From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients | 
|  | | | Title: | From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients | | Author: | Diana Kennedy | | Publisher: | Clarkson Potter | | Type: | Book / Hardcover | | Publication Date: | 09 September, 2003 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0609607006 / 9780609607008 | | List Price: | $40.00 | | You Save: | $13.60 | | Amazon Price: | $26.40 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Diana Kennedy has been called the “ultimate authority, the high priestess” of Mexican cooking, and with good reason. For more than forty years she has traveled through her beloved adoptive country, researching and recording its truly extraordinary cuisine. Now Diana turns her attention to the book she readily admits “should have been written years ago.”
Diana’s objective in From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients is simple: to provide a guide to better understanding the ingredients Mexico has to offer and how best to prepare them. Her execution is little short of brilliant.
The book is invaluable to the novice eager for an introduction to Mexican cooking, but it is equally important for the aficionados interested in refining and expanding their knowledge and skills.
From My Mexican Kitchen takes readers and cooks on a tour of the primary ingredients of the cuisine, from achiote and avocado leaves to hoja santa, huauzontle, and the sour tunas called xoconostles—which are increasingly available in the United States. Diana unravels the dizzying array of fresh and dried chiles, explaining their uses and preparation; vibrant color photographs at last take the guesswork out of identifying them!
Step-by-step photographs and Diana’s trademark instructions (peppered with her over-the-shoulder asides) lead us through the proper techniques for making moles, tamales, tortillas, and much more. Some highlights: chiles rellenos, frijoles de olla, salsa de jitomate, fresh corn tamales from Michoacán, and bolillos (Mexican bread rolls). These recipes provide a solid grounding for the new Mexican cook, and Diana then sends readers to her earlier work for more advanced regional recipes.
Brilliantly photographed, with a text at once lively and authoritative, Diana Kennedy’s From My Mexican Kitchen is the one book anyone interested in this food cannot afford to be without.
Amazon.com Review
Diana Kennedy published her first cookbook in 1972. It was about Mexican food. She has been learning more and writing more ever since. From My Mexican Kitchen takes the reader by the hand and explores the indigenous ingredients that make Mexican food come alive, as well as the techniques handed down through the centuries for the right way to handle those ingredients. It's a book to combine with another, Kennedy's The Essential Cuisines of Mexico, for example. The chapter headings include: "Cheeses and Cream"; "Cooking Fats and Oils"; "Fresh and Dried Chiles"; "Fresh and Dried Herbs"; "Vegetables, Beans, and Fruits"; "Meat, Poultry, and Seafood"; "Rice and Pasta"; "Making Antojitos"; "Making Moles"; "Making Table Sauces"; "Making Tamales"; "Making Tortillas"; "Making Vinegar"; "Making Yeast Breads"; and "Utensils". You'll find precise descriptions of ingredients as well as glowing illustrations, the techniques you need to prep any ingredients, and classic recipes to pull it all together. There's also a glossary of cooking terms and sources for various ingredients. This is a beautifully laid out and illustrated reference text. Probably no one but Diana Kennedy could produce such a book, in English. Her voice, as ever, is clear and demanding, her instructions thorough and determined. She's a true instructor. Trust yourself to her care and you can rest assured that the foods you produce will be as close to the real thing as anyone working in print media can get you. It's Diana Kennedy's magic at work. --Schuyler Ingle
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Customer Reviews:
• The Queen Speaks! 06 November, 2006
Diana Kennedy is the undisputed Queen of Mexican cuisine writing in English. I've been cooking from her books and giving them as gifts for years. This one is a wonderful companion to all the others, showing and discussing ingredients and techniques in patient detail.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2XEU0B3NU52QB
• Excellent Reference Book 10 December, 2007
This season, I decided to make tamales. Although I have had this cookbook on my shelf for a while, I hadn't bothered to read it . . . and then I made some tamales from a recipe from the internet . . . and suddenly, this book's value became very apparent. The chapters on fresh and dried chilies are worth every penny alone . . . what to look for, why, how to prepare, what NOT to do to them (and why) . . . fascinating late night reading! The section on tools is also handy. While I haven't tried any recipes from the book, I expect to refer to them frequently, to compare and contrast to others that have been recommended by friends . . . so many recipes out there on the internet are missing the subtleties of technique and why slight variations in preparation can make a big difference.
This book explains clearly the hows and the whys for many ingredients and techniques, which helps greatly in figuring out how to make something better if it doesn't turn out as expected the first time. This is the kind of knowledge that desperately needs to be passed on and preserved, so I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning authentic Mexican cooking.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A17WOKJ82LG6HE
• The Doyenne Of Interior Mexican Cuisine 12 August, 2006
This cookbook is an exceptional production by Diana Kennedy, winner of the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Lifetime Achievement Award. The multitudinous photos (Michael Calderwood) use her hands as models of perfect techniques for most of the recipes. You can't read and view the book without knowing exactly what to do. Even if you know a great deal about Mexican and Southwest cooking, you will learn an immense amount from this well-illustrated book. She shares her secrets and knowledge with all, and you can choose just how complex to make a recipe, from toasted seeds (typical), to avocado leaves (traditional, but hard to find). I own a number of her cookbooks, including out of print books, and am utterly delighted to have this set of her experiences laid out before me. You will notice she is wearing a white apron and blouse, a great idea to deal with foods which stain easily, from peppers to tomatoes. I wish I had the address of her apron company; it would save me a lot of t-shirt stains.
Seriously, this is the most explanatory of all her books so far. You would be remiss in not having it in your collection.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AEXFQ0ZE4H4K4
• Mexican Kitchen 06 August, 2008
Great book and quick shipping. Recommend for amateur and professional cooks alike. Thanks.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2FPLW47GQQ1NY
• From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques And Ingredients 24 August, 2008
What I like about this book is the photos of how to perpare the various ingredients. A simple description is often not adequate to reproduce a dish since it matters how the meat and vegetables are cut, the dough folded or shaped, how much the sauce is blended, how it looks when it is being prepared. This book fills in all these details and therefore distinguishes itself from all the many many other books about Mexican food. Good value I say.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1V2C1120TGS6M
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