Features
Hardcover: 206 pages
Publisher: Cookbooks; 1st ed edition December 1997
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0688155030
ISBN-13: 978-0688155032
Product Dimensions:
10.5 x 8.5 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
Product Review
Take the flavors and culinary traditions of South America, add the influence of European cuisine, and you have Chef Rafael Palomino's Bistro Latino. As the title suggests, Bistro Latino is an innovative synthesis of European and New World flavors, and it is striking how easily Palomino moves between the cuisines. The lemony seafood salads common to the Mediterranean are replaced with the ceviches of Peru and Colombia. Dishes such as Roast Chicken with Jalapeños and Yuca put a distinct South American twist on traditional French bistro fare. These combinations are natural for Palomino. In his native Colombia, Latin cuisine is in itself a rich brew of indigenous, Iberian, African, Asian, Caribbean, and North American influences. Add to that early apprenticeships in New York and French restaurants, and it's easy to understand the birth of Bistro Latino. As with traditional bistro cooking, Palomino emphasizes modest, down-to-earth food. However, the similarities stop there. Bold Latin flavor combinations and ingredients transform simple dishes. Fish Baked in Fresh Tangerine Juice and Parsley blend sweet citrus, woodsy mushrooms, and tender whitefish into an entrée teeming with brightness. In fact, the beauty of Bistro Latino is the simplicity. All the recipes are easily prepared at home and require only modest culinary skills. Palomino also does an outstanding job laying out the basics of Latin cooking. The ingredients glossary is extremely helpful to anyone new to the cuisine, and the recipes for basic sauces such as Aji and Hogo, as well as those for salsas and vinaigrettes, are excellent. Bistro Latino is an exciting new approach that guarantees Latin cuisine will never be the same. --Mark O. Howerton
From Publishers Weekly
Restaurateur Palomino (with the assistance of food writer and editor Moskin) comes up with some pretty wacky flavor combinations in this Latin-American fusion cookbook. Palomino is a native of Colombia, and the "straight" Colombian recipes, like those for Cheese Arepas (biscuits so ubiquitous in Colombia that teething babies gum them) and Bogotano Chicken Soup with Capers and Corn, are the most promising here. When Palomino mixes and matches, however, the results are often less appealing. Goat Cheese and Basil Tamales and Whipped Potatoes with Black Beans overreach to incorporate Latin ingredients in the cuisines of other cultures; if the instructions to rinse the arborio rice to be used in Sea Bass and Saffron Risotto are followed, the dish is a risotto in name only. Pan-Roasted Tuna Steaks with Crisp Yuca Crust are made not with fresh yuca but with packaged Terra Chips. Desserts such as Guava Pancakes and Espresso-Almond Brownies are less complicated finales (Palomino justifies the inclusion of chocolate desserts, which are not particularly popular in Latin America, by pointing out that the Mayans drank chocolate in A.D. 400). When sticking to simpler fare like Peruvian Roast Chicken with Purple Potatoes and many of the minimalist recipes in the section on grilling, Palomino is a more reliable guide than when he strains for some nuevo Latino flair.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reader Reviews
This is the quintessential cookbook in that every time I make something from it EVERYBODY and his mother wants the recipe (which I don't dare give out -- if they want it, they can buy the book)! Rafael is a secret waiting to be exposed -- hopefully on cable television with his own cooking show one day. Check out his other books from Chronicle -- they're not as well written (but don't blame the chef), but they make great companions to this spectacular volume.
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