Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I preordered this book the day Amazon offered it, expecting a collection of recipes from Pati's PBS programs. When I started reading it, the recipes were the third thing I admired -- right after the numerous Mexican Cook's Tricks and the extensive descriptions of Mexican ingredients. This is my third Mexican cookbook (after Diana Kennedy and Roberto Santibanez), but it should be everyone's introduction to Mexican flavors, techniques, and gusto because it works so well on four levels, each of which is worth the price of the book: 1. Mexican Cook's Tricks -- There is a "trick" at the end of most of the recipes. They are short and most apply more broadly than just the subject recipe: how to cook an egg, prepare enchiladas, marinate meats, prepare chiles. These are as addicting as nachos (or Margaritas): You can't eat just one. After you finish one, you poke around to find more. 2. Mexican Ingredients -- What stops you from reading the "cook's tricks?" There are about 60 green-highlighted sidebars, most of which describe a Mexican ingredient and how it is prepared and enjoyed: tamarind, corn versus flour tortillas, several varieties of chiles, hibiscus flowers, cinnamon, and buying avocados. A few succinctly describe cooking processes for rice and beans. By the time you've read eight or ten of these sidebars you want to cook. 3. Recipes -- The recipes are for home cooking. This is the food that Pati, a busier-than-we-are soccer mom, serves her family. They are not the traditional servant-prepared recipes that Diana Kennedy features. They are contemporary flavors that use ingredients you can find in a large supermarket with a broad selection of Latin products or, better still, one of the small stores that serve Mexican/Central American immigrants you can find even in small towns. I've made several recipes (and others on her website) and have always had good results. The recipes are flexible and you can substitute pork for beef or adjust the chiles and other flavors to taste. One tip: It's efficient to prepare meals from the book over consecutive nights so you can re-purpose the food as Pati does -- salsas, beans, meats, tortillas. 4. Gusto -- What draws these three elements together is Pati herself. Her culinary philosophy and approach to cooking are lively, fresh, and magnetic. The introductions to each recipe are informative and personal and her advice and judgements are level-headed. You can benefit from adapting her style, regardless of what you cook -- Mexican, Chinese, or American. If you want to cook Mexican for your family, order this book and buy an avocado and a few chiles. But read the book first to learn how to buy the avocado and handle the chiles.