Mexican Cookbooks
Love to cook Mexican food but need some fresh inspiration? These 10 cookbooks will help you break out of the taco-and-nacho rut. Written by some of the best chefs and food writers around, they cover everything from choosing the right chiles to exploring regional delicacies. Enjoy! 
Mexico: The Vegetarian Table
By Victoria Wise A former first chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, Wise gives Mexican food a makeover, doing away with and replacing animal fat with olive oil. Tradition happily coexists with innovation: A recipe for fresh tomato salsa leads to one that combines jicama and watermelon and another that pairs grapefruit and pumpkin seeds. La Parilla: The Mexican Grill
By Reed Hearon Acclaimed chef Reed Hearon of San Francisco's Lulu and Cafe Marimba reveals the simple glories of the Mexican grilling tradition. The book offers dozens of easy dishes, including grilled lobster and corn on the cob with chipotle chiles and lime. 
Cantina: The Best of Casual Mexican Cooking
By Mary Sue Milliken Milliken runs the Border Grill in Los Angeles. Her dishes call for authentic ingredients, including a wide variety of chiles, but they're simple enough to serve as family fare without losing their character. A full-page photo of each finished dish makes this a mouth-watering read. Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen
By Rick Bayless Respected Chicago-area chef and restaurateur Rick Bayless packs more than 200 tantalizing recipes into his book. Filled with information on south-of-the-border ingredients, cooking techniques, regional cuisine, and history, it's a must for every Mexican-food lover. 
¡Cocina!: A Hands-on Guide to the Techniques of Southwestern Cooking
By Leland Atkinson As a chef at Mark Miller's much-praised Red Sage restaurant in Washington, D.C., Leland Atkinson became an expert in the techniques of the Southwestern kitchen, from tying tamales to frying flautas. With the help of this book, you can too. Frozen Drinks: With or Without the Buzz
By Bruce Weinstein They're not all Mexican, but every one of them is fun. Frozen-drink wizard Bruce Weinstein has created more than a hundred simple, imaginative recipes for granitas, chocolate and coffee drinks, and other blended favorites (including margaritas and piña coladas). 
Salsas That Cook: Using Classic Salsas to Enliven Our Favorite Dishes
By Rick Bayless In this lively book, Bayless shows how America's favorite condiment can enliven a variety of everyday dishes, from roasted vegetables to turkey and mashed potatoes. Border Cookbook: Authentic Home Cooking of the American Southwest & Northern Mexico
By Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison The authors of "Texas Home Cooking" and "Smoke and Spice" turn their attention to border food (known as norteqo in Spanish). Served in Northern Mexico and throughout the American Southwest, this delectable cuisine fuses Native American, Spanish, and Western elements. Its culinary offshoots include Sonoran, New Mexican, and Tex-Mex foods. The Food and Life of Oaxaca: Traditional Recipes From Mexico's Heart
By Zarela Martinez Here you'll find recipes for traditional festival fare, plus everyday favorites like potato-cheese fritters and chicken in almond sauce, and several sublime moles (chocolate-and-chile sauces). Beautiful photographs capture the vibrant spirit of this mountainous state of Mexico. The Great Chile Book
By Mark Miller, with John Harrison Mark Miller, the genius behind the Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, describes more than 90 fresh and dried chiles from around the world. Most spicy-food cookbooks include brief chile glossaries, but the encyclopedic information and full-color photographs in these pages should make it easy for any cook to master the wide variety of chiles now available.
Reviewed by C.E. McLaughlin, MD, a professor of sports medicine at the University of California at Berkeley.
Our reviewers are members of Consumer Health Interactive's medical advisory board.
To learn more about our writers and editors, click here.
First published April 27, 1999
Last updated October 29, 2008
Copyright © 2001 Consumer Health Interactive
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