Rick Bayles's Mexican Kitchen

Informationen zum Autor RICK BAYLESS, one of America's foremost practitioners of Mexican cooking, earned an unprecedented honor in 1995 when he was named Chef of the Year by both the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. He and his wife, Deann Groen Bayless, own and operate the highly acclaimed restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, both in Chicago. Klappentext In this book of more than 150 recipes, award-winning chef, author and teacher Rick Bayless provides the inspiration and guidance that home cooks have needed. With a blend of passion, patience, clarity and humor, he unerringly finds his way into the very soul of Mexican cuisine, from essential recipes and explorations of Mexico's many chiles to quick-to-prepare everyday dishes and pull-out-the-stops celebration fare. Bayless begins the journey by introducing us to the building blocks of Mexican cooking. With infectious enthusiasm and an entertaining voice, he outlines 16 essential preparations - deeply flavored tomato sauces and tangy tomatillo salsas, rich chile pastes and indispensable handmade tortillas. Fascinating cultural background and practical cooking tips help readers to understand these preparations and make them their own. Each recipe explains which steps can be completed in advance to make final preparation easier, and each provides a list of the dishes in later chapters that are built around these basics. And with each essential recipe, Bayless includes several "Simple Ideas from My American Home" - quick, familiar recipes with innovative Mexican accents, such as Baked Ham with Yucatecan Flavors, Spicy Chicken Salad, Ancho-Broiled Salmon and Very, Very Good Chili. Throughout, the intrepid Bayless brings chiles into focus, revealing that Mexican cooks use these pods for flavor, richness, color and, yes, sometimes for heat. He details the simple techniques for getting the best out of every chile - from the rich, smoky chipotle to the incendiary but fruity habanero. Chapter One Essential Flavors of the Mexican Kithcen Every cuisine has classic combinations of flavor that emanate from its platters and plates. As distinctly recognizable as these combinations are (everyone knows when a dish tastes Italian or Moroccan or Thai), rarely are they as easy to isolate into building-block recipes as they are in Mexico. No one, though, has attempted this project -- the dislodging of these cornerstones from full-built Mexican dishes -- yet it´s an exercise I think can be very useful when getting to know the Mexican kitchen. So I´m formalizing a first pass at it here, and what follows is the way my 15 Essential Recipes naturally group. All recipes, except the one for tortillas, make a salsa, sauce or seasoning. One group focuses on tomatoes (with fresh or dried chiles as flavorings), another on tomatillos (again with fresh or dried chiles), and a third on purees of rehydrated dried chiles. In addition, there´s an essential recipe that focuses on fresh poblano chiles and one on the classic Yucatecan spice, achiote. These recipes together illustrate the principal flavor choruses that sing their way through dishes in Mexico. Some are utilized more than others, though I think most Mexican cooks would agree that each plays an essential role in the cuisine. Within the recipes that feature tomatoes, one (the Essential Simmered Tomato-Jalapeño Sauce) slowly simmers them into a sauce spiked with jalapeños and seared white onion, a second (Essential Simmered Tomato-Habanero Sauce) sizzles them in a pan with fruity, renegade habaneros, and a third (Essential Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce) does the same with smoky chipotles and sweet garlic. Each has a different tomato texture, each a distinct profile resulting from its featured chile. Roasted tomatoes that don´t receive any additional cooking (no further sizzling or simmering) get worked together with jalapeños, garli...

Product details

• Authors: Rick Bayles, Rick Bayless
• Assisted by: Maria Robledo (Photographs), John Sandford (Illustration)
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.06.1996
• EAN: 9780684800066
• ISBN: 978-0-684-80006-6
• Subject: Guides > Food & drink