Truly Mexican: Essential Recipes and Techniques for Authentic Mexican Cooking – Simple, Fresh, and Flavorful Dishes for Your Home Kitchen

Somehow I stumbled on Roberto's Tacos, Tortas and Tamales (I LOVE tacos!) and made a couple of recipes from that and was so impressed that I immediately purchased his other two books. I love this book and Roberto Santibanez's other two books but it is this one I am currently working through. I have every intention of cooking every recipe in this book and that's rare for me.I moved to Arizona a few years ago and loving Mexican food I started visiting as many as possible, but.... I just thought it should somehow be BETTER, but I didn't even really know what I meant by that! Maybe we didn't go to the right restaurants (and yes, I would LOVE to eat at Roberto's restaurants - wish he had one here in Arizona) We have crossed the border and had a couple of meals in Mexico a couple of times (day trips) and that food was new to me and completely different to what I had found in AZ, and it all led me to decide that a major life goal for me was to make incredible Mexican food at home.I am an avid cook who loves to cook across a wide variety of cuisines and who is a bit obsessive (I admit) about sourcing unusual ingredients. I see it as a challenge and extremely thrilling to source and learn how to use a new ingredient. Luckily, in AZ there are plenty of fantastic Mexican markets where I can buy fresh Epazote, Avocado leaves, tomatillos, a wide variety of fresh and dried chiles etc. What I can't buy locally I have sourced online.Don't be scared off by that if you don't have a Mexican market locally. Roberto suggests subbing cilantro for epazote if necessary (if you can get fresh epazote though, it is worth it) If you can't get Mexican oregano use mediterranean, many recipes call for one chile OR another in case you can't get them all. Although that said there are lots of online resources for a wide variety of dried chiles.I have now cooked the following recipes from Truly Mexican:- Carnitas - to die for. I made this last night and I can't tell you how excited we are to eat it again tonight, Even my extremely fussy son loved it.- Chipotle Avocado Leaf Black Beans - Avocado leaves are new to me, but this bean side dish is amazing (I also made it last night) and the avocado leaves add a nuance that I am not even sure I can describe yet. I need to think about that, but trust me, they are worth sourcing!- Mexican white rice - I pride myself on my rice cooking skills (I love making Thai food) but these three rice recipes elevate rice incredibly!- Mexican red rice- Mexican green rice- Zucchini and corn with cream (yum. Need I say more?)- Cooked pork and stock (this and the poached chicken is the basis of a lot of the mole and pipiane recipes)- Poached chicken and Chicken stock (as above)-Ancho Adobo (At first I didn't like this one as much but Roberto suggests adding sugar and vinegar to taste. Once I added Agave and Vinegar it was very good. It needed a bit of sweetness and acid to lift the earthy toasted ancho flavor)-Pork in Adobo (using the ancho adobo recipe)-Mexico City-Style "Little Red Mole (a litlte bitter for my tastes. I didn't love this. Did I do something wrong? Not sure until I go to Roberto's restaurant - I'm saving my pennies!-Red Peanut Sauce - Nice but the addition of peanuts to me is a bit too much like Satay. It confused me, because it didn't taste like what I think of as Mexican food. But then thats what this book is all about for me. Teaching me what I like and don't like so I can go on to improvise.-Mole from Puebla (like another reviewer, I cooked this first cause I was desperate to know what the hype about chocolate chile mole was all about) It was earthy, heavy, sweet, and like nothing else. I made it with chicken. I am looking forward to using the frozen leftover mole for enchiladas or tamales (when I learn how to make tamales)-Simple Pumpkin Seed Sauce - Oh Jeez! This was very quick and easy and hit the right note for me and my guests. I made it with shrimp, but you can also make it with poached pork or chicken. I am discovering that I love the fresher, lighter sauces and moles a little more than the heavy, thick, earthy dark rich ones. But they are all good and are all an incredible culinary experience and that's what this journey is all about for me!I think that's it to date. I haven't even touched on the salsas and guacamoles. I have made a few so far, and created a few so far myself, using these recipes as a starting point, and they have all been wonderful!IMPORTANT :For those reviewers complaining that this book is more about sauces and doesn't give recipes for main meals, well I couldn't disagree more! Mexican food is based on courses made with sauces!Yes there are many pages of Salsas, pgs 44-99, Guacamoles 104-119, but then you have the Adobos 122-147, Moles and Pipianes 150-209, More Ideas for Using Mexican Sauces 212-243 then Sides 246-256. So that is a LOT of recipes for main courses! Pgs 122-243 are main courses! It's simple....For some recipes you add the meat as instructed and cook until the meat is done in the sauce. For others, you make the meat in stock (recipes are provided) Using pork, chicken or turkey and add the meat to ANY of the moles, pipianes, or other "sauces" as described in each recipe! And then you have your main dish! Each recipe that that the meat is not cooked IN, tells you which poached meat or meats is suggested for that "sauce" and when to add it. I am sure that a shredded BBQ chicken would be amazing in many of these recipes for those who are pushed for time!Anyhow, I am happy to provide any info I have about sourcing various chiles etc, because well, as I said, I'm obsessive and before substituting an ingredient for a cuisine I am unfamiliar with, I want to use the recommended ingredient so I know exactly what the chef intended it to taste like, before I start substituting and playing with recipes. That's just me. Anyone who is currently cooking from this book or who has used another great Mexican book that I need to know about and who wants to chat about it, post a reply to this because new foodie friends are the best kind of friends :)I will be among the first in line to purchase any more of Roberto Santibanez's books and one day I hope to visit his restaurant in Brooklyn, so that I can experience this food exactly as it is supposed to be, and refine my own skills. But until then I am thrilled with my purchase of this book and my new palette of flavors!

