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Tag: book review

  • Book Review: TACOS: 75 Authentic and Inspired Recipes

    Book Review: TACOS: 75 Authentic and Inspired Recipes

    In my neverending quest to eat all the tacos, I am perpetually on the lookout for recipes to try at home. Enter TACOS: 75 Authentic and Inspired Recipes by Mark Miller. I was familiar with another cookbook of his The Great Salsa Book . I enjoyed the salsas that I’ve made from that cookbook and I thought, this fellow may be onto something.

    The book begins by chronicling how the author was introduced to the taco. Growing up in the New England area, Miller describes eating tacos during his summers in Guadalajara.

    “…this food was alive, colorful, aromatic, tasty, crunchy, juicy, and flavorful-as if I had crossed a new frontier of food experience. “ Miller describes.

    He goes on to detail his experiences with “fast food” and street food in the U.S. and the contrast from Mexico.

    “Tacos are much a part of daily social life in Mexcio as the Catholic Church” Miller writes.

    It is this awakening that has leads Miller to write not only this book on tacos but the “the great salsa book” and “…great chile book” respectively.  Miller’s inquisitive approach as well as his in-depth understanding of flavors has yielded some great recipes.  There are both traditional taco recipes as well as some non-traditional takes on the taco.

    His 16 ingredient tacos al pastor recipe calls for many classic Mexican ingredients. These ingredients play off of each other to give you a complexity of flavors that is as authentic as it can get, without having your own tompo. His carnitas recipes is almost the exact inverse with some simple seasoning that highlight the crispy pork flavor.

    Some of his nontraditional recipes include Thai shrimp tacos. These Thai inspired tacos have both a creamy consistency and some distinct heat that Thai chilies bring to any recipe.

    Taco fillings are broken down into six categories. Vegetables: Chicken and Fowl: Seafood: Pork: Beef Lamb, and Game: Breakfast. There are also chapters on salsas, sides, drinks and tortillas. Miller gives the readers and cooks a lot of options when deciding on which to cook.  His knowledge and culinary IQ shine throughout this cookbook. All of the recipes seem congruent and consistent to the authors sensibilities. I can image serving several recipes from this book for a gathering or an epic taco marathon.

    Overall I like the recipes that I experimented with in this cookbook and I can’t wait to try some more.

    You can buy a copy of TACOS: 75 Authentic and Inspired Recipes

     

  • Book Review: Tacopedia

    Book Review: Tacopedia

    Tacopedia by Deborah Holtz and Juan Carlos Mena explores the many elements that make up everyone’s favorite food, TACOS! This book unravels the taco’s many incarnations and origins. Tacopedia is the best possible name for this book: sprinkled with facts, anecdotes and illustrations, Tacopedia is a super interesting read. There is no overarching narrative, which makes it great for reading small chunks over time. Much like Encyclopedia Britannica, there is no way to digest all the information that makes up this book. It is an awesome work that dives deep into taco culture and is simply fabulous for taco-philes like myself.

    Photo By: Kitzia Sámano

    The book is broken down into 3 parts: 1) Whetting Your Appetite, 2) It’s Taco Time, and 3) Meet the family. Part 1 focuses on the origins of the taco. Filled with awesome images and descriptions, this section gives readers a great introduction to the taco. This section describes multiple strands of corn among other ingredients that are used to create to tortillas. There are also illustrations of animals and the cuts of meats that are used for different types of tacos.

    Photo by: Kitzia Sámano

    Part 2 – It’s Taco Time – is the real meat of the book. (get it :p) This section breaks down all the aspects that make up the many types of tacos. Holtz and Mena describe the preparation of each taco. For example, there is a description of al pastor tacos. They go into detail about origins including where the upright grill as well as the inclusion of pineapple. The book also lists their favorite spots in Mexico to taste al pastor tacos.

    Part 3 – Meet the Family – focuses on dishes that are variations on tacos. These dishes include enchiladas, quesadillas, and tlayudas. They describe some regional origins as well as regional specialties.

    Photo by: Kitzia Sámano

    It’s amazing how much one dish can encapsulate a culture. While it seems like an ambitious project to take on, it all works in Tacopedia. There is history, there are recipes, and there are restaurant recommendations in the book. I think this is a great resource for people looking to learn more about tacos and Mexican cuisine.

    Photo by: Kitzia Sámano