[This book is a Dean Tudor pick of the month.]

Tacos is by Mark Miller, the acclaimed chef-founder of Coyote Café in Santa Fe; he’s also written some nine books on food. He is assisted by one of his sous-chefs, Ben Hargett, and Jane Horn, a cookbook writer and editor. Miller gives us 75 recipes for this epitome of street food. The filling is the heart of the taco, and Miller concentrates on that aspect. His chapters are divided by content: vegetables, chicken, seafood, pork, beef, lamb, with others covering breakfast, salsas, sides and drinks. The preps are nicely complemented by the photography. His techniques are useful for making your own tortillas and then crisping them into tacos. Other techniques cover blackening tomatoes and roasting chiles. He has many preps for salsas and accompaniments. Each filling recipe has suggestions for the best tortilla choices, salsas, sides and drink. Heat levels are indicated in the cook’s notes, as are prep times. There is a concluding glossary section on ingredients and techniques. Sources of supply are all US. Avoirdupois measurements are used, but there is no metric table of equivalents. Audience and level of use: Tex-Mex food lovers who want to expand their horizons. Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: chicken tinga; Yucatan chicken with achiote; Thai shrimp; lobster and avocado; grilled beef with porcini; blackened jalapenos with eggs and cheese; potatoes with chile rajas and scrambled eggs. The downside to this book: nothing obvious. The upside to this book: there are drink recommendations (wines, cocktails, beers) for each dish.

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