Mexican Christmas/holiday Recipes Cookbook

[luciddrmr]

Does anyone know if there's any cookbooks out there centered around either Mexican or Southwest Christmas/holiday recipes? My google searches have yielded no results.

I know there's a lot of Southwest cookbooks out there which have a section about holiday cooking, but I'm looking for one specifically centered on the topic.

Thanks in advance!

[chefj]

There are sections on many of the large holidays in Patricia Quintana's "Mexico's Feasts of Life" including Christmas. Her recipes are well written and the results great.

[luciddrmr]

Great, I'll check that out. Thank you!

[mrbigshotno.1]

Here's one, this small company puts out great books of all kinds.

http://www.goldenwestpublishers.com/b...

[luciddrmr]

Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much!

[paulj]

A bit on Christmas tamales, from Zarela
http://www.zarela.com/2010/my-mothers-chile-colorado-tamales/
http://www.zarela.com/2011/las-posadas/
She's from northern Mexico, and now living in NYC, a chef, restaurant owner, and cookbook author (and also mother of a FN chef).

[luciddrmr]

Thank you very much for the recipes. I was mostly looking for something I could give as a gift for the family, but it sounds like such a thing doesn't exist, so c'est la vie :-)

[foodie06]

Check out the Pastry Queen Christmas Cookbook. Lots of Mexican and Southwest inspired recipes.

[DiningDiva]

If you're looking for gifts to give you might consider

* Homemade cajeta

* Homemade rompope

* Mexican nuts (candied or spiced, Fiesta at Rick's has several recipes for nuts)

* Homemade Alegria (kind of like a rice krispie treat only made with puffed amaranth and agave nectar)

* A Ristra - wreath or string of dried chile peppers

[paulj]

A couple of coffee table books come to mind:
http://www.amazon.com/Oaxaca-Gusto-Infinite-Gastronomy-Hemisphere/dp/0292722664/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323534869&sr=8-1
D. Kennedy's Oaxaca al Gusto (focus is on a specific region of south central Mexico

)

http://www.amazon.com/Mexico-Beautiful-Cookbook-Susanna-Palazuelos/dp/0067575862/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323534992&sr=1-1
Mexico: The Beautiful
http://www.amazon.com/Southwest-Beaut...
Southwest: The Beautiful Cookbook
I once gave as a wedding gift a volume in this series that combined the Mexico and Texas books. It's a European publication. Judging from the new prices it may be out of print. But a good used bookstore may have clearance copies.

[paulj]

Christmas does not have the some prominence in Hispanic Catholic culture that it does in the modern American world - though American customs are spreading. Traditionally the period leading up to Christmas is Advent, a Lent like fasting period. Christmas Eve is a 'fasting day', preparation for the midnight mass. The food was seafood and fish, not meat. You see that it the Italian Feast of the 7 fishes, and Scandinavian lutefisk (salt cod). Gift giving was associated with St Nicholas, or the Wisemen (Jan 6), not with malls, Santa Claus and Christmas trees. Many of these American customs come from the Dutch and Germans, not Puritan English (who outlawed Christmas). And the explosion of Christmas cookies requires home ovens, and magazines devoted to home baking.

[DiningDiva]

I own well over 200 Mexican cookbooks (yeah, it's an illness) in both English and Spanish, non or which are devoted solely to Christmas.

What's your objective. If I know what you're looking for, perhaps I can make some other recommendations that would work for you

[luciddrmr]

I have a family friend whose Christmas tradition is to eat Southwestern/Mexican holiday recipes. So for Christmas this year I wanted to get their family a cookbook centered around these recipes. Some of them we could make together when I visit them for Christmas this year, and some of them they could make in future holiday seasons.

Thanks for the reply!

[DiningDiva]

Try Googling for a recipe for Ensalada de Noche Buena, Pozole, Polvorones and Ponche.

You also might want to check out Frida's Fests, there should be a Christmas, or at least a post-Posada, menu and recipes there.

[luciddrmr]

Great, will do. Thank you!

[paulj]

Has this friend listed or described some of these dishes? Are ones that they've been eating for generations, or ones that they've adopted recently? Depending on the depth of that tradition, such a book might give them a lot of new ideas, or give rise to a lot of 'Thats not how we do that' comments.

How about - Christmas in New Mexico?
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-New-M...