Cookbook Shelf: My Abuela’s Table

We all aspire to the perfectly styled food shots in dream settings found in cookbooks, magazines, and websites.  In sharp contrast, there are no food photographs in Daniella Germain’s new cookbook, My Abuela's Table: An Illustrated Journey into Mexican Cooking.  What you have instead is a beautifully illustrated collection of traditional recipes that capture the nostalgia and warmth of time spent preparing meals with family and friends.

My Abuela’s Table is the first cookbook by Germain, a graphic designer and illustrator based in Melbourne, Australia. The recipes were passed down by Germain’s mother Elsa, who before leaving Mexico, took careful notes while her own mother prepared her favorite dishes. During frequent visits to her family in Mexico City and their ranch in Veracruz, Germain learned to love them as well.

"I started cooking these recipes myself from around the age of seven but would also help out in my parent's Mexican restaurant [which] they had back in the early 80's when I was very young,” explains Germain.  “The bean dip was my 'speciality' at that stage.”

Years later, while completing a degree in communication design, Germain decided to illustrate her family’s recipes for a final project. A publisher brought in to judge the students’ portfolios took notice, leading to its eventual publication. 

Part photo album and part recipe book, My Abuela’s Table preserves the careful smudges and hand written directions of a personal journal.  Family preferences are noted in the headers – like the corn masa picadas topped with fried eggs and queso fresco Germain’s grandfather enjoyed for breakfast. Starting with essential equipment, pantry staples, and basic sauces, the 70+ recipes cover the kind of every day, well-prepared dishes made with simple ingredients that never seem ordinary.

Highlights include Albondigas (meatballs in chipotle sauce), Pierna de Cabrita (spicy leg of lamb), Pollo en Salsa de Almendras (chicken in almond sauce), Camarones a la Veracruzana (prawns Veracruz style) and Pulpos en Vino (octopus in wine).  For the holidays, there is Bacalao a la Vizcaina featuring a Spanish cod in full dress uniform, a stately turkey for Pavo de Bisabuelita (Great Grandma’s turkey), and wary looking pig in a Santa hat for the Pierna de Puerco Navideña. 

Desserts range from Buñuelos de Harina dripping in cinnamon syrup and Mantecado de Coco (coconut ice cream) to festive Pan de Muertos for the Day of the Dead and Rosca de Reyes for Three Kings Day.  A recipe for sugary Merengues ends with the even sweeter story of how her grandparents met as children.  With so much inspiration, you are sure to find many reasons to gather your own family around the table.

Here, Germain shares some of her favorite recipes with TLK.

Huevos Rancheros

Get the full recipe.

Chicken in Wine (Pollo en Vino)

Get the full recipe.

Spanish Cod (Bacalao a la Vizcana)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 bottled jalapeños
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 pounds cod fillets
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 1 potatoes, diced
• 1 small red pepper, diced

Get the full recipe.