FREE/BARGAIN — Cookbooks

[Cinisajoy]

Very much still in copyright.
Oh and on the subject of Mexican food, what you get in Mexico City is very different than what you would get in say Cabo.
As to celebrities and restaurants, Sammy Hagar (rock star) owns a couple of different restaurants. The catch is he hired local chefs to run them and come up with authentic menus to the region. Yes, he put out a cookbook and every recipe is credited to the person that created it.
And in Texas, the Tex-mex varies by region.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Very much still in copyright.
Oh and on the subject of Mexican food, what you get in Mexico City is very different than what you would get in say Cabo.
As to celebrities and restaurants, Sammy Hagar (rock star) owns a couple of different restaurants. The catch is he hired local chefs to run them and come up with authentic menus to the region. Yes, he put out a cookbook and every recipe is credited to the person that created it.
And in Texas, the Tex-mex varies by region.

Smart businessman. Sounds like he's a better businessman than front man for a band. I'll have to try out one of his restaurants whenever I'm close to one of them.

Oh yeah, I know that there are regional differences with a country the size of Mexico, just as there are with other large countries, like the U.S.. Seems like the Bayless cookbook said something about him getting recipes from the interior of Mexico or something like that. I didn't read that very carefully, obviously, and don't have the motivation to bother to go back and re-read it now.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Smart businessman. Sounds like he's a better businessman than front man for a band. I'll have to try out one of his restaurants whenever I'm close to one of them.

Oh yeah, I know that there are regional differences with a country the size of Mexico, just as there are with other large countries, like the U.S.. Seems like the Bayless cookbook said something about him getting recipes from the interior of Mexico or something like that. I didn't read that very carefully, obviously, and don't have the motivation to bother to go back and re-read it now.

It is my understanding he is high end Mexico City restaurants. But like you no motivation.
Heck even smaller countries like England have regions.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

It is my understanding he is high end Mexico City restaurants. But like you no motivation.
Heck even smaller countries like England have regions.

Never been to Mexico. Don't want to go to Mexico. Sure, they've got oceanfront resort cities, but what's wrong with the oceanfront resort cities here in the good ole USA?

Besides with Donald Trump's new wall, I might not be able to get over there anyway. ha

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Never been to Mexico. Don't want to go to Mexico. Sure, they've got oceanfront resort cities, but what's wrong with the oceanfront resort cities here in the good ole USA?

Besides with Donald Trump's new wall, I might not be able to get over there anyway. ha

Do Matamoros and Tijuana count? Those are the only two places I have visited.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Never been to Mexico. Don't want to go to Mexico. Sure, they've got oceanfront resort cities, but what's wrong with the oceanfront resort cities here in the good ole USA?

Besides with Donald Trump's new wall, I might not be able to get over there anyway. ha

You'd probably be able to get there - the question would be whether you could get back!

[LJJohnson]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. I've seen his corn tortilla recipe. I'll stick to my Mexican cookbooks by actual Mexican cooks. Not some guy that needs a digital thermometer to make something as simple as corn tortillas.
Though that is a good price.

Kinda like saying Mario Batali can't have Italian cookbooks since he doesn't live in Italy.

I've watched his show for many years, watched him and his wife and daughter spend much time in Mexico, and enjoyed his recipes on that show. He is more than aware that there are different regions in Mexico, he emphasizes it (at least on the show). So yes, I bought his cookbook without even looking what was inside it.

[LJJohnson]

Originally Posted by LJJohnson

Kinda like saying Mario Batali can't have Italian cookbooks since he doesn't live in Italy.

I've watched his show for many years, watched him and his wife and daughter spend much time in Mexico, and enjoyed his recipes on that show. He is more than aware that there are different regions in Mexico, he emphasizes it (at least on the show). So yes, I bought his cookbook without even looking what was inside it.

Just checked the dates: from 1980 to 1986, lived in Mexico with his wife, Deann, writing his first book, Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico. And I know that since then, he has made many field trips to different areas of Mexico, both as research for his show and restaurants, and because he (and his family) seem to enjoy it.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by LJJohnson

Kinda like saying Mario Batali can't have Italian cookbooks since he doesn't live in Italy.

I've watched his show for many years, watched him and his wife and daughter spend much time in Mexico, and enjoyed his recipes on that show. He is more than aware that there are different regions in Mexico, he emphasizes it (at least on the show). So yes, I bought his cookbook without even looking what was inside it.

Well Mario Batali is Italian. And yes his cookbook is fabulous. Big difference.

He isn't some guy that gave money to be praised.

On Bayless, like I said I was told by his devotees that he knows more than an actual Mexican chef. I also heard he donated a bunch of money so he would get some awards.
You can have him. I'll take actual Mexicans and their descendants. Not some guy that says a digital thermometer and a certain pan is a requirement for making corn tortillas. That is so not true. I think people have been making tortillas long before digital thermometers.
Ok so a cast iron pan Is a help but it doesn't have to be a precise size. I don't think there is a digital thermometer in my neighborhood. But there are many tortillas.

6 years and a few trips isn't that long. Maybe if he wasn't so spendy.

[LJJohnson]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Well Mario Batali is Italian. And yes his cookbook is fabulous. Big difference.

6 years and a few trips isn't that long. Maybe if he wasn't so spendy.

Not my problem whether you like him or not. Just didn't want anyone listening in on the conversation to think yours was the only opinion.

[LJJohnson]

Originally Posted by LJJohnson

Not my problem whether you like him or not. Just didn't want anyone listening in on the conversation to think yours was the only opinion.

