Hugo Ortega's Street Food of Mexico

Hugo Ortega's book is the type that makes one rethink doing everything on an electronic device. It needs to be held to be truly enjoyed. There is much to appreciate. The scope of the offerings is staggering, and all the more helpful because Ortega's love of his country's cuisine is evident on every page. He did his homework, seemingly traveling the length and breadth of Mexico to get at the soul of its street food offerings. Penny de Los Santos' photography is stunning, producing pictures that are worthy of being framed and hung. The overall effect is, to put it simply, sensuous. Everything I saw I wanted to make, and I have started working my way through it's recipes.Not everything is new, especially for those who are familiar with the cusine and its preparation methods, but there are new treats and twists aplenty to keep Mexican food veterans interested; two immediately come to mind. First is "Guisado de cazuela de chicharron", literally pork skin stew. The chicharron, which I happened to have just purchased at a local tienda, is immersed in a beef and tomatillo broth, using the familiar onion, chile and garlic for aromatic punch. Spice additives included cumin, oregano and a bit of ground clove, which added an interesting note. The chicharron softens in the dish, and develops a texture I happen to love, akin to the tendon commonly found in Vietnamese Pho.The second dish is "Tacos de transito de lujo." Just a taco, you say? Yep, but made with deboned pig's feet panfried in egg batter. Using deboned trotters is the "lujo" or luxury, in the dish's name. You can have them deboned by your butcher, or braise or boil them briefly with aromatics to soften them up, and then debone them yourself. (To make this even easier, have your meat purveyor cut the feet in half which will simplify the process) A little bit of extra prep, but well worth the effort. Both of these dishes exemplify the soul of street food, regardless of where it comes from- lots of flavor from simple ingredients.For the not so meat centric, the book includes meatless offerings and all manner of street offerings including sandwiches, ceviches, sauces, drinks, and sweets."Street Food of Mexico" is one of the best books of it's kind to come out in a long time. Buy it for the information it imparts. Buy it for the beauty it contains. Just buy it, and buy it old school -the book- to hold and enjoy, even if you never make a single recipe.

Cemitas. If you have ever been to Puebla, you know this amazing bread and sandwich. I am enclosing a photo so that you get an idea of the size of this typical lunch or anytime at all meal in one. Layers of avocado, lettuce, tomato, chiles, string cheese, milanesa, etc. make for a mountain of a sandwich. Whereas in Mexico, one would really never have to bake bread from scratch due to availability, the cemita bread is unique enough that a telera or boillo don't really substitute. So I made my own using the recipe from Hugo's book.I have some comments on the cemitas recipe in the cookbook.1. The dissolving of the yeast in both yeast prep steps in just a little bit of water results in a yeast sludge that is hard to scrape out.2. The first part of the recipe for the starter is precise with weights and measures. But then, the main recipe gives a flour amount of 5 ¼ cups and does not give a weight. In baking, flour weights are important as a ‘cup’ one day may not be the same as a cup the next day due to room conditions. I would have preferred if they would have continued with weights in either English or metric for the rest of the recipe instead of switching to cups.3. I wonder if the cemitas in Puebla actually do use all purpose flour or if they use bread flour with its higher protein?4. I added one additional step. I bought some of those small, aluminum pans, like one would use to make individual chicken pot pie servings. And I placed my dough pieces in those. My feeling was that the walls of these would help keep the shape of the buns while they were baking.

I absolutely love the enormous amounts of true Mexican recipes in this book! EVERYTHING you could possibly wish to find is here- even Mexican 'torta' bread recipes. The author has shared a culinary treasure trove of recipes! The only negative I can add, which is something I read in other reviews, is the strong 'chemical' odor emanating from the book. This of course has nothing to do with the author's contribution to this work. I hope AMAZON can contact the publishers or suppliers about this very annoying problem. (Amazon are you listening?) However, for once I can say, because of the amazing worth of the recipes alone, I am willing to let it pass- no way I'm returning this book! I highly recommend it! Others, however, may not be so forgiving.I posted the above review and had to come back to edit. After spending the evening pouring through the book, I found that the abnoxious odor pretty much disappeared after airing it out whilst reading. It would be a great service to the publishing house's readers to do something about the problem, but I am editing my review because I don't think anyone should miss out on owning this book because of the noted problem with the odor. It does seem to dissipate after a while. At least that has been my experience with it.

