Reviews

The prolific authors of Smoke and Spice (LJ 4/15/94) and Texas Home Cooking (LJ 11/15/93), among other titles, now explore another aspect of the cooking of their favorite region. Here are the hearty, flavorful dishes prepared by home cooks on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border, from Texas to Southern California and down into northern Mexico. There are recipes as traditional as posole and newer ones, too, such as fajitas the way they were meant to be, not the versions often served up as Tex-Mex cuisine. Many recipes include different regional variations, and lengthy sidebars provide the culinary and cultural context. Recommended for most collections. [HomeStyle Bks. selection.]

The authors of Texas Home Cooking and Smoke and Spice turn their assiduous attention to border food (called norteño in Spanish) which, served from Northern Mexico through the American Southwest, uniquely fuses Native American, Spanish and Western settlers' fare. The introduction points to norteño's distinctive characteristics‘including large wheat tortillas, flame-cooked beef and the generous use of cheeses‘and discusses culinary offshoots like Tex-Mex, Sonoran and New Mexican cuisines. The 300 recipes drawing from all of these traditions are arranged by primary ingredient rather than by style (e.g., cheese enchiladas are found in the chapter about cheese; beef enchiladas appear in ``Ranch-Country Beef''). Appetizers and accompaniments include regional salsas and the secrets behind perfect guacamole and refried beans. Meat and seafood dishes comprise the bulk of the recipes, from Red Caldwell's South Texas Fajitas to Pinata Pollo, chicken breasts ``stuffed with treats,'' including chorizo, jalapeño and goat cheese. Sidebars detail the history and cultures from which recipes originated; further information about ingredients like nopales (cactus pads) and chiltepins (pea-sized hot chiles) is listed in a glossary. This Bible of border cuisine is as accessible as it is thorough. (Oct.)