Recommend me a good Mexican cookbook with reliable recipies

[celestina]

I'm curious and trying to expand my cooking repetoire. What are some good, preferably inexpensive Mexican cookbooks? Y'all Dopers what be cookin' Mexican food and stuff, help me out. I will say that I can't tolerate spicy food so the cookbook should explain the different kinds of chiles, how hot they are, and how I can cut the heat out of the food, but retain the flavors. Otay. That's enough.

Muchas gracias.

[Darth Nader]

Jeez, the one I use is out of print... It's by a local PBS cooking show host:

http://www.allbookstores.com/book/096367630X

[Bad News Baboon]

I have found that books by Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless are top notch.
They focus more on authentic Mexican cooking rather than Tex-mex.

[Athena]

Yeah, Rick Bayless's Mexican One Plate at a Time is excellent.

If you get into Mexican cooking at all, you'll find it's more a technique than anything else. I rarely use cookbooks for Mexican anymore. You get to know the ingredients and spices, and it's just a matter of combining them in ways that make things yummy. It's a lot of fun, too - especially when you have a hubby like mine who's eyes pop out when presented with good Mexican food.

[Mooch]

Another thumbs up for Rick Bayless' Mexico: One Plate at a a Time.

After each recipe (which usually includes a variation or two) he has a page or two with troubleshooting, substitutions, questions you may have and usually a little history on the dish.

I highly reccomend this book.

[CBEscapee]

Originally posted by celestina
I will say that I can't tolerate spicy food so the cookbook should explain the different kinds of chiles, how hot they are, and how I can cut the heat out of the food, but retain the flavors. Muchas gracias.

Here they say "sin chile, no tiene chiste" which roughly translated means "without chili, what's the point".

But in reality there are plenty of Mexican dishes that are not spicy hot. A lot of them are prepared without chile and the hot sauce is added by each person according to their personal taste. I think the Kennedy books will be what you're looking for.

[Scumpup]

In the area where I lived, the food wasn't spicy in the sense of being "hot" at all. The locals who fancied something hot would usually just alternate bites from a pepper with bites from the rest of the food. The local cuisine ran rather heavily towards grilled meat of various types, served with corn or flour tortillas.

[celestina]

Thank you, everyone for the suggestions! I'll have to get to the bookstore and see what I can find.

[samclem]

If uke were here, he's also second or third any book by Rick Bayliss. His first might have been Mexican Kitchen, but I'm going by memory. Get them all. It's truly Mexican and well written.