BajaNomad

DIANA KENNEDY

BajaBlanca - 8-26-2012 at 05:59 PM

she was mentioned in another thread .... and I had never heard of her before this. Have any of you met her ? What is she like ? and lastly, have you used her cookbooks and do you like any of them in particular - IYO which is the best ?

tripledigitken - 8-26-2012 at 06:04 PM

I have "The Cuisines of Mexico". (1972) It is an excellent cookbook.

She lived in Mexico with her husband, he was a New York Times correspondent there.

BajaBlanca - 8-26-2012 at 06:07 PM

thanks Ken. what have you guys prepared and liked from it ?

Diana Kennedy is a Seminal Researcher, Historical Recorder and Author About Aiuthentoc Regional Mexocam Cuisine

Gypsy Jan - 8-26-2012 at 06:51 PM

Her cookbooks are filled with history, research and authentic recipes.

She is a forensic anthropologist of the real Mexican cuisine.

She does not dumb down the history or the recipes, but she make it accessible.

Go to this article in Savuer: http://www.saveur.com/article/hub/Mexico-Issue-149

bajalera - 8-26-2012 at 06:58 PM

Diana Kennedy's early Mexican cookbook seems to be the equivalent of Irma Rombauer's Joy of Cooking. I have several of her books, and the recipes are okay, but her prose style can sometimes be annoying (to me anyway).

Be adventurous, Blanca! Find a recipe that looks tasty and try it without waiting for recommendations.

bajajudy - 8-27-2012 at 07:24 AM

We sell her "Oaxaca Al Gusto" cookbook. It is one of the most beautiful cookbooks that we carry. I have only tried one recipe....a baked panela cheese with oregano.

tripledigitken - 8-27-2012 at 08:02 AM

BajaBlanca,

As was said it is more than just a book of recipes. Two we like very much are the Lime Soup, which is a type of tortilla soup, and the Pork chops seasoned with adobo.

Ken

[Edited on 8-27-2012 by tripledigitken]

BajaBlanca - 8-27-2012 at 08:04 AM

Gypsy Jan - I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her in that article, thanks for the link.

when we traveled the mainland , we tried many different foods - many of which we did not like, but few that we loved ... so that is why I am asking if any of you have prepared and enjoyed any of the dishes in her cookbooks before I begin buying ....

So much knowledge in her mind ... sounds like she needs a fledgling to mentor so that someone continues her legacy.

Kalypso - 8-27-2012 at 08:43 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajajudy
We sell her "Oaxaca Al Gusto" cookbook. It is one of the most beautiful cookbooks that we carry. I have only tried one recipe....a baked panela cheese with oregano.


That is a stunning book. I have 2 copies, one in Spanish signed by Diana, and the other in English. I've cooked a little bit out of it since, no big surprise, many of the ingredients are hard enough to source in Oaxaca let alone the U.S. ;D

I've made the Arroz con Pollo, which I thought was good, but I think there are better versions out there.

I also made one of the salsas with the smoked chile pasilla de Oaxaca and some tomates de milpa (tiny tomatillos) which I can get at the Mexican markets here in SD.

But, from a food anthropology and history perspective this book is pretty amazing. It is the culmination of her 50+ years in Mexico.

Typically, books are not printed in great quantity in Mexico, a few hundred copies at best. The Spanish version of the Oaxaca book was first published by an industrialist in Monterrey who was a fan. IIRC, that print run was 300 copies and my Spanish version is from that run. It is also interesting to note that her regular U.S. publisher past on the Oaxaca book, but the Univ. of Texas Press - which prints a lot of titles related to Mexico and Latin America - chose to publish it instead. I for one and certainly glad they did.

[Edited on 8-27-2012 by Kalypso]

Kalypso - 8-27-2012 at 08:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca

...when we traveled the mainland , we tried many different foods - many of which we did not like, but few that we loved ...

So much knowledge in her mind ... sounds like she needs a fledgling to mentor so that someone continues her legacy.


I have every cookbook Diana has written. Some are better than others, but I can say without doubt that her recipes are solid and work every time. I've had very few failures with them and those that didn't turn out were most likely due to my error, not the recipe.

What foods did you like on the mainland. I've traveled pretty extensively on the mainland so I'm familiar with both what is served and what is in her cookbooks. Tell me what you like and I think I can probably steer you to ones that might work for you.

Traditional Mexician cuisine is fairly labor intensive, Diana's recipes can be pretty labor intensive. They aren't hard. Mexican cooking acutally isn't hard, but it does take some time. It also helps to understand that the techniques used in Mexican cuisine are not based on European methods but primarily on pre-Colombian ones. Diana covers all this in great detail in her early cookbooks and the methods in her recipes reflects her dedication to preserving traditional cooking methods.

