My Mexico City Kitchen: Recipes and Convictions [A Cookbook]

by Gabriela Cámara, Malena Watrous

Overview

The innovative chef and culinary trend-setter named one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world shares 150 recipes for her vibrant, simple, and sophisticated contemporary Mexican cooking.

IACP AWARD FINALIST • ART OF EATING PRIZE LONGLIST • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE SEASON BY The New York Times • Bon Appétit • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune

Inspired by the flavors, ingredients, and flair of culinary and cultural hotspot Mexico City, Gabriela Cámara's style of fresh-first, vegetable-forward, legume-loving, and seafood-centric Mexican cooking is a siren call to home cooks who crave authentic, on-trend recipes they can make with confidence and regularity. With 150 recipes for Basicos (basics), Desayunos (breakfasts), Primeros (starters), Platos Fuertos (mains), and Postres (sweets), Mexican food-lovers will find all the dishes they want to cook—from Chilaquiles Verdes to Chiles Rellenos and Flan de Cajeta—and will discover many sure-to-be favorites, such as her signature tuna tostadas. More than 150 arresting images capture the rich culture that infuses Cámara's food and a dozen essays detail the principles that distinguish her cooking, from why non-GMO corn matters to how everything can be a taco.

With celebrated restaurants in Mexico City and San Francisco, Cámara is the most internationally recognized figure in Mexican cuisine, and her innovative, simple Mexican food is exactly what home cooks want to cook.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399580574
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	04/30/2019
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	145,097
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Gabriela Cámara is the chef-owner of Mexico City's most famous and trafficked restaurant, Contramar, and its sister restaurant, Cala, in San Francisco. Mentored by Diana Kennedy, Cámara has become internationally recognized as the leader of accessible yet sophisticated Mexican cooking. She has appeared in every major American newspaper and food magazine. In 2016, Cala was named one of Bon Appétit's 50 Best New Restaurants, Food & Wine's Restaurant of the Year, and a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation's award for Best New Restaurant. In 2020, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Malena Watrous has worked as a recipe tester for Melissa Clark and written about food, books, and travel for the New York Times, Allure, Condé Nast Traveler and Salon. The author of the novel If You Follow Me, she leads the Online Writer's Studio at Stanford University, where she teaches fiction and food writing.

Editorial Reviews

These recipes reflect Cámara's vibrancy, magpie intellect and respect for the traditions that made her success possible.

The New York Times Book Review - Christine Muhlke

01/28/2019

Cámara, owner of the Contramar restaurant in Mexico City and Cala in San Francisco, offers recipes from those restaurants as well as her family recipes in this inviting and well-written cookbook. She provides, among many others, the recipe for Contramar’s famed tuna tostada, which can also be made with trout, as is done at her San Francisco restaurant. Another signature dish is a butterflied red snapper with fiery red salsa on half the fish and milder green salsa on the other. There are plenty of homey dishes alongside the restaurant choices, and basics are ably explained, including thorough instructions for making one’s own tortillas (“Make tortillas from masa harina,” and don’t press them too thinly). Flexibility and adaptation are emphasized: “Everything can be a taco,” Cámara insists in an essay that lauds the tacos at a tiny stand in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City. Yet, title notwithstanding, many recipes hail from elsewhere, as she defines Mexico City as a “melting pot.” A chapter on antojitos—appetizers and snacks—includes an octopus salad handed down by the author’s Italian maternal grandmother and sopa de lima from the Yucatan. Personal touches like a paean to great Mexican food writer Diana Kennedy and a meditation on mole are lovingly crafted. Cámara’s delightful cookbook offers a nuanced window into the evolving cuisine of Mexico City and beyond. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Cámara’s simple yet thorough instructions make home cooks feel as though she’s right next to them, talking over a cutting board about technique and the importance of sustainable, fresh ingredients. From tricks for maximizing flavors while saving money to instructions on navigating Mexican cuisines, Cámara makes this book feel like a mini-encyclopedia on Mexican food. And with personal stories woven throughout, readers will sense Cámara’s love and passion for the food. With its comprehensive approach, My Mexico City Kitchen will empower enthusiastic home cooks with the knowledge and skills to adapt Mexican cuisine on their own.”—Eater

“Cámara’s delightful cookbook offers a nuanced window into the evolving cuisine of Mexico City and beyond.”—Publishers Weekly

“I’m psyched about this book not just because I’ll be able to impress friends and internet strangers with what I'm sure will be my extremely imposter version of Gabriela Camara's signature red-and-green grilled snapper, but also because it’ll provide more insight into how she thinks as a cook (and a person!).”—Julia Kramer, Bon Appétit

“Gabriela Cámara’s sense of place infuses every aspect of her cooking. Her food is bold, beautiful, approachable, and, most of all, insanely craveable. And now with My Mexico City Kitchen she generously brings you into her kitchen.”—Nicole Krasinski, chef and co-owner of State Bird Provisions and The Progress
 
“This super-personal book lets us in on the magical mind and mission that have given us two of my favorite restaurants—Contramar and Cala. Gabriela Cámara’s passion for the lush, fresh, and bold flavors of her home country of Mexico bursts from these pages and her detailed recipes give us all a chance to bring her delicious food into our own homes.”—Suzanne Goin, chef and co-owner of Lucques, a.o.c., and Tavern
 
“As a fellow female chef and entrepreneur, Gabriela Cámara’s culinary career stands out to me as one of great authenticity and passion. Her devotion to her food, staff, and community resonates throughout her restaurants, filling them with an ethos of family that is felt by each and every person who enters.”—Melissa Perello, chef-owner of Frances and Octavia
 
“Gabriela Cámara brings tradition and innovation together in recipes that are familiar yet original, simple but sophisticated. I can hear her saying ‘you must try this!’ as I read her recipes and I agree— you must.”—Elisabeth Prueitt, co-founder of Tartine Manufactory and Tartine Bakery
 
“This book brings me back to the first time I ate at Contramar, and the radical simplicity of Gabriela Cámara’s grilled whole fish: superbly fresh, adorned with red and green salsas, and served family-style with a stack of freshly made tortillas. Cámara is a beautifully intuitive cook and keen observer of flavor, but her cooking is about so much more than just tasty and inspiring food. Cámara’s restaurants are gathering places that celebrate the deep importance of sustainability as well as the culture, creativity, and diversity of Mexico City. These are the powerful and delicious messages delivered to you with every organic corn tortilla.”—Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse and founder of The Edible Schoolyard Project

From the Publisher