Image: Original book: anonymous work Scanning: La Gazette Drouot · Public domain
El Cocinero Mexicano
- Year
- 1831
- Era
- 19th century
- Origin
- Mexico · Americas
- Language
- Spanish
- Category
- Latin America
El Cocinero Mexicano, issued anonymously in Mexico in 1831, is widely regarded as the earliest printed cookbook produced in independent Mexico. Compiled in the immediate aftermath of independence, it gathers recipes drawn from criollo kitchens alongside Spanish, French, and Indigenous influences, helping to codify a distinctly national culinary identity in print. Its appearance marks a foundational moment in Latin American gastronomic literature and remains a primary source for nineteenth-century Mexican cookery.
Cooking from this book
Mole poblano
Signature dishFew dishes evoke the spirit of this pioneering Mexican volume more than mole poblano, the deep, complex sauce of chiles, spices, seeds and a whisper of chocolate spooned over turkey. As the first printed cookbook from independent Mexico, the work helped codify a creole culinary identity that blended Indigenous and Spanish traditions, and mole stands as its most emblematic expression: festive, layered, and unmistakably national in character and ambition.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
