• ellabee on January 29, 2016

  The epic one-star review at Amz has already become part of cookbook publishing lore, I trust. Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2WHE6OG1LT741/

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Corn tortillas (Tortillas)

  • Schout on March 24, 2016

    Inedible as written. For more information: http://almostfearless.com/the-worst-mexican-cookbook-in-the-world/

• Guacamole

  • robdurante on March 16, 2024

    pg 40

• Grilled adobo pork tacos (Tacos de cecina enchilada)

  • JLDuck on December 27, 2016

    Depending on the size of the pork, complete the cooking in a hot oven. The sauce/marinade is delicious.

• Carnitas

  • FJT on January 01, 2015

    Great flavours and I will make this again with a tweak. I was sceptical beforehand about using pork loin for this recipe and I was right - it doesn't really become as pullable as I would want for Carnitas, certainly not in 2 hours anyway. Next time I will try it with some pork shoulder and maybe cook it low and slow in the oven.

• Red pork tamales (Tamales rojos)

  • peaceoutdesign on February 01, 2025

    I just made the filling and it was good but needs work. I bought premade masa and made a tamale pie.

• Mexican salad (Ensalada Mexicana)

  • cookingGib on June 24, 2023

    Page 121

• Mango salad (Ensalada de mango)

  • JLDuck on February 01, 2020

    An excellent adjunct to a meal. The sauce is rather hot.

• Summer salad (Ensalada de verano)

  • cookingGib on June 24, 2023

    Page 126

• Heirloom tomato salad (Ensalada de tomates organicos)

  • cookingGib on June 24, 2023

    Page 128

• Plantain and meat empanadas (Empanadas de platano macho rellenas de picadillo)

  • laurenlangston on May 19, 2019

    If I had made this as written I would have been sorely disappointed. It calls for “1/2 cup (2oz/50g)” each of capers, green olives, and almonds, and “1/3 cup (2oz/50g)” raisins. 50g of capers is nowhere near half a cup — I think the editors just plowed right past that. I was doubling the recipe and I’d already added a cup of nuts and olives, and 2/3 cup raisins, and while it was good, it’s more of a nut empanada than a meat empanada. Thank god I realized the error by the time it came to add the capers.

• Sardine empanadas (Empanadas de sardinas)

  • Hana.Sundet on May 17, 2025

    Powerfully delicious!

• Shrimp escabeche (Camarones en escabeche)

  • robdurante on March 16, 2024

    pg 163

• Tarascan soup (Sopa tarasca)

  • meggan on January 09, 2018

    This is essentially a thin bean dip soup which sounds gross but is pretty tasty with all the accouterments.

• Sea bass in caper sauce (Lomito de robalo en verde)

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on May 09, 2017

    Delicious combination of fish and sauce with spinach. Sauce is very salty with anchovies and capers. 1.2 kg of fish for six persons is too much for me. Served it with green asparagus and boiled potatoes.

• Shrimp in tamarind sauce (Camarones en salsa de tamarindo)

  • JLDuck on April 29, 2017

    Serve with guacamole and/or tomato salsa

• Barbecued chicken (Barbacoa de pollo)

  • FJT on January 11, 2015

    This tasted nice enough but despite the number of chillies involved and marinating the chicken for 24 hours, the end result wasn't as full of flavour as I'd expected. I had more marinade than I needed for the quantity of chicken I was making, so I froze it and we will therefore be having this again, but I'm not sure I'll bother making the marinade again. Not having banana or avocado leaves I made parcels for the chicken from parchment paper and this worked well.

• Chicken in almond sauce (Pollo en almendrado)

  • JLDuck on February 20, 2018

    Add fresh chilli with the tomatoes for a variation. This recipe took time to prepare but is worth the effort. I preferred my chicken fillets sliced before adding the sauce.

• Mole from Queretaro (Mole de Queretaro)

  • JLDuck on July 26, 2021

    Absolutely worth the effort. I would advise making the sauce early as it does require effort and time. Simple accompaniments are required as the sauce is very rich.