We are business owners who have been loyal customers of Hugo's, for many (many) years. This book is filled with wonderful recipes. Sadly, none of which are primary recipes on the famous Hugo's menu. Nice compellation of recipes, which we will use, but would have been heart warming to have had a few of the restaurant's recipes to tackle at home. Do yourself a favor and stop in for one of the best meals in Houston. The margaritas are made with fresh lime juice, ceviche is the best in the city, chile rellenos are pure art on a plate. If you are lucky, you'll be served by a waiter that will actually look you in the eye while taking your order. Food is excellent, service continues to leave much to be desired.

Why I liked the book? Recipes are authentic. He gives explanation of the ingredients, and recipes have the personal note attached. What I don't like? The index is a list of recipes. So, if you want to cook "chicken", go through the whole index searching for "chicken". I'm particularly annoyed by two things: the recipe for tamales is "get tamales flour" when normally one can prepare it by mixing flour and fat. And, I bought chipotle sauce, came to the book to see how to use it and it says "used in adobo". Where is the recipe or meaning of adobo? If you find it, please let me know because I'm tired of searching the book and ended up with an internet search (annoyingly as I wanted to use the book).

Fantastic recipes. I have been preparing some of them for a few weeks, and after trying a couple I realized how good they are because the dishes result with the authentic flavour of Mexican food, from the street vendors, to the mercados and cenadurias. Hugo and Ruben Ortega present an interesting variety of recipes, all great, all truly authentic. I never knew how to cook beef's tongue, the recipe is friendly and the tacos de-li-cious! These recipes are easy to prepare and result in tacos and antojitos that are, again...delicious!I've tried chalupitas, garnachas (I used chicken because I couldn't find rabbit), sopes, all very, very good. The Tacos de papas, acelgas y champinones are a vegetarian delight. Skip the oil and you get a great vegan dish. Taquitos al pastor reminded me of late night snacks after a night of partying and dancing in Mexico City, amazing authentic mild spicy flavour. The Taquitos dorados de papa were another appetizing vegetarian option which seemed pulled directly from the cenadurias in the State of Sonora.I dared to make Tamales de Dulce, perfection, what a treat. I can't wait to get the ingredients to make the Taquitos de Cachete; if they are as true to the original flavour as the other recipes I've tried, they will be glorious (as they are in Mexico). Try the mouthwatering Cemitas poblanas, mozarella and cilantro can be used instead of quesillo de Oaxaca and Papalo (a regional herb from Central Mexico).This book besides providing very (very) tasty street food recipes from various parts of Mexico, makes you happy. The selection of photos of the markets, the stands, the prepared dishes, the vendors, the lovely marchantas who are always kind and often funny, all conveys happiness, the happiness (and kindness) with which people in Mexico offer their food. Even the food looks happy! Excellent recipes, great photos, great cookbook. Just one word to the authors and/or editors, and/or the publishing company (Bright Sky Press) of the 2012 edition: the paper and/or the inks used in the printing of this book have a strong smell which is unappealing, it has been fading slowly though. The book is so good I am keeping it, but if I could change it for a version with better printing quality I would. Thank you Chef Hugo Ortega and Pastry Chef Ruben Ortega, what a delightful culinary trip this book offers, and Penny de los Santos captured the heart of it all with her photos.

The best Mexican street food book I've found. I have about 20 Mex cook books and this one really is good. I've also spent time in Mexico enjoying many of these recipes there. The presentation is lovely too, photo's are great!