Rooted in Fire
A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
Next Level Chef winner Pyet De Spain celebrates her Mexican and Native American heritage in this collection of mouthwatering recipes, a vibrant fusion that ties us to the land and to one another.
Star chef Pyet DeSpain rose to prominence as the first winner of Gordon Ramsey’s Fox television show Next Level Chef. Now, in her debut cookbook, she shares the joy of cooking fueled by her burning passion for Native American and Mexican American cuisine. Rooted in Fire: A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking is a tribute to her dual heritage—a gorgeously crafted celebration of the diversity of food and the stories, traditions, culture, and profound philosophies of Indigenous people that season each meal.
Pyet shows you how to incorporate a delicious range of key ingredients—from venison, dandelion greens, to sunchokes, bison, and native berries—into more than sixty fusion dishes. Family and friends will be excited to gather around the table to enjoy sweet and savory food such as:
Three Sisters SaladBison and Sweet Corn SoupFry BreadMexican Chocolate & Mezcal CakeCorn Silk and Honey TeaWojapi BBQ Sauce
In addition to her inventive and palate pleasing recipes, Pyet invites home cooks to honor the seasons on our beautiful Earth and connect with essential foodways. “This is more than just a cookbook,” Pyet writes. “It’s giving a voice to Indigenous people, while also highlighting the fusion of my two cultures with fire and purpose.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Next Level Chef winner DeSpain celebrates her Potawatomi and Mexican heritage in this vivid debut. Offering a wealth of historical context, DeSpain celebrates the accomplishments of her ancestors, noting that Indigenous people discovered maple syrup and sugar production as well as intercropping, the process of growing the "three sisters" (corn, beans, and squash) together. She also shares a number of traditions practiced today, explaining, for example, that a "spirit plate" containing a small portion of every dish is created before large meals as a "ceremonial offering used by several Native American tribes throughout the country... as a gesture of respect and gratitude to the spirits." Using staple ingredients native to North America, DeSpain showcases traditional dishes such as three sisters salad, bison and sweet corn soup, and steamed white fish in corn husks, as well as her original creations, including roasted butternut squash with honey and habanero, blue corn strawberry tamales with coconut horchata sauce, and raspberry mezcal BBQ quail. Other highlights include jalapeño bison jerky, amaranth-crusted acorn squash, and a cake made with mezcal and Mexican chocolate. This will be a valuable resource for home cooks looking to learn more about Indigenous foodways.