• Chicken in pine nut mole (Pechugas de boda en salsa de piñon)

  • JLDuck on February 14, 2015

    Ordinary line nuts work very well if pink pine nuts are not available.

• Oaxacan-style chicken in caper sauce (Pollo alcaparrado estilo Oaxaca)

  • Stephenn31 on February 25, 2023

    Interesting recipe. The potatoes should have been parboiled or cooked in the sauce before being added per the recipe. A subtle caper flavour given the amount. Good but I wouldn’t make again. An interesting change

• Chicken in creamy tomato sauce (Pollo ahogado en nata)

  • alecreid on April 29, 2023

    I was not overly wowed with this recipe. The sauce is out of this world, and good enough on its own to make and use for other ad hot recipes. The chicken, on the other hand, was just plain and tasteless. Not sure if some marinade insert with a syringe would improve it, but the sauce alone is what makes it delicious

• White rice (Arroz blanco)

  • doug_j1bmba on April 06, 2026

    Made with Jasmine & Fish Stock: 1.5 c rice to 2.75c stock. Light fry, 10 minutes once covered, fluff, 10 more minutes & add a few bits of butter and dang!!

• Duck breast with wild cherries (Filete de pato con capulines)

  • JLDuck on December 11, 2017

    Used bottled slightly sweetened cherries. I warmed them and placed them on the sauce. It is a very delicious recipe.

• Stewed meat (Carne en su jugo)

  • greedyrosie on January 13, 2018

    Napalm

  • Stotik on January 28, 2026

    This was easy and delicious. I had proportionally more chuck and less bacon than called for, three chipotles instead of four, served over canned pintos, garnished with crema and cilantro, but not serrano. It was not overly hot for us. Just perfect.

• Marinated short ribs (Barbacoa costillas de res)

  • Stephenn31 on April 08, 2023

    Juicy meat. I cooked in a slow cooker so I should have reduced the broth at the end to soak the meat in after cooking

• Chiles in walnut sauce (Chile en nogada)

  • peaceoutdesign on July 18, 2019

    Great and faster than expected. I would forget the milk unless you need to thin the sauce. I would also like to substitute Cojita cheese for the cream cheese and see hoe it turns out. I blended the sauce to get a creamier texture.

• Drunken pork loin (Lomo borracho)

  • Silverscreensuppers on October 26, 2015

    This was DELICIOUS! I used pale ale and tequila and it was really yummy. Served the sauce up on the side - scrumptious!

• Mexican meatballs (Albondigas en chipotle)

  • FJT on March 09, 2017

    Easy to make although I lack a pan that can accommodate so many meatballs (32 golf ball-sized ones) and ended up baking the meatballs in the oven. I didn't use the hard-boiled egg as I wasn't convinced that I could chop one hard-boiled egg into small enough pieces to put one piece in the middle of each meatball, plus the recipe already has 4 eggs in the meatball mix. The mint in the meatballs was delicious when I fried a small amount of the mixture to check the seasoning, but was totally overpowered by the chipotles in adobo in the sauce. I didn't much like the sauce - it is just passata, water and chipotles in adobo - my husband thought it was great, but he has a heavy cold and I suspect he was just happy that he could taste something. There also wasn't enough sauce for all of the meatballs - double the quantity would probably give a better sauce to meatball ratio. I'll be making up my own sauce for the leftover meatballs.

• Pork ribs in mango and tequila sauce (Costillas de cerdo con salsa de mango y tequila)

  • JLDuck on May 26, 2015

    Variation. While making the sauce lightly grill the ribs.

• Pork with cascabel chili sauce (Puerco con salsa de chile cascabel)

  • FJT on February 18, 2017

    Tasty recipe that appealed to me because I had everything on hand and didn't need to go grocery shopping. I made the sauce a day in advance for convenience. Easy to make and tasty. I ended going back and making more of the apricot sauce (easy - stir some apricot jam into the chile sauce) mid-way through the meal as there was nowhere near enough. Left-overs will make lovely tacos tomorrow.

