Mexico's Feasts of Life

by Patricia Quintana

Superb recipes celebrating each of the major Hispanic Fiestas from the christening feast through the Day of the Dead. -- Over two dozen Mexican cooking herbs described, explained and illustrated in color. All the major cooking chiles color-illustrated in both fresh and dried forms. Tips on preparing and cooking with chiles. Addresses for the very best North American sources of chiles, herbs, plants, seeds, cheeses and cooking utensils. A thorough section on methods and materials with step-by-step explanations of basic Mexican cookery techniques.

Genres: Cookbooks

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1989

Reviews

[Skyprose · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife gave me this 1st-edition paperback many years ago, and it is one of the very few cookbooks I've kept through rounds of downsizing and going digital. Recipes range from fairly easy to difficult. I love this cookbook because it goes beyond simply presenting recipes, with descriptive chapters arranged by life celebrations: Christmas, Christening, Weddings & Birthdays for example. One of my favorite mole sauce recipes appears in the chapter Bautismo (Baptism, or Christening). I highly recommend this book as a cultural deep dive into the joys of food as celebrated throughout the year.

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is an older book it is by no means outdated. It is large with many nice colored photographs with an interesting mix of old B&W family photographs as well.

The ingredients are few to many (and might be difficult to find), the recipes are broken down into preparation stages and for the most part are easy to follow.

What I really liked about this cookbook, in comparison to the "Jerusalem Cookbook", is the fact that there are many, many more recipes per chapter. What I didn't like is there are more than 1 recipe per page and it was difficult for me to see where one ended & the other began.

Contents include:
Making of a Mexican Feast, methods & materials: Spices for dry roasting; preparation of chilies, salsas, & sauces; types of chilies; herbs; & Mexican cream.

Introduction, the four generations: a not-so-brief history of her family and their cookery.

Entering the world, The Christening Feast: Cake bread; Meringue filled pastry shells, Yemitas (little egg yolks); Coconut Charles cookies; Lime crepes; Tamales; Chicken w/ almond mole; Chile Poblano soup; and many more

Celebrations of Childhood, Christmas & All Kings Day: Buñelos; Quesadillas (w/ 7 different fillings); Roast crown of pork; Steamed turkey in Adobo sauce; Oaxacan meatballs in chile tomato sauce; & Almond pumpkin seed candy.

Circling w/ family, Weddings & Birthdays; Almond wedding cake; Stuffed c ornish hens in orange sauce; Lime soup; White cheviche; Squash blossom soup; 8 different salsas; Tournedeau w/ morels in a chile-cream sauce; & Cold pickled veal rump.

The Ordering of life, Breakfast, portable feasts, Independence; Chilaquiles w/ chicken, sausage, & cheese; Sieved black beans w/ chilie & epazote; Chorizo sausage, pitic style; Royal mountain turnovers; Meat & vegetable stew w/ chiles, saffron, & chorizo; and Rice & chile casserole.

The Altar of Sorrows, foods (Lent): Seafood soup w/ chiles & tomatoes; Shrimp pie; Capriotada (Bread pudding); Lenten turnovers (sweet egg yolk filling); 5 different preserves; Corn soup w/ chiles chipotles; and Red snapper w/ parsley.

Re-entering the world, Day of the Dead: Candied fruit bread; Flan; Pork & chicken tamales; Corn tamales; Chicken & vegetables w/ yellow mole; Pork w/ green mole (one of 6 different moles); Black beans w/ pork; Spiced lentil stew w/ plantains & pineapple; and Candied pumpkin.

Wonderful, now I need someone who is willing to prepare these foods for me!