Los Angeles, CA – Abundant and diverse, Mexican cuisine is a culture in itself, boasting a multitude of recipes and dishes which all differ in style, preparation and ingredients, each distinctive to various regions of Mexico. Arguably the epitome of Mexican fare, the single common element, which is the inspiration for all of these recipes, is salsa. Whether served raw, cooked and puréed, sweet, sour, or spicy, this flavorful sauce is a mainstay of Mexican cooking. Now there is a new guide to creating these vibrant culinary condiments: Salsas and Moles, the sixth cookbook from Mexican-street-food expert Executive Chef Deborah Schneider goes on sale Tuesday, April 14th, 2015!
In this stunning collection of authentic salsa and mole recipes, James Beard Award-nominated author, Executive Chef, and acclaimed Restaurateur Deborah Schneider adapts traditional recipes for US kitchens and arms home cooks with the skills they need to create delicious Mexican sauces for any meal.
A Toronto native who rose to prominence as the first female Executive Chef in the Hilton hotel chain, Schneider may not have grown up cooking Mexican cuisine, but it has become her passion. “No matter what you are cooking, in the kitchen, you talk about food and what your grandmother used to make,” she says. “So I learned about Mexican food by cooking next to Mexicans.”
In more than 30 years of cooking professionally, Schneider has dedicated the bulk of her career to Mexican culture and cuisine. Her five cookbooks to date have garnered a James Beard Award nomination and enabled countless readers to make delicious authentic dishes at home. Now, her latest tome, Salsas and Moles, extends her reach to the vast world of Mexican sauces and condiments.
Salsa has surpassed ketchup as America’s favorite condiment, and this handbook includes a wide variety of favorites, from classic table salsas to mole and enchilada sauces, plus chunky salsas and snacks. Now even more accessible, Salsas and Moles offers straightforward recipes that are simple to recreate in your own kitchen, ranging from familiar classics like Guacamole and Salsa Verde to tart and crunchy Green Apple and Jicama Salsa to the rich and complex Mole Negro. While many may think it is all about the heat, Chef Schneider teases out fresh flavors from chiles, fruits, and herbs for fragrant and mouth-watering salsas and sauces. Many of her recipes showcase the unique flavors of Mexico and beyond, including recipes for Black Bean Salsa, Salsa Verde, fresh tomato Salsa Diabla, Mango-Habanero Salsa, and many more.
The book begins with a visual guide to the many varieties of fresh and dried chiles used in Mexican cuisine, along with tips on finding and preparing them. It continues on to list additional fruits and vegetables needed to prepare all of the recipes throughout the book, with even more helpful tips and facts.
Salsas and Moles traverses the vast regions of Mexico, presenting diverse recipes from all across the country, including the fiery Salsa de Chile Pequín, a popular staple in the northwestern Sinaloa state, to the Salsa Gobernador, a creamy salsa traditionally drizzled over Pacific coast seafood tacos, to the popular Mayan-style salsas of the Yucatan Peninsula. Schneider even highlights the Hatch Chile Salsa, used in the Southwest cuisine of New Mexico. Just as the recipes are diverse, so are their intended uses, ranging from toppings on tacos and enchiladas to sauce bases for stews, dressings for rice and beans, simmering sauces for proteins, and of course, delicious dips for tortilla chips.
As is if the recipes and narrative are not “hot” enough to make Schneider’s sixth cookbook a must buy, there are also full-color photographs that accompany nearly every recipe, taken by Maren Caruso, a noted food photographer accredited with Celebrity Chef cookbooks from Chocolatier Michael Recchiuti, James Beard Award-winning Chef Daniel Patterson of Coi in San Francisco and now the formidable, Chef Deborah Schneider.
So whether you are looking to entertain, or have a quiet night in, make sure to order your copy of Salsas and Moles today so that you can experience the magic of the Mexican condiment for yourself in the comfort of your own home!
ABOUT CHEF DEBORAH SCHNEIDER: Deborah Schneider is the Executive Chef/Partner of SOL Cocina in Newport Beach, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; and soon to be Playa Vista, CA and Denver, CO; as well as solita Tacos & Margaritas in Huntington Beach and Valencia, CA. Dubbed “the reigning queen of San Diego chefs” by Bon Appétit, Chef Schneider brings three decades of professional cooking experience and a deep knowledge of Mexican cuisine. Her Mexican food courses on Craftsy are highly rated and are taken by thousands. She is also the author of The Mexican Slow Cooker; William-Sonoma’s Essentials of Latin Cooking; the James Beard-nominated Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta; Amor y Tacos; and ¡Baja! Cooking on the Edge, which was one of Food & Wine’s Best of the Best of 2006.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, Salsas and Moles goes on sale April 14th, 2015, and will be available online and at bookstores nationwide for a cover price of $16.99.
Salsas and Moles
Fresh and Authentic Recipes for Pico de Gallo, Mole Poblano, Chimichurri, Guacamole, and More
By Deborah Schneider
$16.99 hardcover ● 160 pages ● 6 ½ x 8 inches ● ISBN 978-1-60774-685-0 ● On sale April 14th, 2015