• Pork in beet mole (Puerco con mole de betabel)

  • JLDuck on June 10, 2016

    Found the recipe lacked interest.

• Lamb in cider sauce (Cordero a la sidra)

  • JLDuck on March 31, 2017

    Surprisingly delicious. Need to be careful during the scallion/chorizo phase as the spring onions burn easily.

• Rabbit in prune and chili sauce (Conejo con salsa de ciruela y chile)

  • phil_oedbsx on April 07, 2026

    Marinaded overnight, sautéed bacon first then seared rabbit, did 1.5hr in Dutch oven at 350

• Marinated lamb chops (Chiletas de codero marinadas)

  • vhague on October 30, 2022

    The title in Spanish is misspelled and is Chuletas de cordero marinadas.

• Green beans with oregano (Ejotes al oregano)

  • GrammieP on July 24, 2023

    I made this with yellow and green Romano beans, Mexican oregano and feta cheese. Easy.

• Cauliflower with tomato and capers (Coliflor con tomate y alcarparras)

  • JLDuck on May 24, 2020

    A little bit of forward planning is required but the effort is worth it. Delicious.

• Potatoes in garlic (Papitas al ajillo)

  • lorloff on February 23, 2020

    These easy to make potatoes were delicious. We used small purple potatoes whole. Added Diamond salt to the boiling water. Increased the garlic to 6 cloves. Heated the garlic in olive oil very slowly on low to infuse the oil fully without browning the garlic. Used a Mexican chili seed mix at the end and sprinkled some fresh chopped cilantro on at the end just before serving. Using the broiler was a great idea. The potatoes boiled and the oil was being infused with garlic while I prepared the rest of dinner. Will definitely make again.

• Fresh salsa (Salsa cruda)

  • JLDuck on February 20, 2018

    Tasty and useful. I added extra tomatoes, because I could and our tomato bushes are bursting with fruit. I also preferred the enhanced tomato flavour.

• Yellow rice (Arroz amarillo)

  • Stephenn31 on February 25, 2023

    Solid rice. A nice change from the Mexican or green versions

• Green rice (Arroz verde)

  • doug_j1bmba on May 26, 2026

    Be careful with the blending of garlic. Blending it whole seemed to make it a little more picante than usual? Anywho, otherwise rice came out as expected!

• Shells (Conchas)

  • anne_6vyngl on March 09, 2026

    The ingredient list is not complete for this recipe. Also powdered sugar, milk, sea salt, and sugar These are amazing when warm out of the oven

• Michoacan bread pudding (Capirotada Michoacana)

  • meggan on October 29, 2018

    Kind of gross - it was too sweet and somehow also too salty and dry.

• Guajillo pork belly (Pancita de cerdo)

  • Mayito27 on May 17, 2017

    Couldn't find it in the index of my copy

  • Kakibell on February 16, 2026

    Like the other commenter said, this recipe is missing from the version I have as well. I looked through the entire pork section and could not find it.

• Almond flan (Flan almendrado)

  • KarinaFrancis on March 15, 2015

    This is the first recipe I've made from this book and its a winner. Very simple to make, very delicious to eat. The almonds pool on the top and make a crunchy base when inverted. We toasted them a little before blitzing which amped up the almond flavour and crunch.

• Red snapper ceviche (Ceviche de huachinango)

  • robdurante on March 16, 2024

    pg 663

• What's Gaby Cooking

  Mexico...it has so many recipes in it, stemming from Mexico obviously, you’ll want to pack up your bags and move south of the border...

  Full review

• Food52

  2015 Piglet Community Pick. ...exhaustive in its recipes & scope and, like the other one-country subject books from Phaidon, is a one-stop, easy-to-read resource with great pictures and a clear index.

  Full review