc. It's by Fany Gerson, who also wrote Paletas, a great little cookbook on Mexican popsicles and ices. 

Nopalito is one of my absolute favorites.  Author and chef Gonzalo Guzmán, whose restaurant is in the Bay Area, grew up in a small town in Mexico where he learned all the old, traditional methods that had already been replaced in the big cities. He brings an appreciation for that tradition to his cookbook. I've cooked a lot from this book, thoroughly enjoyed the interesting flavors and return to it regularly.

Amá is Los Angeles restaurant chef Josef Centeno's book of the traditional Tex-Mex recipes he grew up with in Texas.  Every recipe has a story about the aunt, uncle, grandparent or other relative whose cooking inspired it.  I've cooked a lot from this one and enjoyed everything.  Grandma Alice's chorizo is fabulous and the Amá spice blend is something I always keep on hand. Not actually Mexican but really a great cookbook so I wanted to include it. 

Both of the last 2, being restaurant books, include cocktail recipes.  I've made them all and enjoyed them!

[Anna N]

52 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Here's a shelfie from my Mexican collection.  I have more on Kindle. 

What a great overview of Mexican cookbooks.

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, rotuts said:

from Sunset Magazine

 

the Mag  and many of their slineLine Books.

Always good stuff!

[Victual Vignettes]

I've had success with any Rick Bayless recipe I've tried, so I definitely second (and third, etc) that recommendation. I have tried a couple of recipes from Rick Martinez's Mi Cocina and enjoyed those - many others on my list to try. Finally, Diana Kennedy's Heart of Mexican Cooking has been a patient teacher in helping me learn some basics, with many, many more excellent sounding recipes I have yet to try.

[BetD]

I just have to add this little ramble of thoughts here…. I have many of the books listed above and they all make me happy, but the book that makes me the happiest to peruse is one that my grandparents gave to my mom, and eventually, she to me.  They lived in a small mining town in Arizona (where I was born, BTW) that has long since been at the bottom of a huge open pit copper mine. This book is a fairly tiny one, with a 1958 copyright.

 

 

The recipes were my childhood taste memories, which were passed on to my kiddos…. As things should be  💕

 

[BetD]

This is all the stuff that lives in the book  

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by BetD (log)

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, BetD said:

I just have to add this little ramble of thoughts here…. I have many of the books listed above and they all make me happy, but the book that makes me the happiest to peruse is one that my grandparents gave to my mom, and eventually, she to me.  They lived in a small mining town in Arizona (where I was born, BTW) that has long since been at the bottom of a huge open pit copper mine. This book is a fairly tiny one, with a 1958 copyright.

 

 

The recipes were my childhood taste memories, which were passed on to my kiddos…. As things should be  💕

 

 

2 hours ago, BetD said:

This is all the stuff that lives in the book  

 

 

 

That book looks like a treasure on several levels. Thanks for posting about it! Makes me want to look for it in the used book sales sites, but that wouldn't help with the family heirloom recipe cards.

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, BetD said:

This is all the stuff that lives in the book  

 

 

 

I know next to nothing about Mexican food or cooking (way to much c@rn!), but that book is a delightful treasure. What a cookbook should be!

[Katie Meadow]

@BetDI love that the cards and hand-written recipes have illustrations. The book's illustrations, at least the few I can see, also are wonderful. Fantastic archive.

[Maison Rustique]

@BetD, as a cookbook collector, that is my very favorite sort of book to find! I love books that have personal notes and recipes added. What a treasure to have that passed on to you.

[blue_dolphin]

@BetD, add me to the list of those captivated by your book. At the risk of going off-topic, I have a plaid BH&G cookbook that belonged to a friend and coworker who passed away quite some time ago. It is positively crammed with old LA Times food section clippings and most special of all, hand written recipes from other coworkers that I can recognize from their handwriting alone and others whose dishes I have fond memories of. Going through them is kinda like a virtual potluck with old friends!

[Katie Meadow]

No one has mentioned "The Taste of Mexico" by Patricia Quintana. I've had this book many years and have no memory of how or when I got it. It's lovely. A large elegant book organized by region, it has expensive paper and beautiful photography. Curous, I checked Amazon and it sells for a whopping $65. However it appears there are lots of used copies floating around at very reasonable prices on eBay, Abe's, etc., many hovering at $10 or so. 

[AAQuesada]

4 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

No one has mentioned "The Taste of Mexico" by Patricia Quintana. I've had this book many years and have no memory of how or when I got it. It's lovely. A large elegant book organized by region, it has expensive paper and beautiful photography. Curous, I checked Amazon and it sells for a whopping $65. However it appears there are lots of used copies floating around at very reasonable prices on eBay, Abe's, etc., many hovering at $10 or so. 

I have never seen the book but for anyone interested there were a few recipes of hers on StarChefs that I had saved to my google drive over the years (I like to save recipes for inspiration).  Was going to link to them but they appear to be gone, fun stuff like a Hibiscus flower mole with lobster.