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| Authentic Mexican 20th Anniversary Ed: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico | 
 enlarge | Author: Rick Bayless
Creators: Deann Groen Bayless, John Sandford, Christopher Hirsheimer
Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy New: $13.93
You Save: $16.07 (54%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $7.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  (33 reviews)
Sales Rank: 8750
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 20 Anv
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 7.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0061373265
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5972
EAN: 9780061373268
ASIN: 0061373265
Publication Date: April 1, 2007
Release Date: April 3, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Good text needs mor pics. May 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I like cookbooks to have lots of pictures showing the finished product. I find it not only appetizing, but it's nice to know how it looks when a master chef like Bayless prepares it. His presentation on the PBS show is beautiful, yet simple. It doesn't look like ma's home cookin'.
The recipes I've tried from this, and his other books, are wonderful, however I recommend tripling (at least) the hot spices. I guess being from Texas, I don't like Mexican food as bland as a Yankee.
Great book. I highly recommend it. The book has necessary details, but watch the PBS show. It's even better than the books! You will catch a few tips he never puts in print.
 A must-have for fans of fine mexican cuisine April 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A truly wonderful book: lots of great, carefully explained recipes (drinks, moles, fish, etc.), interesting information about ingredients, cookware, south-american agricultural history etc. Not too many photos, but that means more space for recipes and information.
Wonderful cookbook to create an authentic Mexican table January 11, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
While I was born and raised in the Southern US on grits and fried catfish, my husband was raised in Mexico City on pozole and pombazos and anything picosa.
We've been together for almost six years, and he hasn't been back home at all in that time, not even for a quick visit. We still live in the south, so our choices as far as authentic Mexican are quite slim. There are some taquerias around that cater to the local Mexican community, but they're usually overpriced and carry only the most basic dishes (tacos, tortas, huevos, etc). So when my sister gave me this book for Christmas, I couldn't wait to try it.
I've been cooking "Mexican-style" for a while. That involved adding a lot of salsa to things, or making things like tostadas or tortas or mole (out of the can! for shame!) or milanesa. And I'm no stranger to most of the ingredients in the book, but I just haven't ever had anyone to show me how to cook actual dishes that aren't considered Mexican take out.
The first dish I made was Chilaquiles Verdes and the salsa I made for it, according to my husband, was as good as his own sainted mother's salsa--which, if you can imagine, is quite the compliment.
For me, this book has allowed me to bring a little of Mexico to our table and to help my husband a little bit in his homesickness. He's also very proud of the fact that his gabacha wife can cook authentic mexican food.
As for those who wonder about the availability of the ingredients, most of them are available in your local grocery store. I live in a medium sized college town, and I can obtain Chiles Guajillos dried in bags at Walmart, as well as a plethora of fresh chiles (poblanos, verdes, jalapenos, serranos, etc). I would say if you have a noticeable Mexican immigrant population, the ingredients can be found in your area--try different grocery stores and the local tiendas (Mexican grocery stores).
Provecho!
 Good book but.... October 5, 2007
19 out of 26 found this review helpful
For the beginner Mexican cook, this is a good start. Rick Bayless is probably one of the best authentic Mexican chefs out there. He goes to the region and sources to develop his recipes which is the way to do it if you're serious about learning authentic Mexican cuisine.
I'm going to be harsh on Rick in this review because I had lived 20 years in the state of Guerrero (which has probably some of the best cooking in Mexico), and had traveled and marveled at the incredibly diverse flavors of the gastronomy of Mexico. I had to tweak quite a few of the recipes for added flavor. I found the salsas to fall flat with seasonings, especially the Habanero salsa, which was less than desirable. Although marvelous with detail of the true authentic Mexican dishes, there is some lack of substance with some of the recipes. Rick Bayless has some real hit and misses with his recipes, but his books are good reading, and his programs are just downright enjoyable and mouthwatering to watch. I do recommend this book on an educational basis, but know that some recipes do not come out well, and I'm quite an experienced Mexican cook.
Informative foundation September 14, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I received this book yesterday, and I will say to those who don't own any Mexican cuisine cookbook: buy this as your first Mexican cookbook! This book by Bayless contains a discussion of basic cuisines of Mexico, ingredients, the most popular dishes and variations of them. It is authentic while also hinting which dishes have inspired Mexcian-American fares such as burritos you see in Mexican eateries in the US and beyond. Bayless also discusses the variations, and antedotes about each dish.
Here in New Zealand (or Australia), Mexican eateries are very few and far in between and most serve an Anglicized version (or in some cases, even Southeast Asianized as they are owned by Muslim Malay Malaysians) of Cal-Mex dishes, which I trust you are aware are already modified to suit North American palates. This is a good book for NZ-based foodies to get educated with this fantastic cuisine that, in my opinion, is up there with cuisines of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia in flavours.
I do believe there are a few shortcomings though: the book has only scratched the surface, there is no listing of each dish at each section's headings, and no taggings are made of the origin of these dishes. In comparing with cookbooks of Indonesia (a country as equally diverse as Mexico and sharing a lot of parallels with it) such as Yasa Boga's "The Best of Indonesian Cooking" the contents page of poultry section will show satay ayam Madura (Madura-style i.e. peanut sauce chicken satay) is from East Java. Unless you read the descriptions carefully it is hard to find that Birria de Chivo o de Carnero (slow-steamed goat or lamb with mild chile seasoning) is from Guadalajara.
Having said this, I feel it is only a starting point for those who like to delve deep into Mexican cuisine. I recommend Bayless's "Mexico One Plate At A Time" for additional coverage of the most popular dishes like mole and flans, and Richard Sandoval's "Modern Mexican Flavors" or Thomas Schnetz's "Dona Tomas" for a perspective of what modern metro Mexican food in the early 21st century is like. From other reviewers, Diana Kennedy's works are equally good and worth to own as well but other than "From My Mexcian Kitchen", I believe they tend to overlap with much of Bayless's works on recipes. Unless you are interested to build a library of Mexcian cookbooks at home, I would suggest purchasing either Bayless's or Kennedy's works.
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