HomeCookbooksMexican CookbooksWilliams-Sonoma Collection: Mexican |
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20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Mexican Simplified (3+/4-) Jul 06, 2006
By Michael Twa
"mdt"
I have lived many years in southern California where my tastes were influenced by everything from quick-stop hole in the wall cuisine, to first rate gourmet; from cricket tacos to walk-up taco stands near the Tijuana airport slums. I have traveled all over Mexico and the American southwest as well. If there is one thing I learned it is the wide variety of food labeled Mexican in the US. Having a step-mother of Mexican descent, I also leaned the time and effort put into authentic home-made cooking.
This book does an excellent job of simplifying many of my favorites including carnitas, enchiladas, and tortilla soup. They have some nice shortcuts that bring authentic flavors to the front in their recipes for fish tacos, and carne asada. My biggest gripe is too much emphasis on meats and not enough on vegetables.
The photos are excellent, jst as they are with the other books in this series. The cooking tips are useful for newbies, and most of the recipes stick to readily available ingredients and list suitable substitutes when needed. There is a nice geographic representation of dishes, but they do seem to concentrate on pacific/Baja Mexican cuisine. Nonetheless, there are a few dishes from elsewhere like mole poblano, pork tatemado, and duck in green pipian.
I like cookbooks for ideas. Aside from preparing the dishes I use this book as a starting point for other creative dishes and this is where I love the shortcuts and substitutions suggested. I would have given marks higher than 3+/4- if there were more vegetarian dishes and some good basics (e.g. rice, refried beans) presented with the same flair and creativity of the existing recipes.
22 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 Surprisingly good, but occasionally flawed Mar 22, 2006
By Married ...with Dinner
It's beautiful and oddly comprehensive for such a small volume -- definitely not a must-have for anyone who knows even the basics of Mexican cooking, and I don't know if a beginner would ultimately be well served by such a slim offering.
The guacamole was good (although not drastically different than many others I have made, or even my basic "throw it all together" method), the chocolate-almond cake with ancho cream is excellent and not as odd as it sounds, but the posole verde recipe seems to have a serious flaw in the ingredients list: the author calls for 3 *pounds* of posole for a single batch, which would have been an amazingly awful mistake. (Luckily, this seemed odd to me, so I checked with other sources. Yep, more like 1/2 pound was the right amount.)
It's not a bad book, especially considering the source. But I'm finding it hard to know why anyone would buy this book, unless they were collecting all of the W-S series. Maybe for a vacation house or some other kitchen with limited space?
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 No complaints!! Mar 19, 2006
By T. M. Guzman
I've made several of the recipes in this book and have yet to receive a complaint from anyone. I've tried at least 6 of the recipes and have not been disappointed. The empanadas and the carnitas are my favorite things to serve, and everyone loves them! Coming from an americanized mexican household, my knowledge on cooking mexican foods has been very limited. Needless to say, many people have been impressed with my cooking lately!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Another great cookbook... Jul 20, 2006
By Robin Kuppusamy
"Love to Shop"
I am a huge fan of Williams Sonoma's cookbooks. They have delicous recipes that are fail proof. Your dishes always come out tasting delcious!
I have eyeballed this cookbook for some time. I was so excited to try this, and boy I was not disappointed. My first try I used the mexican red rice and carnitas for a superbowl party. YUMM! The red rice has become a staple at my house...
A great cookbook for those of us who love Mexican food, but weren't blessed to be born with a Latina mother. ;)
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
It's Ok, still searching for a great Mexican Cook Book Nov 03, 2010
By Nikolette Tripp
I was a little disappointed by this cookbook. It did have some good information in it but I was looking for more variety and more detail. There are plenty of recipes to try but this seems better for someone only looking to lightly dabble in Mexican cooking.
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