Mexico : The Cookbook

Competition is now closed to win a copy of Mexico: The Cookbook by Margarita Carrillo Arronte - a stunning bible of Mexican home cooking with over 700 beautifully photographed recipes. We want to know what's your favourite Mexican dish and why. Post your answers as comments at the bottom of this article to be in with a chance of winning.

Competition closed on Friday 5th December 2014 at 5pm.


Mexico: The Cookbook features more than 700 delicious and authentic recipes that can be easily recreated at home. From tamales, fajitas, and moles to cactus salad, blue crab soup, and melon seed juice, the recipes are a celebration of the fresh flavours and ingredients from a country whose cuisine is revered around the world.

Modern Mexican cuisine is a fusion of Indigenous American and European food. It is underpinned by the Mayan and Aztec corn-based diet: tortillas, tamales, atole, cuitlacoche (corn fungus) and elote (corn on the cob), merged with Spanish meat and wheat brought over in the 1500s.

Today the main differences are regional rather than ethnic. Oaxaca, in the ‘deep South’, is to Mexico what Sichuan is to China. The food is spicy and complex: dark mole pastes, loaded with chilli and spiked with cocoa. Yucatán, on the Eastern peninsula, is historically and geographically a more isolated part of Mexico.

Oaxaca, in the ‘deep South’, is to Mexico what Sichuan is to China.

This is reflected in lighter flavours, and unique regional dishes: tortillas with pumpkin sauce and epazote (papaduzules), or achiote pork baked in banana leaves. The Western Gulf is renowned for spicy, seafood soups (chilpachiole), and the north of the country is united by wild frontier cooking – grilled meat, with char and embers flavouring beef steaks and chorizo.

Click here for a range of Mexican cookware and ingredients


25 comments

  • Frijoles negros, super simple but you cant beat the black bean!
    I’ve had it a ton of ways and love it everytime!

    hannah wither on

  • My favourite Mexican dish without a doubt is Huevos Rancheros for the following reasons:

    a) you cannot beat a cooked breakfast;

    b) I love the taste of chilli in the morning;

    c) this is the only way I’ll eat fried eggs;

    d) it wakes you up like nothing else;

    e) perfect with plenty of coffee black.

    Daniel King on

  • Chicken Mole has to be my favourite dish! I love the combination of chillies and chocolate in savoury dishes, although it took a bit of courage to cook it for friends for the first time! The deeply sweet and savoury notes that you get from adding a great quality chocolate to a recipe, together with the use of the right dried chillies, cannot be reproduced by using ‘ready made’ sauces or spice mixes, and the proof is in the eating. This is a wonderfully flavoursome dish, mixing my favourite poultry with what my friends call the ‘dark and mysterious’ flavours of Mexico – it simply can’t be beaten!!

    Jane Robinson on

  • Favourite mexican dish has got to be slow cooked pork with a simple and fresh guacamole. Deliciously simple with all the flavours showing through! Can’t beat it.

    Victoria on

  • Favourite Mexican dish? Absolutely no idea….but I am dying to find out. Being Coeliac and Vegan limits me somewhat and I have been advised to try Mexican cuisine..especially the soups and ‘real’ Mexican tortillas made with Masa Harina

    Tenere on

  • I wanted to think long and hard before answering this question, for the gastronomy of Mexico is so multi-faceted and unique. I have only recently discovered the world beyond burritos and tacos (thank goodness) and found myself in a labyrinth of vast recipes and culinary delights. So what is my favourite dish? At this very moment, it has to be Pavo en Relleno Negro; a black turkey stew. Originating in the somewhat isolated state of Yucatan, this stew, to me at least, embodies true Mexican. Each bite is guaranteed to provide new culinary delights, creating an enticing and exciting meal. The dish is so very complex and rich in flavour. Even the texture of the turkey and sauce contrast wonderfully with each other. Sure, it requires a lot of labour… this is certainly not your quick supper meal. For instance, one must first prepare the Recardo Negro – a spice blend made of burnt chillies (chile de árbol and/or chile ancho), achiote seeds, Mexican oregano and vinegar, to name but a few. And that is just the base. However, when you take the time to prepare such a wonderful dish, you develop an attachment to it. When you see it devoured by guests who desperately seek to identify the ingredients, it is impossible not to feel a sense of pride. I am so grateful to live in a time when we are so able to import Mexican products and introduce them to friends and family. I urge you to set aside a day or two to create this this dish. It will blow your mind!

