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The cookbook from Lupe's YouTube kitchen

My mother never wrote a recipe down. So I did.

196 old Michoacán recipes from fifty years in one Chicago kitchen. Measured in American cups, with the store and the brand for every ingredient, so it comes out right the first time.

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Lupe's Mexican Kitchen by Lupe Ochoa, book cover
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in one Chicago kitchen
Sound familiar?

You did everything the bag said

And it still came out wrong.

Your beans are still hard after four hours on the stove.
Your rice comes out wet, pale and stuck in one lump.
Your corn tortillas crack the second you fold them.
Your carne asada comes off the grill gray and chewy.
Your enchiladas melt into one soft casserole.
Your tamales come out heavy and dry in the middle.

None of that is your fault. Somebody printed the short version on the back of a bag, and nobody ever stood next to you and told you why. In this book, I stand next to you.

Lupe Ochoa in her kitchen in Chicago
Lupe Ochoa · Little Village, Chicago
A letter from Lupe

Sit with me a minute, mi niña.

I was born in Quiroga, Michoacán, in 1948. My father cooked carnitas in a copper cazo in the plaza every Sunday. My mother never learned to read. She measured with her hands and a chipped blue cup.

In 1972 I came to Chicago and cried in my first American grocery store. No masa, no dried chiles, nobody knew the word tomatillo. So I learned to cook her kitchen from what an American store sells, and I wrote every answer down.

Fifty years later there were fourteen notebooks. This book is those notebooks.

Lupe
Lupe Ochoa · cooking in the same Chicago kitchen since 1972
What they told you

Six things you were taught backwards

Every one of these is explained, step by step, in the book.

They told you
"Never salt beans until they are soft."
What really happens

Salt at the start seasons the bean all the way to the middle while it cooks. Salt at the end only sits in the broth. That is why your beans taste flat in salty water.

Chapter 3 · The Pot of Beans
They told you
"Rice, water, boil, lid."
What really happens

Mexican rice is toasted in fat first, then cooked in a liquid you build and taste before it goes in. Plain water gives you rice that tastes like water.

Chapter 4 · Rice and Fideo
They told you
"Hard-boil your eggs in a pot of water."
What really happens

Steam cooks them gently and evenly, and the shell slips off in big pieces. No green ring, no torn whites.

Chapter 8 · Eggs and Breakfast
They told you
"Marinate carne asada overnight."
What really happens

Lime keeps working on thin meat and turns the outside gray and mushy. Salt first, lime for one or two hours, then a very hot fire and a cut across the grain.

Chapter 12 · Beef
They told you
"Tortillas go straight from the bag."
What really happens

A cold tortilla cracks. Thirty seconds a side on a hot, dry comal wakes it up so it bends and tastes like corn again.

Chapter 5 · Tortillas and Masa
They told you
"Bake the enchiladas for 30 minutes."
What really happens

Pass each tortilla through hot fat, then through warm sauce, roll, and serve. No long oven. That is how they stay enchiladas and not pudding.

Chapter 9 · One Chicken, Many Dinners
What's inside

22 chapters, from the pot of beans to the Christmas tamales

Everyday American dinners done the old Mexican way, and the Michoacán dishes you will not find in other books.

