The Latin Road Home: Savoring the Foods of Ecuador, Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru

I am Ecuadorian and I love cooking all sorts of food. That being said, this book is great if you are looking for latin food with a twist.The recipes in the book are classic Ecuadorian dishes (and other latin countries as well) revised. For instance, I have never had a ceviche in Ecuador with avocado in it, but that is the recipe in the book.I have cooked a lot of dishes from this book already, and they all have a great flavor, HOWEVER, most of the recipes have the cooking time wrong. For instance, the pork for the Cubano sandwich takes twice as long to reach the desired temperature (from 45 to 90 minutes), and the beans from the mexican section take half as long to reach the desired consistency.I can forgive this mistakes for the strength this book has in terms of the flavors and cooking techniques.Some people have commented on the fact that this book is not for beginners, I agree. Especially since many of these traditional recipes take many hours of preparation, for instance the Ecuadorian Fig desert, takes about 3 days to be completed. But that is not Garces fault, it is actually the beauty of this book because you get to season something, let it rest for a day, and have an explosion of flavors!So enjoy and cheers to cooking !

Beautiful recipes that taste like home. I'm from Puerto Rico and the Cuban section is wonderful.My brother-in-law is from Spain and we enjoyed cooking together. The duck tapas were a hit. We also made the seafood Spanish noodles paella style. There's a Spanish import store and the owner was impressed by the book.My sister-in- law is from Ecuador when I gave her a copy we had fun cooking the pumpkin soup with crab. It was delicious.I've travelled to Peru and Mexico. These recipes are culinary postcards of my travels around the world. The meal suggestion have lead to a couple themed dinner parties that has wow'd my friends.I have been cooking from this book for close to 9months and it still is my first book to reference for special meals.I have owned a Caja China cooker for 4 years and the book shares the authentic cooking styes.I hope these meals can bring joy to others hearts.

Yes the book is beautiful and nicely presented...the first recipe I tried the cubano did not meet expectations. First the cooking time, my roast was 2.5 pounds but I still can't imagine even a 2 pound roast cooking to 175 degrees in 45 min at 325 degrees. I read a blog where another person also questioned the time, she said her roast was still raw after 45 minutes. But aside from the cooking time, the roast was Very salty!! Yes I used kosher coarse salt and I did rinse it. There was way more marinade than needed for a 2 pound roast. I ended up scraping off most of it because it was so salty and overwhelmed the pork. I realize you are going to slice the pork, but the roast was not very appealing when it came out of the oven. This recipe did not inspire me to try more recipes from the book. I did not want to give the book even 3 stars but it is beautiful and it is only one recipe. If and when I try additional recipes I will update my review. I hope others will critique this book AFTER trying some of the recipes first.

this is a very interesting cookbook - lots of family travelogue, country history and culinary info to go along with some enticing recipes. Haven't made anything out of it yet, but I did enjoy reading it. Yes, I'm one of those types who collects cookbooks and reads thru them like novels! : ) I'm a foodie with an extremely well-stocked pantry, and I will say most of these recipes would require me to hit the Latin market for one or two things I don't already have. So, if you're not into sourcing specialty ingredients, and you're looking for a more "Americanized" Latin cookbook, this one isn't for you.

Love this book, it's not just a cookbook....... it's also a journey!!! I really enjoyed reading the stories as well as making the recipes. I felt so connected to the food as I was cooking because of the stories. I am from New York and recently moved to Tennessee, so some of the ingredients are hard to find for me now but Jose Garces gives you some alternative ingredient ideas which was brilliant because I could still make the recipe with my limited latin resources. Get this book, you won't regret it.

This is a most attractive book and contains lots of information about the Latin American countries covered. The photography is very beautiful, too. My enjoyment of owning it was spoilt somewhat by the way in which it was sent to me; badly packaged, the corners of this hefty book have been damaged in transit. I was disappointed, too, that Jose Garces doesn't cover more of the Latin American countries (he only gives us a small selection of recipes from Ecuador, Spain, Cuba, Mexico and Peru). However, I am pleased to have it and will refer to it from time to time.

The recipes are amazing but his stories make the book. I have been to several of his restaurants and the food is always wonderful! He’s extremely talented and the recipes are not real complicated!

This was a Christmas gift for my daughter and she absolutely loved it! She loves making some of the dishes featured.

great & easy to follow mix with most ingredients readily available in any big city..good background on the countries & food featured.

You will need to go to Latin groceries store or online for some of the ingredients, nice pictures and appealing recipes...I have not tried one yet.