This book was recommended in Fine Cooking, so I purchased it without knowing much more than the initial recommendation. I have a few Mexican cuisine cookbooks that have kind of left me a little disappointed in the past. I am, however, extremely excited about this cookbook. This is probably in my top 5 (of approx. 140 cookbooks), but it's definitely the most user friendly in terms techniques of the ones at the top of my list.It has given me a great excuse to have numerous dinner parties this summer, each time rolling out several salsas, sauces, & guacamoles to accompany the proteins I'm serving. It's so easy to mix and match, and all the recipes have been enormous hits. The introduction includes good information about ingredients and how they should be prepared, and although someone mentioned not finding sufficient recipes for whole meals, I love entire chapters being devoted to salsas, and adobos, and guacamoles, etc. The stated prep/cooking times seem right on, and since many sauces require as little as 30 min, it's pretty easy to pull together a meal quickly. I routinely double and triple a recipe (for example an adobo) so I can serve it again for breakfast on eggs, etc. It's very practical, esp. if you decide to freeze some sauces (most seem to hold for a month in the freezer) to pull out for use later. I appreciate that the hold times for the refrigerator and freezer (if applicable) are given for the recipes.Everything has been absolutely excellent, but some early favorites are the Fresh Pineapple Mango Salsa, Roasted Tomato Salsa with onions and cilantro, Avocado Sauce, and I've been putting the Peanut and Árbol Chile Salsa on just about everything. I loved the salty and buttery roasted pecans as a topping on the Apple Tequila Guacamole, even when I've skipped the apples and tequila. The Chipotle Avocado Leaf Black Bean recipe is fabulous and nearly impossible to believe that it's vegetarian. Finally, the flavor of the Mexican White Rice is delicious. The recipe produces a rice that wasn't as dry as I typically like it to be, but I have adapted the technique of putting the onion, salt, and garlic w/ water in a blender to use with white or brown rice and cooked to my own specifications. The flavor is really wonderful.I've noticed that sometimes the heat level is a bit stronger than what one might want to serve for a dinner party. I live in So. Cal., and we are very accustomed to spicy Mexican cuisine, but I typically start with about 1/2 the heat level and build from there. Also, I'm used to preparing larger batches of guacamole, so I can't relate to a recipe that calls for 1 large or 2 med. avos. That portion seems very small.As for ease of use, I think the pictures are really helpful, the directions are very clear, the recipes easy to prepare, and nothing is fussy. The book stays open when left lying on the counter (I don't use a book holder), which makes cooking from it very easy. Finally, I think there are numerous recipes that would appeal to people who like lean proteins with healthy, flavorful sauces, too. If you like lots of flavor, you won't go wrong with this book.

Excellent livre de recettes et pour apprendre comment faire.

I have been to Mexico several times and love the food. But growing up in Canada I'm pretty ignorant about the proper ingredients and cooking techniques. This was the only mexican cook book that they had in my local library so I checked it out. It was exactly what I was looking for. I ended up buying it so that I could take my time and get into it properly. You learn how to make all of the sauces like various adobo and mole, etc. He walks you through the various dried chiles and how long to roast them, so many great salsa and other sauce recipes. His descriptions are detailed enough that I never have any questions about a recipe. And everthing that I've made so far tastes like ideal Mexican food.

I love this book. I've already cooked a few recipes. The problem of course is ingredients. I still haven't been able to find fresh Tomatillos, for example.Definitely worth it, if you're willing to put time and effort into cooking!

Lots of great ideas and recipes! Excited to try them out!

After watching the Taco Chronicles, on Netflix, I wanted some authentic recipes for tacos, the real Mexican street food. This not the “Taco Bell” variety, and after making some of these, I will never eat the common taco with garnishes like sour cream and cheese. Tacos should only have your meat, salsa, chopped onion, cilantro and fresh lime juice. Yum.