1
Where to Shop and What to BuyThe eight dried chiles, cheeses, fats, brands, and what to walk past
2
The ToolsComal, cast iron, clay pot, molcajete, blender, Instant Pot
3
The Pot of BeansFrijoles de la olla, refritos, charros, borrachos
4
Rice and FideoRed, white and green rice, sopa de fideo, rice for 25
5
Tortillas and MasaCorn and flour tortillas, gorditas, sopes, quesadillas
6
SalsasTwelve salsas, guacamole that stays green, pickled onions
7
The Red and Green Mother SaucesThe one red sauce that opens half of Mexican cooking
8
Eggs and BreakfastHuevos rancheros, chilaquiles, machaca, Mexican oatmeal
9
One Chicken, Many DinnersCaldo, tinga, enchiladas, flautas, chicken thighs in adobo
10
More Chicken, and the Thanksgiving TurkeyJuicy breast, mole, wings, a turkey with adobo butter
11
My Father's PorkDon Aurelio's carnitas, chile verde, pork chops that are never dry
12
BeefCarne asada the right way, birria, barbacoa, pot roast
13
Ground Beef and the Weeknight TablePicadillo, albóndigas, taco night done right, Mexican spaghetti
14
Soups and CaldosPozole three ways, menudo, sopa tarasca from Michoacán
15
Fish, Shrimp and LentFish tacos, shrimp cocktail, salmon cakes, a week of Lent Fridays
16
Vegetables and SidesCalabacitas, elote, nopales, Mexican potato salad
17
TamalesThe masa that floats, red, green and sweet tamales, uchepos and corundas
18
Holidays and Cooking for a CrowdChristmas Eve, pozole for 40, a party for 100
19
Sweets and BakingFlan, tres leches, conchas, rosca, Abuelita chocolate cake
20
DrinksCafé de olla, champurrado, horchata, jamaica
21
Keeping, Freezing and Caring for the KitchenThe freezer, the comal, the clay pot, the stains
22
The Two-Week TableTwo weeks of dinners on one shopping list, cooking for one or two

Plus Lupe's letter, the ten Quiroga Rules, a "When it goes wrong" table, safe temperatures and 30 printable recipe cards.

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Look inside

See the pages before you buy

Real pages from the book, so you know exactly what you are getting.

The contents
The contents22 chapters, front to back
3.1 · Frijoles de la Olla
3.1 · Frijoles de la OllaEvery recipe opens with a story
How I do it
How I do itNumbered steps and what they told you
11.1 · Don Aurelio’s Carnitas
11.1 · Don Aurelio’s CarnitasMy father’s plaza recipe
17.1 · The Tamal Masa
17.1 · The Tamal MasaThe dough that floats
The Quiroga Rules
The Quiroga RulesTen rules from my mother and father
When It Goes Wrong
When It Goes WrongThe trouble, why, and the fix
The recipe cards
The recipe cards30 cards to print for the cabinet door
The Two-Week Table
The Two-Week TableFourteen dinners, one shopping list

Tap a page to see it up close.

From the front of the book

The Quiroga Rules

  1. Taste the water before the food goes in.
  2. Brown it before you wet it.
  3. Fat carries the taste. Water only carries water.
  4. Lime is the last guest at the table.
  5. Small bubbles. A pot that boils hard cooks badly.
  6. Hands off the lid.
  7. Resting is cooking too.
  8. Buy where the shelf moves fast.
  9. Bones, broth, stale tortillas: nothing good goes in the trash.
  10. Cook on Sunday, eat all week.

Ten rules from my mother and father. The stories behind each one are in the book.

Get your copy

Lupe's Mexican Kitchen

Everything from fourteen notebooks, in one book.

Book cover

The complete book

by Lupe Ochoa
  • Over 760 pages in big, easy print
  • 196 recipes with exact American measures
  • "When it goes wrong" and a "Chicago note" in every recipe
  • Don Aurelio's carnitas and a whole tamales chapter
  • Two weeks of dinners on one shopping list
  • Holiday menus and cooking for a crowd
  • 30 printable recipe cards
$39$79SAVE $40
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Questions

Answered plainly

The short answers to what people ask most.

No. Every step says what it should look, sound and smell like, and every recipe has a "When it goes wrong" box. If you have cooked for forty years, you will still find the why behind things you were taught.

No. Every recipe works with a normal American grocery store, and each one tells you exactly what to buy and which brand.

Only as spicy as you make it. Most dried chiles in Mexican cooking are mild, and I show you how to leave the heat out for the children.

No. You pay once and the book is yours. Nothing renews.

Reply to your receipt email within 7 days and you get your money back. You do not have to explain why.

Yes. It opens right after you pay, on any phone, tablet or computer, and the link also comes to your email. The print is big on purpose, so you can read it from the counter while you cook.

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