MEZCLA: Recipes to Excite

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I keep mine on my bedside table and read it before I sleep and first thing when I rise in the morning. Chef cookbooks don’t usually reflect how people cook at home, which is why we eat at those chefs’ restaurants. For the razor clam-curious, Chris McDade’s “The Magic of Tinned Fish” (Artisan Books) is a comprehensive introduction to the original fast food — shelf-stable seafood packed in olive oil. And the flavors are sophisticated: A Mexican brownie ice cream cake had a deeply cinnamon chocolate base, a carrot cake was so bright with orange zest and warmly spiced that it felt alive. If you don’t mind mess in the pursuit of flavour, these Torta ahogada, or drowned sandwiches, are a whole experience rather than just a meal.

Ixta has spent her life exploring and enjoying food in Italy, Mexico and Brazil, so it’s no surprise that MEZCLAis a fusion of different cultures and food traditions. Alongside, are plenty of other dishes that take inspiration from around the globe and introduce us to unique interpretations of familiar dishes. Das muss man allerdings meines Erachtens bei einem derartigen Kochbuch in Kauf nehmen, so dass ich hierfür keine Punkte abziehe.When fusion first started in the late 90s, early noughties, people thought it was code for food that was all over the place, without focus, a bit sloppy,” Belfrage explains, also noting that its associations with going against tradition could be insensitive to the cultures the food is riffing on. Sidebars on oxidation and proper freezing technique will make you realize that this book is about much more than one kitchen tool. I should, by rights, recoil in horror at the notion of deep-frying — the interior temperature of my house feels like being surrounded by bubbling chip pans as it is — but it’s the Fried Bread To Go with Just About Anything (think bread dough, formed into little rolls, which are then plunged into hot oil) that I’m dreaming about making first.

The recipes embody Taylor’s “kaleidoscopic feasting,” from strawberry-sumac cake to very green coleslaw with charred poblanos and a bright red hibiscus snow cone.The subtitle to Ixta Belfrage’s first solo cookbook, Mezcla, promises “recipes to excite”, and boy does she deliver. Betty Liu’s “My Shanghai: Recipes and Stories From a City on the Water” (Harper Collins) is an expertly laid-out book full of enriching recipes and stories. Und auch die gratinierten Ofen-Paprika mit salsa roja waren so ganz nach meinem Geschmack, ebenso das Süßkartoffel-Curry, Ragu aus getrockneten Steinpilzen und viele andere der Fusionsgerichte. He uses the word quantum 28 times, and it’d be a little pretentious if it weren’t also so thought-provoking. If you do require precise ingredient information you should consult the manufacturer, whose contact details will appear on the packaging or label.