I mentioned in my previous review acquiring two cookbooks at a local favorite shop that is no longer local; the shop is Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee WI. The second cookbook is Sugar Taco at Home, Sugar Taco apparently being a vegan taco joint in LA. There’s a little more vegan preaching in this book than I’d like, but no so much that it totally overtakes the recipes and yummy food. For a restaurant book, this surprisingly doable, and not overly chef-fy. Being a restaurant book though does men it’s going to have appetizer, main, sides, desserts, and drinks. There’s also a staples section, things like sauces, tortillas (definitely going to try out my new tortilla press here), and “cheese”s.
The one thing that kind of annoyed me about the book, and it’s totally not a deal breaker, is that there is a lot of recipes that are basically lists of other recipes in the book. Flipping back and forth to do that kind of thing is annoying.
Stuff I like? The diy but not in a totally fake way to fake meats. I don’t’ know where I saw this but I totally agree with the principle of “that which tries to be what it is not usually does not succeed; that which is ok with what it is but still scratches the itch of what it imitates will be good”. Carnitas that are actually jackfruit spiced accordingly, ditto for the barbacoa, carne asada from seitan (although this one is closer to fake meat attempting fakery), mushroom birria, queso fresco and cotija made from almonds (although the fresco does include agar agar), chicharrones that is seasoned rice paper not pretending to be pork skin, mostly looks like it agrees with the concept of not meat can be meaty without fake meating it.
I have spent approximately 20 minutes in Los Angeles in my life (on the interstate to get from Malibu to Pasadena), so I have no idea of the authenticity of the book’s presentation of LA Mexican food. That said, the reliance of standard Mexican spices and a lot of dried chiles leads me to think that maybe a lot of what’s here is actually a little more culturally authentic than Americanized; the reason this matters? It’s not as obvious or mundane to me coming from the north-central Midwest for most of my life, but having spent the past almost decade in the deep South.
Mostly, you get the kinds of recipes you’d expect at a Mexican taco place; in addition to a variety of tacos, there’s ceviche, flautas, burritos, nachos, margaritas, tamales, gorditas, enchiladas, agua frescas, conchas, horchata, paletas, elote, etc.. The emphasis on the scratch made, while also admitting that you can do something like refried beans from a can if you’d rather, is something I can appreciate.
Now I just need to decide if I wat to start working my way through this cookbook, or the other one. Both will happen, but I need to decide what to start on.