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Linda in Morelia

Dec 4, 2007, 5:22 PM

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Mexican cookbook for the culinary-challenged

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My husband and I have just arrived in Guadalajara for 6 months. Our cooking skills are not particularly good, but we would like to try to learn a little about cooking Mexicana comida. Do you have suggestions for a Mexican cookbook with recipes that are not too complicated, do not require a whole lot of hard to find ingredients and don't take half a day to prepare? Or am I being unrealistic.

Linda

Rolly

Dec 4, 2007, 5:46 PM

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Re: [Jim and Linda] Mexican cookbook for the culinary-challenged

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Hi Linda, welcome to México and MexConnect. Check out this website. It's not a cookbook in the usual sense, but it might be even better for you as an introduction to traditional Mexican cooking. http://rollybrook.com/kitchen.htm

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

esperanza

Dec 4, 2007, 7:26 PM

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Re: [Jim and Linda] Mexican cookbook for the culinary-challenged

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Rolly's kitchen site is an excellent place to start. Doña Martha takes a few shortcuts, but she gets to a wonderful end.

There's an excellent sort of Mexican cooking Joy of Cooking. It's called 1000 Mexican Recipes, by Martha Poore. It's in English. Amazon carries it. Some of the recipes are really complicated, some are really simple, but it's a terrific resource. If you know someone who's coming down, have it shipped to them so they can bring it to you.

Congratulations on your move! Have a blast...

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Linda in Morelia

Dec 5, 2007, 5:35 AM

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Re: [esperanza] Mexican cookbook for the culinary-challenged

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Thanks, Rolly and Esperanza, for your suggestions. I checked out the recipes on your site, Rolly, and they seem like something we could actually do! (It must be the "shortcuts" Esperanza refers to. I love shortcuts!) Can't wait to try some of them.

Anonimo

Dec 7, 2007, 4:25 PM

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Re: [Jim and Linda] Mexican cookbook for the culinary-challenged

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Years ago, the True Value Hardware store, in Mountain View, Arkansas sold cookbooks, They were published at the time by Ortho chemicals. Imagine!

But there was a Mexican Cookery book for about $3.00 US at the time. I bought it and loved it. Most of the recipes were good, the photos were of "Real Mexican cooks", and it was free of pretense.

Eventually, I wore it out and had to look hard for a replacement. A friend somehow found it in a new edition, now published under the auspices of the California Culinary Academy. Well, most of the recipes were there, but the honest, real Mexican cooks' pictures were gone, and the new version is full of itself, with toque blanche-wearing chefs doing artsy food arrangements. However, you can still use it effectively, without resorting to rare and hard to find ingredients.
I don't know if that edition is still in print. But I will tell you, I still have the old, tattered edition, which I occasionally take down from the bookshelf, and gently leaf through it, savoring memories.

Saludos,
Anonimo