Seasons of My Heart : A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico

SUSANA TRILLING

Right at the tip of the poblano chile that makes up the bulk of Mexico, right where the land squeezes together and pushes the Yucatán Peninsula out into the Atlantic Ocean, you'll find the state of Oaxaca. It's kind if a round state, like a grapefruit with a handle. Only Chiapas is further south, and beyond that lies Guatemala. This is to say that the Mexican cuisine Susana Trilling presents in her wonderful, informative book Seasons of My Heart has nothing to do with the generic food of the border. She follows in the tradition of Diana Kennedy, Rick Bayless, Zarela Martinez, Patricia Quintana, and Marilyn Tausend, both when setting a table and setting a standard.

Part of Oaxaca butts up against the Pacific Ocean; part of it is lost in the mountains. In between are valleys and plains. Susana Trilling lives, works, and raises her family in Oaxaca. Her knowledge of her adopted land is indeed intimate--and delicious. Take a restaurant owner and caterer out of New York and drop her in Oaxaca and it's guaranteed that she's going to zero in on the food and its traditions. Some Oaxacan food has roots in Spanish cuisine, but most of it is, well, Oaxacan, and has been that way since time untold. In Seasons of My Heart, Trilling walks the interested visitor through all the different regions and foodstuffs of Oaxaca. This book is like interactive anthropology: you read about Oaxaca, then you eat the food, filling your house with the cooking aromas of another land.

Trilling divides her book into chapters that reflect the distinct regions of the state, finishing up with chapters on mole, updated recipes for the modern kitchen and palate, and essential ingredients to make the food happen. --Schuyler Ingle

1 NURTURES MINDS AND BODIES
Some twelve years ago chef Susan Trilling said goodbye to an alive New York City catering business to follow her heart to a remote and exotic region of Mexico - Oaxaca. Today, deep in the heart of this Mexican state is Rancho Aurora, home of the Seasons of My Heart cooking school and inn.

A companion to the well received National Public Television Series, Seasons of My Heart is a tribute to the people, culture and cuisine of this far-off area which has remained virtually untouched. "Oaxaca invites a deep appreciation of Mexican culture," the author writes. "Here time has stood still in the small village where I went to visit my husband for the first time. I was enchanted with every burro laden with corn going to the mill, every horse-drawn cart filled with alfalfa for the cows and horses......"

A veritable armchair travelogue, this colorfully illustrated volume takes readers to a tomato lunch in the field, to harvest time by dawn, to a traditional wedding feast, and to see a primitive altar laden with dishes for religious holidays.

Trilling wisely not only shares these treasured recipes, but offers her personal alterations and advice for successfully preparing them in American kitchens. Imagine sitting down to a platter of "Tamales De Ragas" (Chile and Tomato Tamales) with its appetizing marriage of sweet tomatoes and onions or "Empanadas De Mole Amarillo (Baked Mole Amarillo Turnovers), which are often prepared to order on charcoal grills set up outside local churches.

Seasons Of My Heart nurtures not only bodies, but minds and imaginations as well.

- Gail Cooke

2 Great food, you'll not likely find the ingredients though...
After recently attending a cooking class by Susana Trilling, I can attest to the wonderful recipes in this book. Not only that, but Susana is a wonderful person with great knowledge of the culture.

However impressive the recipes may be though, there is a huge problem with this book. Many of the recipes in the book call for ingredients that can't be found even in a speciality mexican store, and some are unique to Oaxaca itself. While this in itself is not a problem, Susan does not provide any help with suitable substitutions for those unique ingredients. For an advanced cook maybe this isn't a problem, but for a beginner or intermediate cook, this makes the book nearly unusable. In general, the recipes are quite involved and complex in comparison to other mexican cook books I have seen.

I would not recommend this book to someone who is newer to cooking or does not live in an area where an ample supply of mexican cooking ingredients can be found. Perhaps Susana will make a second addition for us newbie cooks that provides us with better alternatives.

3 My sampling of Oaxacan tamales was at a local Mexican booth
These tamales were delicious with lots of chili-laden pork wrapped with a specially coarse ground masa mixture and wrapped with banana leaves and finally wrapped in Al foil and steamed. While not done in the same mole variation as Trilling shows on p261, they were called the same on the menu board. They had a homemade creamy red salsa available on request too. I've had these cheap, savory, and filling lunches a few times, and taken them home and reheating them in a microwave for a nice snack.

