Chef Rick Bayless just keeps getting better and better. I love his sense of maintaining the traditional ingredients while including a few modern touches that give a new spin to many of these authentic Mexican cuisine. The guy is a genius! Photos are a great plus. Wish he put in more details for recipes but that's my personal gripe. Very good read! Bon appetit! ( )

I was looking for a mole recipe when I initially purchased this cookbook. Shame on me for not realizing what a gem I had & letting the book collect dust for five years. I had a renewed interest when I heard Rick Bayless on a podcast. He was describing easy marinades coming from this very cookbook. I focused on one recipe & assumed the rest were guilty pleasures. Rick Bayless' goal was to find balance. While the recipes do not include nutritional values, they are modified from heavy traditional Mexican dishes. The salad dressings & salad guides were my reason for calling the book a gem. Planning & judgment are required if you want to eat the entrees and desserts everyday. ( )

My husband and I decided to focus on Mexican cooking this month, instead of trying to cook ALL the cuisines. And thanks to this cookbook, we started off with a bang!

The Mexican red rice is SO easy and straightforward, and makes lots- enough for several tasty meals. We used brown rice instead of white, and corrected for cooking times and increased liquids, and it turned out perfectly.

The roasted fresh chili salsa is delicious, but very, very hot, using the peppers we had! (a mix of jalapenos and Fresno red chilis) next time I'll make it with all jalapenos.

And these went with Grilled Chicken Legs with Tangy Yucatan Spices and Seasonal Veg. We did take some liberties here- we made the marinade and tossed the drumsticks and thighs in it (3 of each), then sealed them and sous-vided them at 165F for 3 hours before grilling. We made the sauce as specified, an added the juices from the sous vide to it. Since it's spring and we could get really great asparagus, we served it with that. Delicious!

Our anniversary is in a couple of days and we'll be making Chipotle Shrimp for that- hopefully, with some scallops thrown into the mix!

Very recommended! I look forward to trying yet more recipes from this cookbook! ( )

This is getting tattered and torn, with stains on almost every page. I cook from it at least once a week. Not just good Mexican food, good food period. The ONLY thing I'd change is in the recipe for pollo pulquero (which is addictive) in the slow cooker: use ATK's recipe for chicken vesuvio. In other words, microwave the sliced potatoes for 5 minutes to get them cooking, then cook the whole thing in the slow cooker on low for 4 to 6 hours -- the texture of the chicken is MUCH better. The only other trick is to find a brand of chorizo is that not too spicy for your and your family's tastes. ( )

Gift from Gene & Emily, December 2014