I think if one reads one of her recipes through a couple of times and then makes the recipe step by step as she instructs the end result will be pretty successful.

Diana is not really an ideal candidate to mentor someone. She is very British and somewhat prickly. If she likes you she'll share her kitchen and her information, if not...well, she doesn't have a lot of use for you.

She did receive the Order of the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican government - which is the highest honor a non-Mexican can receive - for her work in researching and preserving not only the cultural heritage of the cuisine, but in her cataloging and understanding of Mexican plants, herbs, trees, etc. She is fascinating and loads of fun to talk to, but a stickler for tradition and maintaining traditional recipes they way they were originally intended.

805gregg - 8-27-2012 at 09:58 AM

In the past week I've made Arroz A La Mexicana, Frijoles De Olla, and Carnitas from her " The Cusisines of Mexico" all excellent and easy. I've had this cookbook since 1986, a must for those that want to cook their own Mexican food.

DENNIS - 8-27-2012 at 10:07 AM

I think Diana Kennedy is an outdated relic of Mexican cuisine. She predates food processors.
If one is interested in the history of Mexican kitchens, her material will bridge the ancient with the new era, but it won't do what Bayless will do for one who wants to bring mexican cooking into the 21'st century.
Who want's to eat bugs, anyway.

DavidE - 8-27-2012 at 10:41 AM

Ah Dennis, Amigo, you may have never had the experience of enjoying tortillas made entirely from scratch. The women go to the milpa, gather the elotes, strip the granos allow them to dry, soak them in lime water, dry again, roll them under a stone roller on a metate, add water to make masa then cook them on a fired clay comal over the glowing coals of mesquite, encino, guisaxche. The smoke adds to the flavor. Same for home grown frijols cooked in a clay pot over a wood fire with a little home grown comino and a sprig of epazote.

Comparing the taste of the above to machine made tortillas and frijols out of a bag and into an aluminum pot, can rank right up there with saying oven baked Captain Kidd brand fish sticks taste the same as fresh dorado, wahoo or halibut cooked over glowing mesquite coals. I don't especially care for Diana's grinder to make nixtmal for tortillas. A mano y metate grinds the granos to inconsistent uniformity and that adds a lot to the flavor and texture. So does hand patting. A proper tortillas has a pancita y espalda, thick and thin sides. When rolling up a proper tortilla only the young don't start with the thin side first.

Of course all of the above is irrelevant; we all know that peppermill ground black pepper tastes the same as powder poured out of a shaker, right?

elizabeth - 8-27-2012 at 11:14 AM

I'm a great fan of Diana Kennedy, have all her books, and seriously appreciate what she has done for understanding Mexican cuisine and it's techniques and ingredients. While I appreciate knowing how to make a tortilla from the corn to the finished product, it's not something I actually have time to do on a daily basis. I have spent a lot of time in a household where it was done...and it's true it results in extraordinary flavor...just not realistic to think that any of us will do it! Having said that, most recipes in Diana Kennedy's books are not so labor intensive that someone who loves to cook will find them particularly onerous.

Rick Bayless has done a lot to popularize real Mexican food and his books teach technique but allow for the use of alternative ingredients. He has made the preparation of food to be more accessible to the home cook...he also has been give the Order of the Aztec Eagle.

DENNIS - 8-27-2012 at 11:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by DavidE
Ah Dennis, Amigo, you may have never had the experience of enjoying tortillas made entirely from scratch.


True....I havn't had the experience. I doubt I could get past the guilt of knowing a human had to go to that much trouble to make a tortilla.

I do however wonder why the Aztecs [may I use that word?]never got around to perfecting Cornbread as we know it today.
And how about Corndogs? They reportedly ate dogs as well.

Loretana - 8-27-2012 at 11:38 AM

I had the pleasure of meeting Diana at her cooking school back in 1983.
She is a marvel, a bundle of energy, and so inspiring.

I have all her cookbooks, and this is my coveted autographed copy of "From My Mexican Kitchen", and my favorite.....


BajaBlanca - 8-27-2012 at 01:34 PM

and there you have it...I will have to get some of the books so I can be inspired to cook Mexican food.

on the mainland I tried so many foods with bizarre (to me) names that it is hard to remember.....

I did not much care for the corn tortillas (sorry to those who do)
we ate some dishes which were ahogados or drowned in black beans - great !
we ate the one with a complicated spelling tlakepac ????? ....... and it had a huge flat tortilla with cold beans and other stuff on it - did not like
I tried a brown mole and did not like it
we tried many guacamoles and they were all excellent
anything POBLANO was so so soooooooooooo good

I'll have to think back to remember more.

thanks all for sharing your experiences.

