Art of South American Cooking

by Felipe Rojas-Lombar

As diverse as its history and as varied as the countries that make up the continent, South American cooking combines the agricultural greatness of the pre-Columbian native peoples--responsible for cultivating the potato, tomato, chile pepper, and corn--with the culinary traditions of later arrivals from Spain, Portugal, the west coast of Africa, Italy, and elsewhere to create a delicious cuisine of dimension and depth. Felipe Rojas-Lombardi presents a spectacular array of both innovative and traditional recipes. He begins each chapter with a discussion of how that particular food fits into the fabric of the meal. The more than 250 recipes include ceviches, escabeches, empanadas, tamales, soups, seafood, poultry, meat, vegetables and grains, and desserts; and finally there is a chapter on such basics as how to prepare eggless mayonnaise and corn beer, and how to clean squid. An enormously talented cook and teacher, Felipe brings North Americans the culinary diversity and great food of the continent to our south.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published November 12, 1991

Reviews

[typewriterdeluxe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, love, love, love this book! When my partner and I purchased this book, we were on a trip away from home with a long car ride back. I started reading it out loud to practice mi pronunciación en español y give my partner an idea of the recipes. However, we were pleasantly surprised that Felipe Rojas-Lombardi is also an excellent author as well as an excellent chef. We ended up happily reading a lot of the book out loud that day.

Rojas-Lombardi's writing style is that of a friend and mentor who is really excited to share his knowledge with you (the reader). Contextual history and sense of place are very important to his cooking, and I learned a lot about the history and history of food in each region just by reading the introduction of the book.

And of course, the recipes are excellent! Everything that we have made from this book has tasted WONDERFUL, and is written in a friendly style that would be easy for even a newbie to keep up with.

I was wondering if there were newer editions of this book, so I googled the author and was sad to learn that Felipe Rojas-Lombardi passed away at the age of 46, just a month before this book was published. (I also learned that he is credited with introducing the United States to tapas! Wow.)

"The Art of South American Cooking" is a real gem of a book, and if you are able to find a second-hand copy online or in a shop, I hope that you scoop it up right away!

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book might be great, but unfortunately there are no pictures, which for me, is a must in a cookbook. It helps me choose what I would like to prepare as well as know that yes, I'm preparing it in the right way! "A picture is worth a thousand words" for a reason!