For Mely Martínez, cooking is a celebration—of good times spent with family and friends and of her Mexican culture. The best-selling cookbook author uses food to tell the story of Mexico and wants to bring everyone along on the journey. A go-to source for authentic Mexican dishes, Martínez is the author of three cookbooks published by the Rock Point imprint of The Quarto Group: The Mexican Home Kitchen (2020), La Cocina Casera Mexicana (the Spanish-language edition of The Mexican Home Kitchen, 2022), and her latest, Mexico in Your Kitchen (2024). All are guides to the best Mexican home cooking around, packed with photos and traditional easy-to-follow recipes for everything from tacos to ceviche and Mexican street food.
“For me, family is whoever you sit down for dinner with,” Martínez says. “The way I honor my culture is by always making an effort to represent recipes in the most accurate and authentic way, so they can be as close as possible to how they are eaten by families in Mexico.”
Martínez was born and raised in the Mexican city of Tampico, Tamaulipas, and now lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband of 40 years, with whom she shares a son. One of eight children, she could often be found in the kitchen as a kid, helping prepare food. She and her siblings spent their summers at their grandmother’s farm in the state of Veracruz, where chores included grinding corn for masa. At 20, she moved to southern Mexico and worked as a teacher, a job that allowed her to travel across the Yucatán Peninsula and sample cuisine— and start collecting recipes.
“Growing up and traveling in Mexico have helped me appreciate how rich Mexico’s cuisine is compared to that of other cultures,” Martínez says. “Mexico is topographically very rich, featuring mountains, grasslands, jungles, deserts, forests, and a vast coastline across two major oceans. These diverse biomes produce a variety of fruits and vegetables that is nearly unmatched.”
In 2008, after moving to Texas, Martínez started a bilingual blog, Mexico in My Kitchen, about cooking traditional Mexican food. Conceived with her then-teen son in mind—as a way to give him access to her recipes when he got older—the blog was a hit, and a cookbook author was born. Martínez’s first book, The Mexican Home Kitchen, compiles the traditional homestyle dishes enjoyed every day in Mexican households, with influences from states such as Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Veracruz, Puebla, Estado de México, and Yucatán. It includes recipes for stews, soups, and side dishes, as well as mole, enchiladas, picadillo, drinks, desserts, and more.
The success of The Mexican Home Kitchen inspired Martínez’s second book, Mexico in Your Kitchen, which she calls a complement to her first. In Mexico in Your Kitchen, Martínez presents an unintimidating approach to real Mexican cuisine, including recipes for chilaquiles, sopes, tacos al pastor, veggie tamales, and more.
“My first book featured the most classic and basic Mexican recipes, which served as an easy introduction to the world of authentic Mexican cuisine,” Martínez says. “This book expands on that and includes many easy recipes while also introducing more complex and regional recipes that true foodies will enjoy.”
Complete with photos, stories, and the author’s memories from Mexico, Mexico in Your Kitchen compiles more than 95 traditional dishes enjoyed in Mexico, from those beloved across the country to regional specialties. It delves deeper into the gastronomy of Mexico and includes dishes not found on restaurant menus and those made exclusively at home. The book features a section on antojitos—foods found at street stands—and Mexican baking, including the most iconic sweet breads in Mexican panaderías, local neighborhood bakeries. There are also recipes for Mexican breakfasts, including huevos rancheros and papas con chorizo; a section on Mexican food customs; lists of ingredients for Mexican cooking, including many kinds of dried and fresh peppers; and recommendations for tools and equipment.
tools and equipment. Martínez’s tip for newbie cooks: start with basic recipes, and always make an effort to source authentic ingredients. While Martínez says she’s an adventurous eater—“I am willing to try anything once”—those who use her cookbooks don’t have to be. “There’s a common misconception that all Mexican food is heavily spiced,” she says. “There are recipes in my books that do not have any spiciness. I would like people to be rest assured that you don’t need to be an adventurous eater or love spicy food in order to enjoy Mexican food.” All you need is to love cooking and spending time with family and friends over a great meal.