Kalypso - 8-27-2012 at 02:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
and there you have it...I will have to get some of the books so I can be inspired to cook Mexican food.

on the mainland I tried so many foods with bizarre (to me) names that it is hard to remember.....

I did not much care for the corn tortillas (sorry to those who do)
we ate some dishes which were ahogados or drowned in black beans - great !
we ate the one with a complicated spelling tlakepac ????? ....... and it had a huge flat tortilla with cold beans and other stuff on it - did not like
I tried a brown mole and did not like it
we tried many guacamoles and they were all excellent
anything POBLANO was so so soooooooooooo good

I'll have to think back to remember more.

thanks all for sharing your experiences.


Tortillas drowned in beans are usually Enfrijoladas, and are usually corn tortillas that have been softened as for enchiladas and then dipped in a thin bean sauce. They are, indeed, quite tasty, especially when topped with crumbled Cotija cheese and white onion rings. Great breakfast dish.

Was the giant tortilla with bean and other stuff a Tlayuda by any chance? This is a specialty of Oaxaca and the beans shouldn't have been cold. A good tlayuda is a work of art. You can get the giant tortillas at the Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana from the vendor on the North side of the market that specializes in Oaxaqueño products.

Mole can definitley be an acquired taste for some, and all moles are not created equal. The thing about a good mole is that no one flavor should predominate. It might have 25 ingredients in it, but you shouldn't be able to readily identify any of them. All of them have to play harmoniously with each other in the mole pool. It takes some practice to make mole correctly and you'e gotta understand the flavor profiles of the chiles and other ingredients. And, frankly, there are as many bad moles out there as there good ones and if you've only had the mediocre or the bad you're probably not going to think mole is very good. And mole paste that is not properly reconstituted is vile... and that includes Doña Maria or Rogelio from a jar.

If you're interested in getting a Diana Kennedy book, try Essential Mexican. It's a compliation of her first 3 books. Other than Oaxaca al Gusto which is a master work, but not very practical, The Art of Mexican Cooking, her 2nd book and Cuisines of Mexico, her first book are excellent and if you can find it The Tortilla Book is great. She's got a fideo recipe in the Tortilla Book that is easy and goes with everything.

Here's a recipe from Essential that is fairly easy and deceptively good. DK discovered the recipe in Chiapas where it was being used as the topping for a tostada in a local market fonda. See my notes at the end with the adjustments I've made. I know people who have made this recipe with ground pork, ground lamb and mince venison, all of them equally good.

Carne de Res con Col
Ground Beef w/Cabbage
(Terrible name, but it tastes good)

Roughly chop 3 garlic cloves and smash them together with 6 peppercorns and salt (about 1/2 tsp). Then knead into 1 lb lean ground beef (sirloin with a little fat) and set aside to season while you prep the other ingredients

Finely chop 1/4 cup of white onion and 1 jalapeno, set aside. Finely dice 1 cup of tomatoes and set aside. Shred enough cabbage to measure 4 cups, set aside. Roughly chop 1/2 cup of cilantro and packed it into the measuring cup

Heat enough oil in a large skillet to saute the onion and jalapeño until translucent, about a minute. Add the tomato and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the ground beef mixture and continue cooking until the meat juices render out and are absorbed. Increase heat if necessary. Should take about 7 or 8 minutes. Add the cabbage and cilantro along with 2/3 cup of water. Stir to combine. Continue cooking for about another 15 minutes. The mixture should look moist but not be runny or juicy.

Serve over plain white rice or as a topping on tostadas.

• The original called for sauteeing the onion/jalapeño in 3 Tbls oil. This is way too much. I used just enough to film the bottom of the pan and that was fine.
• I used a big jalapeño and it wasn’t very spicy. I think next time I’m going to use at least 1 serrano chile and leave the seeds in. That will give is some heat but not be overwhelming.
• The original recipe called for finely dicing (mincing?) the onion, jalapeño and tomatoes. I don’t really think they need to be minced or even finely chopped. Next time I’m just going to do a regular medium dice/chop and that should be fine.
• The recipe calls for 1 cup finely chopped tomatoes, I only had a scant 1 cup and it wasn’t enough. Next time I’m going to increase the tomatoes to about 1 ¼ - 1 1/3 cup. I did skin and seed the tomatoes I used even though the recipe did not call for that. I don’t like tomato skin in food. You don’t need to do that, but I think it makes a nicer product. You could use some of those fire roasted Muir Glen canned tomatoes if you don’t have fresh.
• The recipe was not specific as to amount of salt. I used about a ½ teaspoon in the meat but it wasn’t enough. At minimum I think 1 tsp. of salt is needed.

