Cooking through Rick Bayless's 'Mexico: One Plate at a Time'

I've been a fan of mexican cuisine ever since my first taco night way back in early eighties. I discovered tacos at a friend's house when we used to have many eat-overs between the neighbourhood kids. I remember coming home excited to tell my mother that we have to make tacos! Considering that this was in Kingston, Ontario, tacos were really a product by Betty Crocker branded as Old El Paso.

On trips across the border to a town called Watertown, NY, I then discovered the more authentic mexican food of Taco Bell. I'm not lying when I say that I made specific trips to Watertown with some friends to specifically eat at Taco Bell. There was nothing like the Big Beef Burrito Supreme in our part of Canada.

Fast forward to today where I've been playing with mexican flavours for the last 10 years in the kitchen and every time I have learned something new. From enchiladas sauces to roasting my own cumin, I've given up on Old El Paso and I make my own taco season on-demand. My own chorizo, and I'm about to tackle the ultimate, my own Mole!

Anyone who's a fan of Top Chef would have definitely watched Top Chef Masters where actual top chef's battled in the kitchen to become THE Top Chef. I was amazed every time that I saw Rick Bayless on screen, talking with passion about food, flavours and his philosophies. I was inspired by him. He blew the judges away, along with his competitors with one dish, a Oaxacan mole. I realized that I had to learn this.

I became a follower of Rick Bayless on Twitter recently when I found a post of his on another blog. I sent him a tweet asking which of his books I should jump into to learn THE mole. He pointed me to 'Mexico One Plate At A Time' which I promptly ordered from Amazon and decided to crack it open over the christmas holidays, where I have the luxury of time to experiment and explore the flavours that Rick has documented within.

So I'm going to start sharing my adventures in this book on this blog since it sorely needs some content. If anyone would like to contribute with their versions of recipes from the book, Mexico: One Plate at a Time, please send me a message.