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Author: Subject: Cookbook recommendations?
BajaLuna
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[*] posted on 1-8-2014 at 01:08 AM


Ok so I tried 2 of the recipes in Pati's Mexican Table Cookbook last week when I was in Baja. I cooked her recipe for "red rice" and also "Chicken Tinga" and it was too die for! Cooked it for 7 of our house guests and it got rave reviews!

However, it was a darn good thing the people I cooked for LOVE realllly spicy food because I made a huge mistake, the recipe calls for "one whole canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce and 2 T. adobo sauce", but in my hurriedness I read the recipe as one whole can of chipotle chilies and into the pot they all went LOL! Now you might ask how in the world could one make this mistake, I mean hellooo a whole can of chipotle chilies should have been a red flag, eh...but it wasn't until I squished them all up and added them into the pot and as soon as I did I said OMG UT OH, and it was too late to fish them out. Yes, it was hot, but not inferno! I'm blaming it all on the tequila while I was cooking!!

I shared the cookbook with our neighbors up the road, Ed and Jean from Bahia Asuncion B&B, and Ed made the red posole and said it was very good, he even ordered the cookbook right away!

I will write out the recipe for chicken tinga tomorrow for all of you, I'm hoping you like it as much as we all did!

Cant wait to have company over next time we are in Baja and cook it again! I owe Udo and Jana a dinner after the awesome Lamb chop dinner and gumbo dinner they cooked for all of us! That Udo is a hell of a cook! Seriously, his gumbo is the best EVER! And what a labor of love that is too cook a dish like Gumbo!

so stay tuned, I will share the chicken tinga recipe!




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sequoyah
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[*] posted on 1-8-2014 at 11:54 AM


Quote:
Originally posted by BajaLuna
Ok so I tried 2 of the recipes in Pati's Mexican Table Cookbook last week when I was in Baja. I cooked her recipe for "red rice" and also "Chicken Tinga" and it was too die for! Cooked it for 7 of our house guests and it got rave reviews!

However, it was a darn good thing the people I cooked for LOVE realllly spicy food because I made a huge mistake, the recipe calls for "one whole canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce and 2 T. adobo sauce", but in my hurriedness I read the recipe as one whole can of chipotle chilies and into the pot they all went LOL! Now you might ask how in the world could one make this mistake, I mean hellooo a whole can of chipotle chilies should have been a red flag, eh...but it wasn't until I squished them all up and added them into the pot and as soon as I did I said OMG UT OH, and it was too late to fish them out. Yes, it was hot, but not inferno! I'm blaming it all on the tequila while I was cooking!!

I shared the cookbook with our neighbors up the road, Ed and Jean from Bahia Asuncion B&B, and Ed made the red posole and said it was very good, he even ordered the cookbook right away!

I will write out the recipe for chicken tinga tomorrow for all of you, I'm hoping you like it as much as we all did!

Cant wait to have company over next time we are in Baja and cook it again! I owe Udo and Jana a dinner after the awesome Lamb chop dinner and gumbo dinner they cooked for all of us! That Udo is a hell of a cook! Seriously, his gumbo is the best EVER! And what a labor of love that is too cook a dish like Gumbo!

so stay tuned, I will share the chicken tinga recipe!


I've been cooking from the recipes on her website. I've had some great successes and some great failures.

I can't believe you put a whole can of chipotle in adobo in a dish!! I find these so hot that I use them very sparingly. So glad your guests are calientephiles.
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BajaLuna
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[*] posted on 1-15-2014 at 06:35 PM


I guess I never followed up on my post here...anyways for those of you who want her Chicken Tinga recipe just go to her website "Patis Mexican table" dot com and type in "Chicken Tinga" and scroll down to the episode labeled "chicken tinga for today and everyday", the one she did for the Today Show. Also chicken tinga tostadas is on that page too!

ENJOY!!!

Sequoyah.....yeah it was just one of those dumb mistakes that ya realize just the second ya make it and then it's too late!

Have you tried her chicken tinga recipe yet???




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sequoyah
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[*] posted on 1-16-2014 at 11:35 AM


I have the ingredients for the Chicken Tinga on my grocery list for tomorrow, so I will make it this weekend.

I just downloaded her whole book to my kindle. I was a little disappointed that there aren't that many recipes that aren't already on the website, but that's ok.

Will let you know about the Tinga!
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[*] posted on 1-20-2014 at 12:37 PM


I know I'm a little late to this party, but since I own well over 200 Mexican cookbooks in both English and Spanish, I thought maybe I might/should make a comment?

Diana Kennedy...most of her cookbooks are not for the faint of heart. You do need a basic grasp of Mexican cooking techniques which are rooted in the pre-Colombian kitchen, not the European kitchen. They are, however, unfailing good at providing history and context for almost every recipe.

The Art of Mexican Cooking...her 2nd book and probably her best.

The Tortilla Book...now out of print but widely available used, this is a spectacular little book for tacos, tortilla dishes, enchiladas and antojitos.

