Mexican Everyday
Mexican Everyday recipes featured on season 4 of the Public Television series, “Mexico One Plate At A Time” with Rick Bayless.
I like this book. One of the complaints I had with Mr. Bayless’ previous books were the recipes just took too much time to prepare. They were good – excellent, in fact – but just not practical for the average cook in everyday cooking.
Mr. Bayless must have been listening. From the inside flap of the front cover:
As much as Rick loves the bold flavors of Mexican food, he understands that preparing many Mexican specialties requires more time than most of us have for weeknight dinners. Mexican Everyday is written with an understanding of how busy we all are. It is a collection of 90 full-flavored recipes – like Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos, Ceviche Salad with Avocados, Red Chile Steak with Beans – that meet three criteria for “everyday” food:
- most need less than 30 minutes’ involvement
- they have the fresh, delicious taste of simple, authentic preparations
- they are nutritionally balanced, fully rounded meals – no elaborate side dishes required
Filled with recipes featured on the fourth season of Rick’s Public Television series, Mexico – One Plate at a Time, this book provides dishes you can enjoy with family and friends, day in and day out.
In the Introduction to Mexican Everyday, Mr. Bayless talks about his weight gain and how yoga plays a part in his everyday life. He talks of fast food and even admits to liking a Big Mac every once in a while. He then goes on to say he developed a few guiding principles when putting together Mexican dishes for everyday cooking and talks about the use of kitchen equipment.
Then there is a section on pantry basics for Mexican Cooking. The first couple of pages discusses how to buy and store chiles – fresh, dried, ground, and canned.
Then on to vegetables and fruit. Same thing – how to choose and store avocados, jicama, limes, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, etc.
Same thing with herbs and spices and then miscellaneous items like sausage, hot sauce, flour, and cheese.
Then on to the regular chapters which include a pretty substantial section on Salads (over 60 pages); a smaller section on Soups; then there is Quick Meals from the Grill, which is about seasonings, salsas, and the how-to skills as much as it is about recipes; Soft Tacos, Enchiladas, Tostadas, and Tortas is next; then comes Seafood, Poultry, and Meat Main Dishes; and finally, the last chapter, Desserts, which is also the shortest chapter with just five different recipes. (My favorite is the Pineapple Skillet Upside-Down Cake.)
I think one of the best features of Mexican Everyday are the “riffs,” which are basically a side note included with just about all of the recipes. A “riff” may include ingredient substitutions or variations, and/or ideas for quick preparation and more health-conscious cooking.
There is also a decent amount of photographs – something that I think every cookbook should have. Not every recipe has a picture but enough of them do. And there are additional photos of some of the ingredients and how-to-steps.
Overall, I really like Mexican Everyday. If you have read Rick Bayless’ other books or have watched him on tv and liked his recipes and way of cooking but just didn’t have the time to do much of it, I think you owe it to yourself to give this title a try.
Mexican Everyday has also been well-received on Amazon.com where it has received 4.5 stars from the many customer reviews.
Rick Bayless interviewed by Mark Bazer on The Interview Show. Discusses his new restaurant, XOCO; Top Chef Masters; and his career. – Part One
Part Two of Rick Bayless being interviewed by Mark Bazer on The Interview Show.