This is a cuisine that has had to adapt…It is spirited; it is strong; it is from the ground up. (6)
This little book of 46 Mexican recipes is but an introduction to Mexican cuisine, but if you’ve never ventured much past a taco-salad made with Fritos, then I’d recommend giving this little guy a shot.
The Best of Mexico will introduce you to the basics of Mexican cooking, with short descriptions of history, location, or popularity for each dish. The recipes are categorized like any cookbook should be, including such food-groups as appetizers, soups, seafood, and dessert. The book’s “Introduction” gives a brief history behind the breadth of Mexican food today, taking into account the nation’s districts, climate, and invaders.
I gave several recipes a try, and for this one in particular I grabbed a photo: “Cafe de Olla, Spiced Coffee.” Sweeter than I expected. Seems to have a similar taste, whether it contains milk or not. There were mere hints of spices in the coffee itself, but I found it rather tasty. I am certain that I am in need of a cheesecloth or fine-mesh strainer. My coffee filters got plugged up way to fast when I added the grounds plus sugars, and in fact I used 5 filters for this one pot of coffee alone! The drink is best served hot, so if you’re running through as many filters as I, you’ll probably want to microwave the drink after.
If you like things simple, this series of cookbooks won’t seem to steer you wrong, though I would prefer the directions to be in a bullet-form rather than paragraph.
©2013 E.T.
Check Out More Books on Food and Cooking:
- The Maple Syrup Book by Janet Eagleson and Tosemary Hasner (2006)
- The Bizarre Truth by Andrew Zimmern (2009)
- Love Food and Live Well by Chantel Hobbs (2010)
- Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World of Food by Andrew Zimmern (2011)
- Scars of a Chef by Rick Tramonto with Lisa Jackson (2011)
- My Pizza by Jim Lahey (2012)
- Weeknights with Giada by Giada de Laurentiis (2012)
- Asian Pickles: Japan by Karen Solomon (2014)
- Food a Love Story by Jim Gaffigan (2014)
- Huangjiu: Traditional Chinese Liquor by Shu Guo (2021)