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Mary Sue Milliken
Mary Sue Milliken may be “a gringa from the Midwest,” but she fell deeply in love with Mexican food when first introduced to it more than 20 years ago. She and fellow chef Susan Feniger became friends in the late ’70s while working in the otherwise all-male kitchen of a prestigious French restaurant in Chicago called Le Perroquet. After honing their skills in fine restaurants in France and America, they opened their first restaurant, the highly celebrated City Café, in Los Angeles in 1981. These days, they divide their time between their three restaurants, Border Grills in Santa Monica and Las Vegas, and the upscale Ciudad in downtown Los Angeles. They also have authored five previous cookbooks, including Mexican Cooking For Dummies, host the popular Television Food Network series, Too Hot Tamales, and are heard regularly on Southern California radio.
Articles & Books From Mary Sue Milliken
Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-27-2016
If you're new to cooking Mexican food, you're in luck — this Cheat Sheet offers tips for cooking festive and delicious Mexican dishes and a look at different types of chiles to give just the right flavor to your South-of-the-Border meals. In addition, handy charts help you convert cooking temperatures and measurements.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
If you love to cook (and eat) Mexican food, these terrific tips will help you make the most of preparing delicious, festive Mexican dishes and beverages:
Garnish freely. That doesn't mean a sprig or two of wilted parsley strewn across a plate. In the Mexican kitchen, the garnishes — fresh diced onion, sliced radish, chopped cilantro, lime wedges, diced chiles — are integral to the dish.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Most Mexican restaurants offer flan, a classic caramel-flavored, sweet and silky vanilla custard. The perfect make-in-advance dessert, flan is a soothing custard finale to spicy foods, and, as an added bonus, it keeps for a few days in the refrigerator without losing freshness or flavor.
Credit: PhotoDisc, Inc.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Fresh fruits and vegetables are an integral part of everyday eating in Mexico. Fruits — beautifully sliced and seasoned — are sold on the Mexican street as snacks. And vegetables, besides being used in Mexican sauces, stews, and garnishes, are also eaten as snacks throughout the day. Here are some Mexican-food fruit and vegetable essentials:
Avocado: Pebbly-skinned greenish brown Hass have a rich, nutty flesh that strikes the perfect balance with fiery Mexican foods.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Banana-Stuffed Mexican Toast with Coconut Syrup appeals to morning sweet lovers. This Mexican-style French toast features a stuffing of mashed bananas, a cinnamon-scented egg wash, and a topping of homemade coconut syrup.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yield: 2 servings
1 (4-1/2-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 pieces crusty white bread, about 1-inch thick
1 large or 2 small ripe bananas
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
Combine the coconut milk, coconut, and brown sugar in a small heavy saucepan.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Guava cheese puffs, delicious fruit- and cheese-filled tarts, really show the Mexican kitchen’s knack for combining sweet and salty. You can find guava paste in the jam and jelly section or the ethnic section of the supermarket.
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 2 1/2 hours chilling
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup grated añejo cheese
2 pieces puff pastry, 1/2 pound each
1 egg
3/4 cup guava paste
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice or 3/4 cup other fruit jam or puree
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Combine the cream cheese and añejo cheese in a bowl, mixing well with a spoon.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Handmade corn tortillas have a pebbly texture and a definitive, earthy corn flavor. You can make corn tortillas yourself with the help of a tortilla press. Impress your friends with your Mexican-cooking, corn-tortilla-making expertise:
Combine 2 cups masa harina and a pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl.
Use a spoon to incorporate the salt into the masa.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
In Mexico, tortillas are often made by hand before almost every meal. The taste of a good homemade flour tortilla adds an extra dimension to any Mexican dish. Make your own flour tortillas for the next Mexican feast you prepare:
Place 3 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup (plus 1 tablespoon) shortening, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt in a bowl.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Colorful liquados are sold all over Mexico at juice stands where you can get an instant, made-to-order fruit milkshake. This strawberry banana liquados recipe gives you that juice-stand experience in your own kitchen. (If you’re not a milk drinker, water works just fine.)
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: 3 servings
1 banana
10 large strawberries
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups ice cubes
3 tablespoons honey
Peel and chop the banana.
Article / Updated 06-06-2016
The only thing that sounds like more fun than eating Mexican food is drinking Mexican drinks. Mexican beers, sangrias, and tequilas are so popular that they are the gateway for many people to tasting Mexican food for the first time. After you've munched on chips and salsa at a couple of parties, why not take the leap to tamales and empanadas, or to cactus (nopales) salad, the next time you're looking for an accompaniment to that ice chest of Mexican beers?