The Mexican Cook

The Mexican Cook is considered the most important 19th-century recipe book in Mexico. It brings together a mixture of French, Spanish and Creole-influenced recipes, as well as indigenous elements. The compilation reached numerous editions and transcended Latin America and the Caribbean through-out the 19th century, either as The Mexican Cook, or in its later editions which changed the title to The New American Cook.The extent of its influence has been reviewed and documented in the South American region, such as Peru and Venezuela, as well as in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. The first edition transcended American recipe books, because of the compilation of recipes, as well as the structure and layout. It started a publishing genre in Mexico and the rest of the continent that captured the identities of the nascent American countries, not only through the cuisine, ingredients and preparation techniques but also through the recovery of the language itself used in this cultural area. It also included indications for special recipes for different diseases, which are repeated in other regional recipe books.