DIANA KENNEDY
Every country should have a Diana Kennedy, someone steeped in its culture and cooking who cruises around recording all the local recipes and sharing them with the world.
My Mexico is Kennedy's rambling record of forays in pursuit of dishes that might be of interest. Based on the recipes she found, such as Posole de Camarone, a brothy shrimp and dried-corn stew, sweet Green Mango Roll, and tiny new potatoes cooked Shepherd style, Kennedy's travels have been quite fruitful.
Anyone may enjoy the wealth of recipes in this book, but only connoisseurs of Mexican cooking familiar with the varied and regional nature of its food are likely to appreciate the unusual nature of Kennedy's finds. Concentrating on what is unique, the author refers readers to her previous five works on Mexico for fundamental techniques or other background. Even the method for making masa in My Mexico is an uncommon one, presented to Kennedy by the woman who waters her plants.
This literate work is rich in almost novelistic descriptions. Long passages describe her graphic observations. She shares her love of the country where she has lived since 1957 with equal measures of loving passion and curmudgeonly criticism.
Charts and photos help show the variety of chiles and other foods that help give Mexican cooking its constant, often subtle variety. When recipes call for pulque, a mildly fermented juice from the agave plant, sour tunas, a kind of cactus fruit, or other ingredients you can't get, move on to her more accessible dishes or, as Kennedy did, let this book be a journey of discoveries. --Dana Jacobi
1 Great Food...
This is my first "authentic" Mexican cuisine cookbook. I'm from St. Paul, MN, where you would think there would be a serious lack of authentic Mexican food, however, the part of St. Paul I am from has a very large Latino community, the recipes in this book remind me of many meals I've had in friends homes. It is excellent if you are looking for authentic recipes and the real taste of Mexican cuisine. Fans of Taco Bell, forget it.
2 The recipes themselves are great, but......
I've always enjoyed DK's books enormously, but this one was a disappointment. It reads like a very boring travelog, so I was glad to find it in my local library instead of paying [item price]!
I yawned through the first part.... and finally managed to read the entire text, but it was all so dull...and pointless. I hope she sticks to brief background notes and more great recipes in her new book due out soon. The recipes, as always, though, are really good!
3 An Enjoyable Cookbook
I have been very pleased with my edition of My Mexico. The book is filled with so many recipes. The recipes span a wide range of Mexican cooking. She writes with great detail regarding the background of the recipes as well as giving very detailed instructions. This isn't the book filled with Tex Mex recipes that we are so often used to, but, authentic Mexican cooking. Of books produced in the recent years that cover this topic, I have enjoyed this book the most.
4 Check it out at the library first
Go to the library first and compare this with Mrs. Kennedy's other cookbooks before spending your hard-earned $. Diana has written much better cookbooks. It has good assortment of recipes accompanied by rambling text. There are no photographs of the finished recipes to guide a novice cook or one with no experience preparing true Mexican cuisine. Colorful, festive presentation is an essential part of authentic Mexican Cuisine, which are best seen in color photographs. I recommend buying "Savoring Mexico" by Marilyn Tausend or "The Mexican Gourmet" by Maria Dolores Torres Yzabal. (Both make beautiful gifts and also recommend where to find the more unusual ingredients in the recipies.)
5 My husband from the state of Guerrero loves this book.
I my self have stayed for months at a time in the state of Guerrero and Puebla. I know that the recipies that Diana Kennedy have shared here are exactley how food is eaten and prepared in these southern regions of the country, and I also first hand how frustrating it is to find ingredients that are similar here in the states, it is almost impossiable the further you are away from the boarder. Thank you for a book that aides me in cooking foods that are dream come true for my husband from the state of Guerrero, he loves me even more now!
6 Interesting for Advanced Mexican Cooks
If you're already aware that Mexican food is as close to divine as food gets, you'll enjoy this book, but most likely be a little frustrated by the lack of specific ingredients available stateside. Ms Kennedy rambles a bit, but it's all enjoyable. If you're a novice, I'd suggest her Cuisines of Mexico.
7 Diana Kennedy's books all have long-term shelf lives.
This is the most intensely personal of Diana Kennedy's books about authentic Mexican cooking. Critics who are not knowledgeable about this subject often complain that her recipes are too complicated. That, I believe, is an excuse for laziness. Are books on authentic and regional French, Indian, Italian, Moroccan, etc. cooking similarly criticized. That is unfair and doesn't give ample credit to the culinary richness of the many parts of Mexico. No one is more accurate and true to her subject than Diana Kennedy. Little wonder that the cookbook awards (the IACP & The Jas. Beard awards) all too often miss the point but the real and lasting award is always a book's "shelf life" and being a perpetual reference. My Mexico is not only a fine, carefully researched and accurate cookbook of Mexico's culinary complexity but an excellent, informative and interesting read.