BajaErin - 9-9-2012 at 06:41 PM

Thank you all for the info. Got me very interested, so I went over to Amazon and found a paperback book containing her first three cookbooks, only $15. Hardbacks also available. Can't wait to check out.

The Essential Cuisines of Mexico [Paperback]

DavidE - 9-9-2012 at 07:47 PM

Yummy!

I remember feasting at private little pachangas in Oaxaca, Mexico and Chiapas. This is where IMHO a person will find the best regionally represented food in the country.

Frijols from Juanito's field, elotes from Lalo's, made from utter scratch with no grinders hand-crank or electric, and no LPG stove or oven -- pure leña. The blanquillos have to be searched for, the sugar is real, not white purified grains. Salt is a smoky color with lots of other minerals mixed in.

Guajolote con mole is one of my all-time favorite dishes although I must profess a preferance for poblano over green Oaxaceño. Mole in Chiapas can be decidedly different, almost black and very spicy. Can you image the preferred side side for Tulúc (turkey) con mole, as being lima beans?

I despair at the utter garbage sold in tiendas as representing frijols negros. Little by little Mexico is losing the once widespread art of producing outrageously delicious dishes. It's no wonder a lot of people return from a long trip and declare "I didn't like this, or that". You can't blame them, it wasn't real.

Snooty restaurants requiring suit and tie in Mexico City are now charging upwards of a hundred dollars for a four course made from absolute scratch authentic "dining experience" ingredients. Like Aztec emperors of old, they have a widespread delivery network fetching real beans, real field corn, foraging turkey, maybe even a tepesquintle-agouti to roast.

Mexiamericanized restaurants feature dishes that would make a self respecting campesino gag. Stir-fired mounds of whateverthehell, oozing with melted cheeze and awash in a tsunami of sour cream. These places with hold chili from the recipe, which is sort of like an American restaurant banning butter or gravy from the mashed potatoes.

Take time and visit any small village. Sit on the ubiquitous concrete bench in the town zocalo (square) and people watch. Greet passers-by with a smile and a "buenas". Someone who knows someone else who speaks Ingles will cautiously approach and say "hi". The last time I did this, I was invited to a wedding so fast I had to run to change clothes while a little boy and girl waited impatiently outside my door. The reception followed of course and like all Mexican weddings it was designed to utterly bankrupt the parents -- no expense spared. Bootleg tequila so smooth it was deadly. Far too much food, delicacy after delicacy. The regionally famous Banda Ranchera struck up right after sunset and tunes of passion and heartache audibly perfumed the night air as the moon arced up into the sky.

vgabndo - 9-9-2012 at 09:58 PM

Eras la bomba, David. Lyendo saboroso.:yes:

DavidE - 9-9-2012 at 10:59 PM

The next time I pass by Lago Zirahuen I'll have to stop in Mz Kennedy's establishment. The last time I was in the area I camped next to a creek. I started to wonder if there were fish in it. The wondering turned into me grabbing my Fenwick and a Mepps. That led to a bagful of bass. Zirahuen used to be a lot heavier wooded with pine and oak.

I attended a birthday party in El Habillal Michoacan. It was Jesús uncle's seventy fifth birthday. There were more than a half dozen of us seniors there. I started waxing eloquent about the "good old days" of gathering elotes, drying, stripping, soaking in limed water, mano y metate,pat-pat-pat, a comal de barro over blazing guisaxche coals, the old men got into it "¡Andele! ¿Como no?" then I noticed the background noise had stopped. All the women were staring at me throwing daggers. Well, so much for authentic tortillas (sigh).

BajaBlanca - 9-10-2012 at 09:25 AM

Klypso, it was indeed a tlayuda and too bad it was cold - the dish looked GRAT but cold beans did not cut it. Next time, I will order once again and hopefully be favorably impressed.

Thanks for the recipe and it is very similar to a Brazilian dish I make all the time. Mine calls for hard boiled eggs and peas. yummmmmmmmmmmm

Loretana - 9-10-2012 at 01:33 PM

Tlayudas........yuck!
I ate one in Tehuantepec and my gut has never been the same!

(Back before Oaxacan dishes became the darling of the foodies, you couldn't get a palatable meal there)

Now, it has changed for the better, thanks to folks like Diana and Rick Bayless.....and of course, a host of Oaxacan cooks.
Susana Trilling comes to mind! :light: