Hilda's Mexican Cookbook

Sound familiar?

You followed the recipe. It still came out wrong.

The tortillas crack when you fold them, or shrink back every time you roll.

The beans stay hard after four hours, or the broth is salty and the beans taste like nothing.

The rice comes out mushy, pale, or crunchy on top and burnt underneath.

The carne asada is gray and tough, even though you paid for the expensive cut.

The sauce from the can tastes like tomato soup, and you know it is not what your abuela made.

The person who knew how is gone, and nobody ever wrote it down.

It was never your fault. Nobody ever told you why.
This book does.

Hilda Durazo at her kitchen table in South Tucson — Hilda Durazo, South Tucson, Arizona

La libreta

Forty years in a tortilla shop. One ledger.

I was born on a ranch in Sonora. At six years old my mother put a bowl of flour in front of me and told me to make tortillas for the vaqueros. I asked her how much water. She said, "Enough." The first hundred went to the dogs.

In 1979 my husband Chuy and I opened Tortillería Durazo in South Tucson. For forty years I was up at four in the morning. Eleven hundred tortillas before the sun came up. And in the back I kept a ledger: orders, flour prices, who still owed us twelve dollars, and little by little, every measure my mother refused to give me.

"You never know which question you forgot to ask until the person who knew the answer is gone."

When my granddaughter could not make my tortillas alone and called to ask how much water, I heard myself say "Enough." That frightened me. So I finished the ledger. Every recipe, every measure, and under every step, the reason why.

Hilda DurazoSouth Tucson, Arizona

Look inside

Real pages. Big type on purpose.

This is exactly what opens on your phone while you cook.

Page 82 · Everyday Flour Tortillas. Exact measures, and under every step the reason why.

Page 171 · Frijoles de la Olla. Salt at the start, a pot that whispers, and beans that finally soften.

Page 212, If it went wrong and the shelf arithmetic

Page 212 · If it went wrong. What happened, and how to save dinner instead of throwing it out.

Page 525 · El Recetario. 33 recipe cards at the back, made to print and keep by the stove.

Page 33 · My Mother's Kitchen. The ranch, the mesquite, and where every recipe came from.

Page 16 · The Five Laws. Learn them once and you stop needing the recipe.

← swipe · tap a page to enlarge →

What's inside

27 chapters. Every one solves something.

p. 76

Flour tortillas that bend instead of crack — the dough, the two rests, and a table of every way they can fail.

p. 166

Beans that finally soften — why salt goes in first, and why the broth never goes down the sink.

p. 190

Red rice that comes out loose — toast it, stir once, leave it alone.

p. 131

The red chile sauce that opens every red dish: enchiladas, chile colorado, tamales.

p. 204

Carne asada the Sonoran way — the cheap cut, the hot fire, the knife across the grain.

p. 274

Pork chops that stay juicy, and the one tool that costs less than four dry chops.

p. 288

One chicken, three dinners — roast on Sunday, caldo on Monday, tinga on Tuesday.

p. 340

Freezer burritos that reheat soft in the middle instead of frozen or rubber.

p. 421

Tamales and the tamalada — how to run the day with the whole family.

p. 475

The Frugal Week — two full weeks of dinners on one shopping list, the list already written.

p. 494

Feeding a crowd — carne asada for thirty, the birthday table, the funeral table.

p. 512

Sunday Tortilla Day — one afternoon a month and your freezer is full.

And machaca, caldo de queso, menudo, pozole, carnitas, chimichangas, the Sonoran hot dog, coyotas, capirotada, café de olla…

Every recipe has

Not just steps. The knowing.

Exact measures

Cups and spoons first, grams in parentheses. No "a little of this."

The why

Under every step, the reason. Once you know why, you stop needing the recipe.

If it went wrong

Hard beans, cracked tortillas, bitter sauce: what happened and how to save it.

Hilda's notes

The shortcuts she allows, the ones she won't, and what Chuy got wrong.

Page 16

The five laws of my kitchen

Dough tells you.Flour needs fat, and dough needs rest. If it fights you, it has not rested.

The fire does the seasoning.Water takes flavor away. Dry heat and a hot comal add it.

III

Salt early, lime late.The rule behind half the hard beans and gray steaks in America.

Cheap cut, long time — or thin cut, hot fire.Never in between. That is how the cheapest meat becomes the best in the house.

Nothing leaves this kitchen but the dishes.One pot, three dinners. Yesterday's tortilla is tomorrow's chilaquiles.

The shelf is not your grandmother

The honest arithmetic

Nobody adds up what "I don't know what to cook" really costs. Here is a typical month.

The tired-night way

Takeout, twice a week $25–40 a night
Taco kits and seasoning packets $5–8 a box
Canned sauces and jarred salsa $3–5 each
Frozen burritos $2–4 each
Half a rotisserie chicken in the trash every week

A typical month$250+

Hilda's kitchen

Flour, beans, rice, masa pennies a serving
One chicken, planned three dinners
Red chile sauce from a $3 bag four batches
Ten freezer burritos one afternoon
Two weeks of dinners on one list

The same monthfar less

Your numbers will be different. The point is not: one skipped takeout night pays for the book.

Who this book is for

For anyone who wishes somebody had shown them.

For the one whose mother or grandmother cooked like this and never wrote it down.

For the one who grew up on the yellow box and the orange packet and wants the real thing.

For the one who has cooked for fifty years and still cannot get the beans soft.

For the one who is not Mexican at all and simply loves this food.

For the one feeding a family on a budget who wants dinner to stretch.

For the one who never had anybody standing next to them at the stove.

Instant download

Hilda's Mexican Cookbook

The Old Sonoran Way to Feed a Family

595 pages, 27 chapters, 110 recipes
Exact measures and the reason under every step
"If it went wrong" after every recipe
Two frugal weeks of dinners, shopping lists written
Feeding a crowd: quantities per person for 30
33 printable recipe cards for the stove
Big type, made to read on your phone

$79$39Save $40

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Seven days, my word on it. If the book is not for you, write within 7 days and you get your money back.

How it works

On your phone in a minute

You pay

Through Gumroad's secure checkout. Card, Apple Pay or PayPal where available.

The book opens

Right after payment. Phone, tablet or computer. Nothing to install.

It stays in your email

The download link is in your receipt, so you can open the book again any night you cook.

Nothing ships. It is a PDF. Print any page you like at home.

Questions, answered honestly

Before you buy

Is this a printed book you mail me?

No. It is a PDF, a file you open on your phone, tablet or computer the moment you pay. Nothing arrives in the mail. You can print any page at home, and the 33 recipe cards at the back are made to be printed and kept by the stove.

I am not a good cook. Is this too hard for me?

It is written for somebody standing in the kitchen with nobody to ask. Exact measures, numbered steps, and under every step the reason it is done that way. After every recipe there is "If it went wrong," so a bad pot can be saved instead of thrown out.

Do I need special ingredients or tools?

No. Chapter 2 is the whole pantry, twenty-five things, most already in your cupboard, with a table of substitutions. A heavy skillet does the work of a comal. Nothing in the book needs a specialty store.

Is it in English or Spanish?

English, plain and warm, with the Spanish kitchen words a grandmother would use: comal, olla, manteca. Every Spanish word is explained the first time it appears.

I am not good with computers.

You do not need to be. You pay, the book opens, and the link is saved in your email. If something does not open, reply to your receipt email and we will walk you through it.

Is this a subscription?

No. One payment, one time. No membership, no monthly charge, no free trial that turns into a bill.

What if I lose the file?

Your download link lives in your receipt email from Gumroad. Open that email again and download the book as many times as you need.

What if I don't like it?

Write within 7 days of your purchase and you get your money back. I would rather that than have you feel taken.

Hilda's Mexican Cookbook

Your family's table starts with one pot of beans.

If you ever wished somebody would stand next to you at the stove and tell you what to do, this is me, standing next to you.

$79$39

Get My Copy →

Instant PDF595 pages7-day refund

Flour, fat, fire and time. The rest is just talking.
— Hilda