The Art of Mexican Cooking: Traditional Mexican Cooking for Aficionados: A Cookbook Hardcover – April 8, 2008

This is a great cookbook. I bought to replace the original I had but lost. If you want to prepare traditional Mexican food, this is the book for you.

I got this book a few months ago and read it start to finish - it's a habit for me with new cookbooks. This one is good for it, though, as it presents its rationale at the beginning, then introduces techniques and the context for each dish with the recipe. The author is a strong advocate for Mexican cooking (as compared to Tex-Mex), and she describes the background well.I didn't cook from it for a while because the techniques and ingredients were very different from what I'm used to - US traditions with French influence on technique, sauces, and so on - but finally this past week I cooked the Lomitos de Valladolid with Frijoles Colados, and I'm impressed. In my family I'm the only one that likes refried beans, but everyone was scarfing this dish. I made a ring on each plate of the bean paste, then laid the pork in and filled it in with the reduced tomato sauce, the ring of beans acting as a bowl to hold the sauce. The difference between this dish and what you would get in a "Mexican" restaurant was stunning- no drenching the food with a glob of melted cheese and sour cream required.There are some difficulties around ingredients I should note. Some of the dishes call for ingredients- for example, specific kinds of chiles -that you won't find at your local supermarket. These can be ordered on the Internet, if they're required, and the book gives a number of substitutions for common ingredients. Still, some of the recipes I regard as boutique pieces, that require ingredients I'd have to special order for a particular occasion.if you enjoy Tex-Mex and you'd like to have the real thing, real Mexican food, this is a great place to start. I don't find the recipes too complex, though I understand other folks' comments to that effect- you have to be comfortable in the kitchen and be able to do the basics, not just stepping up from Stouffer's.If you are comfortable with your cooking, and you like Mexican food (even if what you like is the Tex-Mex stuff that people call Mexican), give it a shot. If my first try is indicative, the food will be superb, and the author ties it back to a love of old Mexico. It's a win no matter how I look at it.

For my money, no other Mexican cookbook (printed in English) that I have seen beats Diana Kennedy's 'The Art of Mexican Cooking'. I closely peruse any and all that I find, which have been many. Kennedy is precise in her explanations, leading the reader through very flavorful and deeply authentic dishes that have always proven to be a success for me. Consequently, my guests and I are always thrilled with "Mex Night" at our place.Be advised that there are no fabulous color finished dish photos here designed to charm and seduce you into buying the author's book (see Bayless for that), but there are some useful black & white photos of some of the preparation steps. I have not found the lack of finished dish photos in this book to be problematic. Also, this is literally a cookbook, more an instruction of Mexican cooking technique and many great core recipes that make up the heart of the style. The creativity in how the elements are utilized and presented are left up to you.One should be prepared to spend some time in the kitchen for authentic Mexican cuisine. There's no escaping it. Although Kennedy also offers short cuts, good things from scratch often take time, more so when the ingredients are so humble as these. Apart from some of the salsas, these dishes will not "throw together" in 15 minutes (beginning to end), so I prep some parts one or two days before the meal. If you're into Mexican food on a regular basis, what works for me is to prepare "parts" regularly to keep in the fridge which can be thrown together in different ways to create various dishes at any time.I've cooked professionally for many years. That said, I previously (and ignorantly) dabbled in Mexican (Tex-Mex, really) food only at home, using no recipes for some time. Results were nothing to tell about. Then I bought Mad Coyote Joe's 'Gringo Guide to Mexican Cooking', a fun, short, starter book in the style and it got me hooked on the real flavors. But Joe's book offers only few recipes and I was needing more. Then there are the Rick Bayless books (if you need pictures - nothing wrong with that) which, while offering fancier, more "nouveau Mex" dishes, lacks the soul and depth that I feel with Kennedy's works, only because I feel that one must have knowledge of the origins, the root, soul & necessity of the style before one can fully comprehend and appreciate the direction & concept of newer interpretations. I completely read Bayless' 'Authentic Mexican' & found it to be OK, but I found that I needed to have Kennedy's 'Art of Mexican Cooking.' It has more. It's the real deal and it has become absolutely indispensable for me, currently in my top 10 of collection of cookbooks.