Remington Sara - Amor y tacos : modern Mexican tacos, margaritas, and antojitos

Published in 2010 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
An imprint of Abrams

Text copyright 2010 by Deborah Schneider
Photographs copyright 2010 by Sara Remington
Illustrations copyright 2010 by Nathan Pickett

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Schneider, Deborah M.

Amor y tacos : modern Mexican tacos, margaritas, and antojitos / by Deborah Schneider.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-58479-824-8

1. Tacos. 2. Appetizers. 3. Cocktails. 4. Cookery, Mexican. 5. Cookery--Mexico--Tijuana. I. Title.

TX836.S36 2010

641.5972--dc22

2009032240

Editor: Luisa Weiss
Designer: Alissa Faden
Production Manager: Tina Cameron

Stewart, Tabori & Chang books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.

115 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
www.abramsbooks.com

TO MY FRIENDS

Salud, dinero y amor y tiempo para gozarlos.
I wish you health, money, love, and time to enjoy them.

Writing Amor y Tacos was wonderful fun. How could it not be? Eating, asking dumb questions, traveling, and finally writing and testing recipesthere was no downside to this that I could see. Bows and second helpings to Luisa Weiss, my patient and talented editor, and Leslie Stoker of Stewart, Tabori & Chang, who loved the idea and were not afraid to let an author get all quirky on them. Thanks to Carole Bidnick, agent and dear, dear friend, for believing in me, in Amor, and keeping me on track. Photographer Sara Remington immersed herself with gusto in the edgier parts of Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, then had a fling in her studio with the recipes, and totally got it, as did designer Alissa Faden. Isnt it gorgeous? Manny Its all in the shaking Hinojosa is a Mexico City native and a brilliantly original mixologist who created many of the recipes in the Drinks chapter and graciously gave me permission to adapt and reproduce them. Since I am a legendary lightweight in the drinking department, Mannys input was invaluable, as was the assistance and support of restaurateurs extraordinaire, Matt Baumayr and Rich Howland, my partners in SOL restaurant, as well as Jamie Waters Baumayr and Lauren Em Goldstein. Thank you! Being a working chef and writing is a challenging combinationeven chefs have to sleepand I couldnt do it without the best support group a chef could have, starting with my family of tasters: Barry, Willy, and Annie (who is vegan, thus proving beyond any doubt that the universe has a sense of humor.) Special thanks to dear friends and mentors David Nelson and Toni Allegra, who have been so generous with their praise and encouragement over the years. Thank you! A big abrazo to my family of cooks and cooking friends, past and present, who have taught me so much: in particular Manny Lopez Sr., a Tijuana native who has so generously shared his time and memories; Benito Mirafuentes, still the best cook I know; and to all my bastard childrenyou know who you are. Thanks for keeping me sane and making me proud. Special thanks to chef/filmmaker Joe Saldana for the golden footprint. I owe you one. Chef-owner Javier Campos of El Taco de la Ermita deserves a round of applause and a day off for so brilliantly demonstrating how truly great simple food can be. His work inspired this book. Hes an original, and I am in awe. Cooking is a hard lifehard on the body, hard on the family, hard to understand sometimes why we keep doing it. And yet we do. So lastly, I want to recognize every unknown cocinera and great taquero, who live their calling every day, on the line, on the street, in hot little kitchens. Thanks for all the great food. See you soon!

CHAPTER 1
Cocktails, Drinks, Bebidas

CHAPTER 2
Antojitos

CHAPTER 3
Tacos

CHAPTER 4
Salsas and Basics

INTRODUCTION

The idea for Amor y Tacos has been brewing in my notebooks for almost a decade. After publishing a book of traditional Baja Mexican recipes, and another of Mexican-inspired vegetarian food, I knew I wanted to create a party book of cocktails and simple, delicious food, reflecting what was happening with Mexican food on both sides of the border.

Reading back over ten years of my research journals, I found myself intrigued by the new angles on Mexican food that kept popping up in my notes, especially in the areas of tacos, antojitos (little bites), and cocktails. I started to see a new kind of Mexican food with a streetwise spin that was fun, exciting, and unexpected. I found bartenders acting like chefs; I began to see old standards done in new ways. Not fusion, but a fresh take on traditional preparations. It was food that was clearly Mexican but rethought, rediscovered, newly appreciated. I dont recall whether the light went on with my first chamoy margarita, or my first taco vampiro. But after my first visit to El Taco de la Ermita in Tijuana, I knew this was the direction I wanted to pursue, not least because it is rapidly becoming an even a bigger trend in the United States.

This next wave grew out of la cocina nuevaMexicos answer to nouvelle cuisine and California cuisine. In every major city, especially in Mexico City, cutting-edge chefs were cooking remarkable food, and their ideas were filtering into the broader cooking community. Mexican expats who moved north to work in restaurants brought ideas with them. American chefs, finally listening to their cooks, were traveling and seeing Mexican food in a new way. Good-quality Mexican ingredients became widely available at last. Tequila suddenly became chic. It was a perfect storm.

Mexicos culinary heritage is ancient but far from static. Modern Mexican food can be stunning, precocious, ground-breakingyet still recognizably Mexican, confidently walking the tightrope between a bone-deep understanding of tradition and the kind of head-turning, self-conscious innovation that is hip to the point of irony. You might think you know what a taco isof course!and yet the taco keeps evolving. A margarita is still a margarita, though flavored and tweaked in delightful new ways. Even the dreaded chips-and-salsa yawn is giving way, at last, to antojitos, wonderful little bites that showcase the cooks sophistication. The trend is definitely to simplify and emphasize freshness. Best of all, most of this food is based on the very easiest preparations: street style, quick and fast.