THE COOKBOOK TEST #0058: BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS MEXICAN COOK BOOK

INSTALLMENT #0058 (PAID) MAGAZINES: THEY WERE A THING, ONCE / MEXICAN FOOD, HOLD THE NONSENSE / ENCHILADAS ROJAS

Dear Subscribers,

One of the original things that sent me on the journey that is THE COOKBOOK TEST is my collection of old Time Life Foods of the World volumes. Half cookbook and half detailed gazeteer, each of these books is a richly researched, beautifully written tour of a country or region by way of its food and dining traditions. 

I love these books, and I mourn the passing of the editorial tradition that got them made: big, smart teams of talented creative people working as editors, writers, photographers, graphic designers and more, all putting their shoulders to the wheel to bring something new and beautiful into the world.

This week's book, the BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS MEXICAN COOK BOOK is made by a crack team of magazine professionals, too. But where the Time Life people were dreamers, storytellers, and ramblers in the old tradition of National Geographic (or the new tradition of Anthony Bourdain), the Better Homes and Gardens people are absolutely no nonsense whatsoever. Chapter introductions are brief and general, and the book focuses with intensity on what it does best: machine-gunning the reader with a brief, efficiently written, cover-all-the-bases collection of Mexican folk food favorites from enchiladas to sopa de tortilla to huevos revueltos. 

It's a very different vision of what a disciplined team of editorial professionals can achieve in the realm of cookbooks, but it has a lot going for it, too.

at your service,

James

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS MEXICAN COOK BOOK
MEREDITH CORPORATION | 1977

The thing that strikes me about the Mexican Cook Book is how thoroughly basic the recipes feel - a real Tex-Mex, home cooking vibe pervades the collection, probably equal parts a function of the era (this was nearly 50 years ago!) and the hesitation on the part of the book's team to venture too far south of the border into new terrain.

The result is a lot of emphasis on stuff like chimichangas and refried beans - utterly valid foods with deep histories, of course - and almost nothing that resembles a modern taqueria's menu, which typically has plentiful input from various Mexican states and the superbly vibrant food scene of Mexico City.

But within that pantheon, the Mexican Cook Book, to its credit, is not constantly searching for shortcuts and simplifications that spare home cooks involved shopping trips and messy kitchens. You WILL need to buy some ingredients that might be difficult to find at the typical grocery store (circa 1977), and you WILL need to drag numerous pots and pans out of their hiding places to execute recipes that are involved, if not legitimately complex. A recipe for white beans, for example, features 13 ingredients, an overnight soak, and about 2 1/2 hours of semi-active prep time. Not necessarily practical on a weeknight, but also not compromising legit home cooking in the name of progress. To my mind: really respectable priorities.