The Feast of Santa Fe: Cooking of the American Southwest

A really in depth look at the cooking of New Mexico, well annotated and chock full of recipes, info and history. A winner that deserves a place in your cookbook collection.

I have a large collection of Southwest cookbooks, and have been cooking this food for half a century. If I could only keep one book, this would be it. The recipes are truly reflective of the kind of food that has been handed down for generations. There are lots of illustrations to make it easier to make some of the recipes like sopapillas. This is not a Tex-Mex cookbook, nor does it reflect the latest trends in Southwestern cooking. The author does explain how these trends have influenced the food of Santa Fe. The recipes are, for the most part, not difficult to prepare, but a novice cook may find some recipes challenging. This is also a good "reading cookbook", with lots of explanations and information. This book has nice sketches, but is not filled with photographs. It is meant as a working and reading book, not a decorative item.

This book is for those cooks who love the food from Santa Fe, N.M. and the surrounding areas. The recipes are not quick and easy cooking using a lot of pre-mixed ingredients but they are recipes for cooks who want to put a high quality meal on the table. The book offers recipes from soups, meats, side dishes, breads, to desserts from the Santa Fe style food. It is a lovely book for the discriminating cook.

This is a cookbook that I have owned for over 20 years...I had to replace mine as it wore out...that should be a testament to the quality of the content! If you want simple and easy to follow recipes that will get a great Mexican Meal on your table - buy this! For Example: A quick meal meat tacos with refried beans and Spanish rice Machaca: beef roast wrapped in foil with spices and chiles - baked for 2.5 hours. Refried beans in the crock pot 8 hours Taco shells with all the fixings Spanish style rice... This is a great cookbook that deserves a place on the shelf of any person interested in Mexican style cooking!

I got my first copy of this book with my first house, wore it out, bought another, wore that out and just bought a third. I’ve also given a few as gifts. It's a little old-fashioned now, but still full of information, entertainingly written and covers the history and traditions of Santa Fe cooking as well as providing hundreds of recipes, many that I’ve never seen elsewhere. Can’t recommend it strongly enough.

This is one great cookbook, Southwest style food is my favorite to eat and the most rewarding to cook in my opinion. I live on The North East Coast and frequently travel to the great west. The food is the most enjoyable and I want that authentic taste, that unique Southwestern flavor and this book does not disappoint. Depending on locations like myself not all ingredient's are readily available to you, so have a plan B for maybe a few things. My favorite dish is the Roast Turkey with Moble Poblano on page 92 and is no easy feat, it is what to make on a rainy Sunday.

This excellent book is an old friend which I used to borrow from my town library so often I think I wore it out. I've learned a lot and cooked a lot from it with great satisfaction. It is a wonderful introduction and comprehensive guide to a fascinating and rich cuilinary tradition with deep roots in New Mexico regional roots and peoples. Buy it. Learn from it. Cook from it. Repeat with gusto!

Great book with authentic recipes of the Southwest. I gave it 4 stars because most of the recipes require more time than I want to spend fixing them. I'm a shortcut cook during the week, probably doesn't taste as good as these recipes though.

Among a select list of cookbooks which can be read cover-to-cover in the manner of a particularly juicy novel, Feast of Santa Fe is a delicious, tempting and comprehensive introduction to the food and food culture of the Santa Fe region. It's also that rare thing: a literate cookbook, unafraid to reference Willa Cather alongside Elizabeth David. The author spices his informative mini-essays on the kitchens and ingredients of the region with a piquant blend of humour and practicality. One of the few regional cookbooks that accepts that accurate reproductions of the food it describes may not be possible (or even desirable) in the modern home, Dent hilariously and affectionately describes the authenticity obsessed cook "standing before their four-burner stoves with microwave and warming oven, the processor humming in the distance, but thinking in their imaginations that they are in fact barefoot and wearing sombreros". Reading and cooking through the book is like walking through the best kind of museum display. The recipes (by and large) come out very well without substantial adjustments and fill the house and table with the smells, flavours and colours of Santa Fe. A delightful culinary adventure in the damp British spring!