When I hear the name Rick Bayless I immediately think of Mexican food. This book written with his daughter Lanie contains not only Mexican recipes but also other recipes from the Bayless family's traveling cooking adventures and some of the recipes Rick grew up with in his home state of Oklahoma. Not only is this a fun book to cook from it's also a foodies dream book to read. Both Lanie and Rick give their take on how they remember the cooking adventure. At the beginning of each recipe each of them gets a turn to tell you about that particular recipe. Besides Mexico with a side trip to Peru you get recipes and stories from Oklahoma, France with side trips to Italy and Ireland, Morocco - starting in southern Spain, and Thailand with side trips to Japan and Hong Hong.
When I got this book I could barely put it down until I'd read it from cover to cover. Even the introduction is fun to read. In the intro you learn how they came to write the book and that it took several years to finish...
When I hear the name Rick Bayless I immediately think of Mexican food. This book written with his daughter Lanie contains not only Mexican recipes but also other recipes from the Bayless family's traveling cooking adventures and some of the recipes Rick grew up with in his home state of Oklahoma. Not only is this a fun book to cook from it's also a foodies dream book to read. Both Lanie and Rick give their take on how they remember the cooking adventure. At the beginning of each recipe each of them gets a turn to tell you about that particular recipe. Besides Mexico with a side trip to Peru you get recipes and stories from Oklahoma, France with side trips to Italy and Ireland, Morocco - starting in southern Spain, and Thailand with side trips to Japan and Hong Hong.
When I got this book I could barely put it down until I'd read it from cover to cover. Even the introduction is fun to read. In the intro you learn how they came to write the book and that it took several years to finish. As they traveled to many countries they cooked with families and ate in restaurants. When they tried to recreate the recipes at home they kept in mind ingredients that were easily found in the US. For recipes used in the book they used ones family and friends really liked. They also wanted the recipes to be clear enough so that almost anyone could recreate them in their own kitchens. There is also a note from Lanie about the pros and cons of growing up in a restaurant and having a famous world chef as a father. From Rick there is a sidebar about cooking with teens.
I love the ways the recipes a laid out. Titles of the recipes are in colored ink then the notes and recipes are in black ink. Each recipe starts off with Rick and Lanie giving you their thoughts about the recipe. Next you get a green box with white ink telling you what to do first. After that are the instructions and on the side the ingredient list. In each section you get things like cool things to buy in the type of store the section is about, music to play at parties you might have featuring recipes from that section, and tips and hints about using some ingredients from that particular country that might be new to you.
This book would be excellent for teens, beginning cooks, experienced cooks who want to try some new to them cuisines, fans of Rick, and foodies who love to read about traveling and cooking.
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