From Wikipedia:

Mario was raised in Seattle, Washington, by Marilyn Batali and Armandino Batali,[6] who worked for Boeing most of Mario’s childhood. He spent his high school years studying in Madrid, Spain, before attending Rutgers University for Spanish Theater and Business Management. During his college years, he worked for a stromboli restaurant and bar near the Rutgers campus called Stuff Yer Face in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After graduating, he attended Le Cordon Bleu in London for a few short months before taking an apprenticeship with revered Chef Marco Pierre White in London at the Six Bells pub. Over the next three years, he underwent a culinary transformation that prepared him to leap into New York’s Italian cuisine with his own unique signature.

Sounds like an American to me. I just don't think your ancestry gives you the "right" to do or not do a specific kind of cooking. What does is training, dedication, and research.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by LJJohnson

From Wikipedia:

Mario was raised in Seattle, Washington, by Marilyn Batali and Armandino Batali,[6] who worked for Boeing most of Mario’s childhood. He spent his high school years studying in Madrid, Spain, before attending Rutgers University for Spanish Theater and Business Management. During his college years, he worked for a stromboli restaurant and bar near the Rutgers campus called Stuff Yer Face in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After graduating, he attended Le Cordon Bleu in London for a few short months before taking an apprenticeship with revered Chef Marco Pierre White in London at the Six Bells pub. Over the next three years, he underwent a culinary transformation that prepared him to leap into New York’s Italian cuisine with his own unique signature.

Sounds like an American to me. I just don't think your ancestry gives you the "right" to do or not do a specific kind of cooking. What does is training, dedication, and research.

What I think gives a person a right to cook any type of cooking is to prevent starvation.
So are you saying because I'm not trained, I shouldn't cook?
Did your parent cook or did they pay someone? Are your parents professional chefs?
Because you don't need training or research to cook.
Or to make decent food. I have been cooking longer than Mr. Bayless.
But yet, you imply that I can't cook because I wasn't privileged enough to be discovered by a tv channel.

The best recipes are from home cooks not from someone that has underlings to do more than half the work.

Look, Rick may have great Mexican food, but please give credit to your mom/dad/older relative that cooked for you when you were growing up. I am assuming he/she was a decent cook. Or if not, it inspired you to learn to cook.
Yes, I do know a couple of people that really couldn't cook. But their kids are good cooks.

[LJJohnson]

Pretty far off subject here. I was merely countering your contention that someone (like Rick Bayless) couldn't become an expert in the regional cooking of another country (Mexico) because he wasn't either born in the country or had parents from that country that taught him how to cook. I don't either understand or agree with that contention.

One of the best chefs around (at least in contests) is Masaharu Morimoto. And despite being born and raised in Japan, he excelled in not only Japanese cooking, but any other country's regional cooking that he turned his hand to. He proved conclusively (at least to me) on the original iron chef that being a great chef was superior to being bound to strict rules for Japanese cuisine. He did this by defeating nearly 100% of the Japanese chefs that came to the show, many of them bragging that making a recipe **exactly** like it has been done for hundreds of years was the winning method. So, whether you call it fusion cooking, or just good cooking, superior talent, training and research trumped those who followed 300 year old recipes and methodology blindly.

My mom was known as a good cook, but I didn't learn any cooking from her, no did I like most of what she cooked (other than fried chicken and fried lake pan fish). Nor from any other family member. I do, however, have 50+ years of self-taught (thousands of cooking shows, many many hundreds of books, lots of experimenting) cooking under my belt, in many of the world cuisines.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree here. While I do agree that home cooking can be great (I've never tasted fried chicken better than my mom's), I don't agree that you can't do as well or even better with talent, training, and most importantly, the ability to "taste" food by just reading the ingredients. That is why I don't mind even bad cookbooks. I can quickly scan though the ingredients to determine if it's a recipe I want to try, and if so, try it as is, or with minor or major modifications, or just as inspiration for a totally different dish.

And BTW, while I have a couple of Mario's cookbooks, and have cooked some of his recipes, I'm not overly found of Italian cooking from whatever part of Italy. I tend more toward oriental (Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai) for go-to dishes.

[Cinisajoy]

I think we misread each other. I just said I wouldn't touch that book because I have heard that he is the ONLY expert in that field and not even restaurant chefs or other "exoerts" compare to him.
Yes, he may can cook great Mexican food and the one recipe I've seen of his may be a fluke. I was told he knows everything about Mexican food and you must do exactly as he says to make Mexican food.
If I have misjudged the man I am sorry.
That would be like saying Emeril is the only Cajun chef. Oh wait, much to the culinary world's dismay, he is the only one left. But he acknowledges the others and gives credit where credit is due.

On the one recipe I have seen of his, he said you must have this exact pan at a precise temperature to make corn tortillas. That right there tells me that he either hasn't made many corn tortillas, he uses a restaurant kitchen or he is setting his followers up for frustration.
Now yes, he is partially correct. You do need a very hot cast iron pan. But not exact and precise. It was the wording that turned me off completely. Not where he is from or his heritage.

Oh and yes, anytime someone says you must do this exactly like me or it is wrong, that is a big turnoff and I will look for someone else to teach me whatever I need to know. Especially for crafts and cooking.
Certain science fields are a different story.

[rxmom03]

"On the one recipe I have seen of his, he said you must have this exact pan at a precise temperature to make corn tortillas. That right there tells me that he either hasn't made many corn tortillas, he uses a restaurant kitchen or he is setting his followers up for frustration.
Now yes, he is partially correct. You do need a very hot cast iron pan. But not exact and precise. It was the wording that turned me off completely. Not where he is from or his heritage."

Do you remember where you saw him say this? I was curious and googled "Rick Bayless corn tortillas". I found his printed recipe/instructions and a youtube video. In what I found he never says you need an exact pan (just either a griddle or 2 skillets) or a precise temp (just med and med-high).