This is a wonderfully illustrated cookbook has many black & white pix of people & illustrations and also 16 pages of color plates of people and food. While this unusually organized cookbook is separated into microclimates of Oaxaca, a small state south of Mexico City, I found the chap 7 on Tuxtepec as having the most savory sounding recipes.

Be aware that this cookbook is quite vegetarian and fish oriented, for example, in chap 6 for the mountainous region of the state, there were 16 recipes with only one with meat. There were no menudo recipes or any recipes with variety meats, such as calves' foot, tongue, and tripe in the entire book.

I found her book at a local library along with Diane Kennedy and Rick Bayless. Kennedy's classic Cuisines cookbook was my first introduction in Mexican cooking many years ago.

4 Brilliant
I just want to concur with the other reviews and add that Susana Trilling is a brilliant chef, period -- in Mexican cooking or otherwise. I don't understand it, but she really knows how to balance flavors in a way that is unique, compared to similar recipes I've followed. What makes one chef good and another great? I don't know - but she's got it, whatever it is!

5 A very authentic book.
Having visited Oaxaca after reading this book I can attest to its authenticity. A charming and informative book to read with wonderful recipes. A must have for anyone interested in Mexico and cooking!

6 Wonderful Flavors but watch for editing mistakes
I return to this book over and over again as the recipes have delicious flavor!

However, I have found numerous mistakes that should have been caught during recipe testing before going to print. For example, the process for rehydrating masa harina in the recipes for tamales will produce unedible dough. (not enough water) Of course, the recipes were written for fresh masa, but this should have been caught in the testing process.

Another recipe that flopped was for Alegrias (Mexican Amaranth Candy). In Mexico, amaranth is typically available in the pre-puffed state. However, in the US it is typically unpuffed. (found this out in another recipe disaster) The recipe worked perfectly when I used the pre-puffed Mexican amaranth.

When the recipes work, they are spectacular! Just be watchful!

7 Much more than a cookbook!
I just returned from a 5-day trip to Oaxaca which included a day-long cooking class with Susana ... both her book and the class are fantastic! Susana's knowledge of the region, combined with her talents as a chef, make this book an invaluable resource. I highly recommend it ... and if you ever have a chance to take one her classes, do so: it's an unforgettable day.

8 Great recipes complemented with insights into the culture
This cookbook is as fun to read from as it is to cook from. Susana does a great job of trying to give you insight into the culture and the regions of Oaxaca while providing excellent recipes. It even gives you insight into substitute ingredients if you can't find the real Mexican ingredient. My wife and I actually took a cooking class from Susana while in Oaxaca where we cooked an appetizer, a corn soup, a green mole with chicken, and coconut flan in the class. They were all fabulous. All the recipes from the class are in the book.

9 Authentic, memorable Mexican dining.
This companion to the national TV series provides a culinary focus on the Oaxaca, Mexico region, providing culinary and cultural insights and plenty of recipes from Oaxaca family roots. Add black and white and a peppering of color photos and chapters which open with local flavor and insights and you have an outstanding presentation which stands apart in the world of Mexican cookbooks.

10 Oaxacan Cuisine
Susana Trilling has been able to very capably capture the richness of Oaxacan cuisine. Oaxacan cuisine is not limited to the typical Mexican food known in the States such as tacos, burritos, and the like. It is much more than this with a world of different colors, textures, smells, and attractive presentations based on its varied ingredients and methods of preparation. Furthermore, Oaxacan cuisine has a heritage which goes back to important pre-colonial civilizations such as the Zapotecs.

My husband is from Oaxaca (from a town in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec). Since our marriage, I have fallen in love with Oaxaca, its colorful people and culture, and its cuisine. We often travel there and enjoy caldo de mariscos (an exquisite seafood soup), mole negro (black mole), tlayudas (big, crispy tortillas filled with, amongst other things, black beans and Oaxaca cheese), etc. Susana Trilling has captured these and other recipes very accurately to allow people to reproduce these recipes in the States and introduce them to family and friends who, without a doubt, will be delighted by this flavorful cuisine.