Amalia's Guatemalan Kitchen - Gourmet Cuisine with a Cultural Flair

by Amalia Moreno-Damgaard

Enjoy fresh, simple, and authentic Guatemalan cuisine right from your own kitchen! Amalia Moreno-Damgaard, a Guatemalan-American chef classically educated in the French culinary tradition, shares 170 of her favorite Guatemalan recipes for every occasion in her first cookbook aimed at home cooks. These healthy, quick, and easy gourmet dishes provide the perfect way to explore a fascinating culture that dates back to the ancient Mayan civilization. Amalia's delicious, zesty recipes come alive with step-by-step instructions, helpful techniques and hints, personal stories, exciting suggestions for recipe variations, vegetarian and gluten-free options, and cultural insights behind the cuisine. Whether you're a chef expanding your repertoire, a Guatemalan embracing your roots, or a food lover who just enjoys a unique and delicious meal, Amalia's Guatemalan Kitchen will make your heart and your taste buds dance!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

436 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2012

Reviews

[Caitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother-in-law is Guatemalan, and she let out a huge gasp when she flipped through the book that my husband and I gifted her a copy for Valentine's! So, I can confidently say this is an accurate cookbook.

Amalia balances her recipes from around the country, including Mayan, Spanish, Afro-Caribbean, and home adaptations. The pictures are gorgeous, the recipes are easy to follow, and her descriptions of the country and the food are wonderful.

Guatemalan cuisine is a celebration of love for fresh ingredients and family, and this cookbook deserves a place on your shelves!

[Lori Crever · Rating 5 out of 5]

This classic Latin cuisine cookbook is a must for the culinary arts lover! It has gone into several reprints, and I do not imagine the demand will ever dip. Chef Amalia's recipes are delicious, simple, and very healthy. Also, great dishes for a family to prepare together.

[Synthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recipes are surprisingly straightforward. She also includes substitutions for difficult to find ingredients as well as cultural history.

[Heidi Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook is beautifully written, well organized and the pictures are amazing! In the beginning of the book the author shares a brief bit about the culture, history and highlights in Guatemala. The recipes I've made were delicious and easy to do. At the end of each recipe, the author includes "Amalia's Notes," which are tips to help make the recipe, change it, or store it so it re-cooks well. The Breaded Marinated Pork Cutlets were so flavorful and interesting with cornflake crumbs instead of the typical bread crumbs(I used Amaranth flakes). The Herbed Pickled Cabbage Slaw was tasty and fresh with a nice kick from the Serrano pepper. The Potato Puree with Olive Oil and Parsley was very easy to prepare and still flavorful too. I'm looking forward to summer and trying out some of the delicious barbecue recipes. I'd highly recommend this cookbook to anyone interested in easy-to-make recipes that have great flavor!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is worth it for the photos alone! I was drooling over every-other page! I read it cover-to-cover in one night and am eager to try every recipe. (well, except tripe and tongue. Sorry, just can't bring myself to cook those).

Many recipes have "Amalia's notes" at the end which are repetitive, but that's probably good. If a tip for how to handle certain peppers only appeared in one recipe then it would be somewhat useless for the other 10 recipes with that pepper.

I have False Tongues and Sunday Bread (FTSB), too, and suspect I'll like Amalia's better. The photos are not just gorgeous and tempting, but also help give some idea what the final product should look like. FTSB has black and white illustrations of Mayan images, but not the food. I also like the many suggested substitutions or additions to customize a recipe for those with an allergy, food aversion, etc.