Essential Mexican...a compendium of her first 3 books

Oaxaca...her last book, based on her extended research there. This is more of a coffee table book than a cookbook, but the photos - mostly hers - and depth and breadth of the recipes is pretty amazing

Rick Bayless
In spite of being overly wordy in many recipes, his recipes are solid, easy to follow and they almost always result in a goo dish. I own all his books except the last one, but these are my 3 favorites:

Mexican Kitchen...his 2nd cookbook and, IMNSHO, his best. Interesting assortment of recipes covering a lot of different styles of cooking

Salsas that Cook...this is a great little book for a person just getting into Mexican cuisine. It starts with what he calls 8 essential salsas. Each recipe provides 3 different yields as well as chile substitutes in case the ones called for in the recipes aren't available, or the cook simply wants to change up the flavor profile. The rest of the book contains 50 recipes all based around the 8 essential salsas.

Mexican Everyday...probably one of the best books taking the laborious and time consuming preparation methods and condensing them into easily completed dishes without losing the basic flavor profiles. The salad section in the front of the book is non-traditional, but the salads are outstanding.

Here are some cookbooks that have not yet been mentioned but should be because they're all really, really good

Mexico the Beautiful...basically a William-Sonoma coffee table book, but oh what a book. It's a well written, well researched cookbook. The recipes are easy to follow and very, very good. This is probably one of the most under-rated Mexican cookbooks because it's a coffee table book, but it is an excellent cookbook.

Truly Mexican, by Roberto Santibañez...this is now the cookbook I recommend for people starting to cook Mexican. The ingredients and methods are clearly explained and the recipes terrific. The guacamole section is outstanding and the carnitas recipe is fantastic. Oh, and the pistachio mole is pretty darn good too.

Pati's Table...Mostly solid recipes. I really like her approach to cooking traditional Mexican food, but I don't always like her flavor profiles.

La Cocina Mexicana: 3 Cultures, 1 Cuisine...this is a really good all purpose Mexican cookbook. It takes a look at how 3 cultures came together to create the cuisine that is now known as Mexican.

Salpicon...a good cookbook for contemporary Mexican. These are restaurant quality recipes that are easily duplicated at home.

Seasons of My Heart by Susana Trilling...probably the best all purpose Oaxacan cookbook in English. I've never had a failed recipe out of this cookbook and it is pretty true to it's Oaxacan roots.

Veracruz by Zarela Martinez...another terribly under-rated and under appreciated cookbook. This is probably the definitive English language cookbook on Veracruz. I've cooked extensively from it; the shrimp recipes are wonderful.

If you read Spanish, Conaculta has 2 cookbook series devoted to the regional cuisine of Mexico. These can most often be found in museum bookstores (CECUT has them) or other government shops that sell books. I do have one of the Baja books, but it was damaged when I opened the package and not terribly readable. The recipes in these cookbooks can be pretty vague as they're mostly from home cooks and oral tradition. But each book starts with a history of the food in the region, the ritual dishes, the everyday and so forth.

Also if you read Spanish...look for any of the cookbooks by Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, such as Verde, Rojo, Salsa, they're quite good, but not in English.

Also look for Ricardo's Diccionario Enciclopedia de la Gastronomia Mexicana, published by Larousse. This is the 2nd edition and is, quite literally, a dictionary, A-Z, of every Mexican ingredient you could ever possibly think of, and then some. It also includes handy charts for things like chiles fresh or dried, beans, moles, and so forth. The English translation of this book has been an on-going project for at least the last 10 years and it's a daunting task because of the breadth and depth of the dictionary. But...if you read Spanish, this is probably one of the most valuable, if not the most valuable, tool for Mexican cuisine. It's often available at Ghandi bookstores and occasionally at Sanborn's.

Whew...that's enough...

[Edited on 1-20-2014 by Kalypso]
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Gypsy Jan
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[*] posted on 1-20-2014 at 12:56 PM
Absolutely Spot On!


Thank you, kalypso, for this detailed rundown.

I am still trying to find the cookbook that was published a few years ago - a Mexican version of Ecoffier's cuisine.




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[*] posted on 1-20-2014 at 01:49 PM


Quote:
Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
I am still trying to find the cookbook that was published a few years ago - a Mexican version of Ecoffier's cuisine.


Is it the Larousse book on Mexican cooking? Larousse de la Cocina Mexicana?

Amazon has it for some ridiculous price, close to $600, from a 3rd party seller. If this is the book, keep checking Ghandi, they do sometimes have it. A friend of min in D.F. has the book and it is quite the tour d'force.

If this isn't the book you're looking for, what is the title, maybe I can help you find it.
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[*] posted on 1-20-2014 at 01:56 PM


thank you so much, calypso!

I am sure to return to this post again and again.

I am currently using Pati's Kitchen and really loving it. I made the Chicken Tinga yesterday and it was outstanding.

I feel that I am learning new techniques every day and learning to use ingredients that were previously completely unknown to me.

And having a great time doing it!
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Gypsy Jan
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[*] posted on 1-20-2014 at 02:02 PM
Yes, Thank You, Kalypso


Do you think that may they would take a $500 peso payment?

;D




“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
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Kalypso
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[*] posted on 1-20-2014 at 04:06 PM


Quote:
Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
Do you think that may they would take a $500 peso payment?

;D


Only if they don't know the exchange rate ;D
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BajaLuna
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[*] posted on 2-4-2014 at 05:25 PM


thanks for the great recommendations, Kalypso! Wow this is great!!

Sequoyah, glad to hear you liked the chicken tinga recipe too!




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