Death by Burrito, Cookbook: Mexican Street Food to Die For

by Shay Ola

Delicious modern recipes from Death by Burrito, the revolutionary Mexican eatery based at the Catch bar in the heart of Shoreditch, with a new branch recently opened in central London.

A far cry from the Tex-Mex style of Mexican fast food, where cheese and chopped beef dominate, the dishes in Death by Burrito put taste first - the truly exceptional range of starters, main meals and sides prioritizes fresh, vibrant flavors: Smoked Beef Short Rib Mole Tacos, Deconstructed Guacamole with Blue Corn Tortillas and Crab Cakes are delicious also look stunning on the plate.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Food and Drink

160 pages, Hardcover

First published July 7, 2014

Reviews

[Don Gillette · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't until I was half-way into the recipes that I went back and read the foreword which explained a lot. This is a recipe book from a LONDON Mexican restaurant. I'm a guy who eats Mexican food in restaurants owned, staffed, and cooked by folks from Mexico, so I wasn't terribly impressed.
Don't get me wrong; it's not a bad cookbook, but you would be much better off picking one up written for a US audience by someone either on the Southern side of Texas or someone who's taken up residence on the northern side.

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Mexican food, and this has a lot of tasty recipes that I haven’t made before. Looking forward to trying them!

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

New takes on old favorites and definitely aimed at street food recipes, this is an enjoyable book. It has several great nopales recipes as well as a well rounded stable of favorites.

[Donut · Rating 2 out of 5]

The recipes might be good but they all lack an introduction, leaving it unclear to me what the provenance of each recipe is and why I would make one over the other. Sad.

[Josselin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little cook book with fun recipes. Some of the ingredients are quote niche so may have to substitute if living in the UK or outside of Mexico.

[Onno Bruins]

Mexicaans is het kerstthema na het lezen van dit boek. Carne asada burrito's.

Wat kun je er verder over zeggen, het is een kookboek :)

[Lee Broderick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a tie-in book for a restaurant I've never heard of (perhaps I would have if I was a hip Londoner?). As is common with these kinds of books today, it begins with a (very) short history of the restaurant which in this case if pretty laughable; the book coming less than two years after the restaurant first opened.

If there's such a thing as Tex-Mex than I guess there must reasonably be such a thing as Californian-Mex. If there is, this is it. Despite claims to the contrary, this is not authentic Mexican cuisine and I simply didn't know how to react to the recipe that called for '200ml Dr. Pepper'.

Aside from the brief history there's very little here apart from the recipes and newcomers to Mexican food may be a little confused when, for example, in the very first recipe masa harina is called for making tortillas. Yes, a bit of common sense might suggest what this is but nowhere in the book does it say that masa harina is flour (although I think, technically, it should refer to a dough). Obviously tortillas are pretty fundamental to Mexican cuisine and to most dishes in this book. It is, then, a case of sink or swim and it's perhaps not the best book for the novice.

If it's not for the novice though, who is it for? I've already suggested that it's not a book of traditional recipes. Anyone already comfortable with the techniques of Mexican cooking in Britain will, I'm sure, be able to concoct their own flavour combinations if they wish, so it's probably not for them. Quick, fusion-type tortilla recipes, meanwhile, abound in more popular cookbooks so it's hard to see how anyone who isn't a big fan of the restaurant could gain much from this.

[Marius Iordache · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most awesome, totally foolproof, mexican food book I've seen.
Dear friends if you're into the vivid mexican munchees you got to read it. This book explains everything from making your own tortillas till the finished burrito and much more.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG yum. I am excited to try just about every single one of the recipes in this book. I've previously made the lentil and plantain burritos, via the YouTube video from Jamie Oliver's FoodTube and they are ah*mah*zing.