    Boris abrams on

  • My favourite Mexican dish is huevos rancheros. What a fantastic breakfast! Also in the summer, an ice cold glass of horchata is a real treat.

    Anna on

  • Chile Relleno is perfect for brunch with a Margarita of course!

    Jill Ashton on

  • Chilli con carne is my favorite dish! I like the spiciness of the stew, plus it’s easy to make.

    Esther on

  • I love Esquites, I could eat it all day long. I’m a big fan of sweetcorn but the addition of cheese, zest and spice (and all things nice) make it the ultimate more-ish comfort food. Plus, since it’s off the cob, you hardly have to use your teeth!

    Tamsin on

  • Favourite dish of any cuisine is always an almost impossible question to answer. I think it has to be something slow cooked, because when Mexican food is slow cooked it produces an amazing depth of flavour. I’m going to pick cochinita pibil for my favourite dish but I also want to say chili and chicken mole.

    Josie on

  • Tamales are one of my favourite, my daughter got married this August and one of her guests was mexican, when attending my daughters after the wedding my daughter served the pulled pork tamales I had made and was told by guest these tAste just like the mexican ones at home , I would love to win the cook book mexican food is my favourite

    Anne on

  • I love tacos with hot chunky salsa and cool sour cream. The combination of textures and flavours is lovely.

    Richard Hill on

  • I love fajitas as it is great for entertainment at the table and it is so amazingly messy, especially if you fill them as much as I do. ;-)

    Francoise on

  • My fave mexican dish has to be burritos. What’s better than having stewed spiced meat, refried beans, rice and salsa all rolled up in a tortilla? It’s the Mexican equivalent of the good old sandwich. Dreamy. I love a good chipotle chilli salsa on mine and Limey guacamole. Yum!

    Robyn on

  • Chilli made with casserole steak and sauce from dried collision such as poblanos

    Teresa Palmer on

  • My favourite Mexican dish is enchiladas, with homemade tortillas, they are the perfect dinner … Especially when served with guacamole or pico de gallo, I just love them! Mexican cuisine has lots of great flavours, spices and varieties, it is very difficult to just pick one!

    María Bejar on

  • The simply, but wonderful home made Guacamole! The vibrant green colour brightens up any meal, and by varying the recipe enables you to adjust it whatever else you are eating – a little extra heat of chilli, more zingy lime sharpness or the fresh taste of the herbs. Lovely.

    Andy on

  • Am I allowed to say guacamole??? So tasty with everything :) especially on buttery sourdough toast with a poached egg :D My love for Mexican treats is expanding rapidly… I’m travelling there next summer for a gastronomic trip. Bring on the chilli!

    Michelle on

  • My favourite Mexican dish without a doubt is Huevos Rancheros for the following reasons:

    a) you cannot beat a cooked breakfast;

    b) I love the taste of chilli in the morning;

    c) this is the only way I’ll eat fried eggs;

    d) it wakes you up like nothing else;

    e) perfect with plenty of coffee black.

    Daniel King on

  • Spicy chicken Fajitas

    Reg Vandra on

  • Ham and Cheese Torta

    Marion Gold on

  • It may sound boring, but Guacamole is most definitely my favourite. I have a severe illness that means I have systemic inflammation, and guacamole, along with a lot of other Mexican dishes, serve to not only to be hugely nutritious, but act as a medicine – better than anti-inflammatory drugs! So healing, healthy AND delicious. You really can’t ask for more than that… :) This book looks amazing :)

    Jennifer Evans on

  • Many thanks for your entries! Congratulations to our lucky winner Boris Abrams. We’ll be in touch soon. Best wishes,
    Jessica

    Jessica on

  • I love a good cabrito taco and I love love love chipotle in adobo which is a secret ingredient in many of my recipes; also chicken epazote with tomatillos and fresh torillas is just amazing.

    Natanya on

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