Cookbook: Truly Mexican

the appetizer:

Truly Mexican by Roberto Santibañez includes recipes like Guacamole with Chicharrón; Jalisco-Style Guajillo Salsa; Zucchini and Corn with Cream; and Lamb In Modern Yellow Mole.

Truly Mexican

by Roberto Santibañez with JJ Goode

Click to buy Truly Mexican

Mexican cuisine is an American favorite from coast to coast, but many people are too intimidated to try cooking real Mexican meals in their own kitchens. In Truly Mexican, Roberto Santibañez shows that it's the flavors that are complex—not the cooking. From bright and fiery Jalisco-Style Guajillo Salsa to deep, dark Mole Poblano, the authentic Mexican home-cooking Santibañez brings into your kitchen is fast, fresh, and delicious.

Truly Mexican breaks down the intricacies of Mexican cuisine by using classic Mexican sauces as the building blocks for creating great meals. Santibañez teaches home cooks how to create unforgettable salsas, guacamoles, adobos, moles, and pipianes—as well as how to use them in enchiladas, tostadas, tacquitos, and much more.

An introduction to Mexican cooking covers the main ingredients as well as how they're best prepared—from toasting tortillas to roasting tomatoes—and includes helpful lists for both fresh and dried chiles that help cooks decipher the many varieties available. Santibañez also offers a few simple kitchen commandments that make great results a given:

Five Commandments of Great Mexican Cooking

1. Buy the best ingredients
2. Toast chiles and roast tomatoes
3. Look, touch, and smell
4. Pay attention to the texture
5. Season to Taste

Featuring full-color photography by Romulo Yanes and 140 recipes for authentic Mexican favorites, home cooks will learn how to create and combine crispy, juicy carnitas with rich and creamy black beans; whip up a quick Three Chile Adobo or wow guests with an unforgettable Oaxacan Red Mole; and dip, drizzle, and sauce with salsas from Roasted Tomato and Pineapple to Habanera-Orange.

About the Author

Roberto Santibañez is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, the chef/owner of Fonda in Brooklyn, New York, and the Culinary Partner of The Taco Truck in Hoboken, NJ. A native of Mexico City, he is the President of Truly Mexican Consulting in New York and a member of The Culinary Institute of America's Latin Cuisines Advisory Council. Santibañez spent five years as the culinary director for the popular restaurant chain Rosa Mexicano, which includes three locations in New York as well as locations in Atlanta, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Palm Beach, FL. He is also the author of Rosa's New Mexican Table and developed the restaurant's line of specialty foods that includes salsas, soups, and prepared meals.