The Latin Road Home: Savoring the Foods of Ecuador, Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru
With this exciting book, home cooks can join Jose, one of America's most exciting chefs, on his journey back and forth across the Atlantic, cooking some of the best dishes from the Old World and New. (Jose Andres)The Latin Road Home is Chef Garces' passionate, personal introduction to Latin cuisine. His love of unpretentious home cooking and his superb culinary techniques are beautifully integrated in each recipe. (Chef Masaharu Morimoto)This beauty of a book is Philadelphia-based chef Jose Garces's love letter to Latin home cooking. Organized into five lavishly photographed chapters-one each for Ecuador (Garces's ancestral homeland), Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru-the book explores the foods that have nourished Garces and shaped his growth as a chef. In each chapter, Garces o?ffers four dinner menus, featuring tempting authentic regional dishes such as Ecuadorian Chicken and Rice Soup with Achiote, and Seafood Vermicelli Paella (yes, paella made with pasta, not rice) from Spain's Costa del Sol. He also includes extra recipes for "essentials" of each cuisine like Ecuadorian empanadas, sweet Cuban-style espresso, and hearty Mexican corn tamales. Throughout the book, Garces remains true to his mission of celebrating home cooking, and the recipes are consistently doable and unpretentious. It's filled with the sort of comforting family-friendly roasts, stews, and salads that we all love-and it's a great read to boot. (Kimberly MasibayFine Cooking, October 2012)Garces' recipes are his take on the classics, whether it's a twist added by his relatives or an upscale reinvention for one of his restaurants. The book is also beautiful, with photography that stands out as a refreshing pop of color (and vegetables) in a season dominated by food photography in muted shades of brown. (Paula ForbesEater, October 2012)The cookbook serves as a Latin cooking primer, paying homage to the countries where Garces found his cooking soul: his ancestral home of Ecuador, as well as Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru. Garces traveled extensively through those countries, absorbing then interpreting their cuisines for the restaurants he opened here. (Maureen Fitzgerald, Food EditorPhiladelphia Inquirer, October 5, 2012)