Mexico – The Cookbook – Margarita Carrillo Arronte

My thoughts on this book…..

I had been looking for a Mexican cookbook to act as a definitive guide to Mexican cooking and offer more than the normal fajitas, chilli, rancheros etc that most of the ones I had seen or heard about or seen contain. This was definitely a great contender for that being large in both size , over 700 pages, and in recipes – so not one I would necessarily flick through to get a feel of the thing.

Personally I initially struggled with this cookbook and can see why some would dismiss it easily and not return to it, just leaving it as an equivalent of a pretty coffee table book in their collection – however I am really glad now I persevered and gave it another go as there are some really great recipes in this volume. Not for an introduction to Mexican food at all, but if you want a reference and more recipes than you find anywhere else then this is a good choice. This book is also an investment, not just in the price, but the ingredients you will need. Some are specialist, yes, but as with other cuisines there is always a series of different ingredients you need to invest in. Some of these can be a little hard to find, but with the plethora of online shopping channels available to us all now I have not had an issue with this.

The things I like……

Firstly the book itself is very impressive on both colour and content, it definitely stands out in your collection with the ornate front cover and bright bold colour.

I personally like the choice and the comprehensive nature of covering different types of cuisine – the inclusion of several different recipes for a style (such as tacos or gorditas) lends itself to the sharing, small plate Mexican food I love to cook and eat and allows you a vast, sometimes too much, choice in what to cook. There are often several different versions allowing you to provide many different dishes on a similar theme.

I also do like the way that this book, for me, breaks down some of what I thought were mysteries to Mexican cooking and many of the dishes are pretty straight forward in application. Maybe I have been lucky with the ones I have picked to make, as there are hundreds if recipes to choose from, but whilst there may be time involved – the slow cooked stews and meats – they are not cumbersome or complicated recipes in process or technique.

The things I don’t…..

This is a book that has really split opinion, easily seen with a quick Google of the title, it is I feel a true “marmite” book which people seem to either love or hate. As I say above I did struggle with this book initially – it is a daunting volume in size and content. There are some well documented errors on the web in the editing with ingredients and methods , but this actually adds to the authenticity for me in a bizarre way possibly “lost in translation” from the author. Anyone that blindly follows a recipe without thinking whilst acting then complaining deserves what they get in my opinion!

My personal gripes are a little more fundamental , and I would have liked more of a background to both the cooking style, the author, origins and recipes themselves. Yes there is an introductory few pages, but given the size of this volume I would have expected far more. This may be a personal thing to myself, but I do like to know something about the recipe background and this is missing here – it is a harsh list of recipes throughout and coupled with the lack of pictures – every 20 or so recipes gets one – this makes it a harsh read and it is gives an almost encyclopaedic reference book feel at times. This is particularly evident when you first pick up the book and hence why I struggled with it at first. Whilst I knew bit about Mexican cooking the reason I wanted to know more and learn was around such things as the many different types of chilies and the way they are canned, or dried and which at are the characteristics of them in dishes , Many types of chilli are used throughout the book but just treated as a normal ingredient and no mention of the differences and use of them in general.