cover image Fth-Mexican Family Ckg

Fth-Mexican Family Ckg

Aida Gabilondo. Fawcett Books, $19.95 (385pp) ISBN 978-0-449-90162-5

In this fine volume, Gabilondo, a professional chef, shares a full range of more than 260 appealing recipes from her native Mexico, including a number of desserts and corn tortilla dishes. A chapter on fiesta fare contains the author's favorite recipes: meatball soup; stuffed green chilis with walnut sauce; shrimp, pineapple and jalapeno salad; exotic crabmeat hash; pork ribs and hominy soup; zucchini and cheese crepes; broiled wrapped oysters; tamale pie. Gabilondo describes, in glossary form, various ingredients and their specialized use in Mexican cookery, and where to obtain the more unusual items; the array of fresh, dried and canned chilis and recommended methods of handling them; basic cooking techniques and equipment; and mail-order sources for Mexican food. The chatty, exaggerated narrative is more than compensated for by excellent, step-by-step, well-illustrated instructions that will ease the entree of Mexican cuisine into American homes. Author tour. (July 7)