Chef Santiago Lastra takes his native cuisine to unexpected places in his cookbook debut, Mexican Soul (Quadrille, 2026).
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Lastra → take → debut
Using pistachios to make guacamole and mashed potatoes to make tortillas, he shows that Mexican cooking isn’t bound to a set of ingredients.
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cooking → use → ingredients
It’s a state of mind.
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It → ’ → mind
“My dream is to be able to showcase the quality of Mexican cooking, but also just the diversity of it,” says Lastra.
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Lastra → showcase → it
“There’s an opportunity for people to make their food a little bit more Mexican, but more than just using very traditional recipes.”
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food → ’ → recipes
The first part of the book focuses on the foundations of Mexican food, with traditional recipes that illustrate its core elements.
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that → focus → elements
In the second part, Lastra features “Mexican Soul Recipes,” all of which use ingredients available in supermarkets year-round.
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all → feature → supermarkets
“I realized that I don’t cook as much Mexican food at home myself, and it’s always been this limitation of being outside Mexico that I believed was the problem,” says Lastra, who was born in Mexico City, raised in Cuernavaca and lives in London, England.
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who → realize → London
“But actually, it’s a combination of that, and just the way that we’re introduced to Mexican cooking that can sometimes be very complicated.”
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that → ’ → cooking
Lastra saw an opportunity to tell a story about the ease and accessibility of Mexican food — one that he says has already been established with other cuisines, such as Italian.
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he → see → Italian
If you have pasta, tomatoes, olive oil and garlic, you can make Italian food.
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you → have → food
Can Mexican food be done with three or four ingredients — and quick?”
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food → do → ingredients
Lastra considers sourcing fresh masa (made from ground nixtamalized corn) and its preparations, such as sopas, tamales and tortillas, the greatest obstacle to cooking Mexican food outside of Mexico.
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Lastra → consider → Mexico
“And the biggest challenge is being solved by the ingredient that everyone has — that is potatoes,” he says.
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he → solve → that
After years of research, Lastra landed on masa made with mashed potato and potato starch as a readily available alternative.
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“The tortillas puff, and they’re delicious, and they taste like mashed potatoes, but they have the texture of the tortillas.”
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they → puff → tortillas
In the first part of the book, Lastra “untangles” Mexican food by explaining what it is, how it tastes and sharing the “unwritten rules” that are common knowledge among Mexican cooks, along with traditional recipes.
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that → untangle → recipes
“It couldn’t be a Mexican cookbook without a guacamole made with avocados or a quesadilla made with corn masa or carnitas,” says Lastra.
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Lastra → make → masa
With Mexican Soul, he wanted to give people a foundation to build on, and then an invitation to play.
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he → want → foundation
“It’s hard to have innovative or different recipes if you don’t understand the source of what the tradition looks like.
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tradition → ’ → what
In restaurants, the more you strive to create something unique, the more complicated things become, says Lastra.
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Lastra → strive → something
Writing the book reconnected him to what it means to cook at home — to nourish and bring people together with limitations that don’t exist in fine dining.
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that → write → dining
“It feels very nice because you can cook with less.
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you → feel → less
And you can make things that are quick, delicious, beautiful and Mexican, but without having to overcomplicate (things),” says Lastra.
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Lastra → make → things
“This book is helping me understand food on such a different level, and now I do all these recipes all the time.”
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I → help → recipes
His brother and “right-hand man,” Eduardo, also makes them often, and they’re teaching their mother, Gladys, to make them, too.
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they → make → them
“She loves it.
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It’s just great, and they work, and it’s such a joy.”
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it → ’ → ?
After leaving Mexico at 18 and working in Michelin-starred restaurants abroad, he has dedicated the last decade to his native food culture.
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he → leave → culture
Mexican Soul is his story, says Lastra.
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Lastra → say → ?
Everywhere he’s been in the world, he may not have had Mexican ingredients, but he’s brought his cultural background, experiences and personality.
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he → have → background
“I think if you add Mexican soul to your cooking or to your everyday dishes, it just makes it brighter,” says Lastra.
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Lastra → think → dishes
“It’s just colourful, and it’s the way that we are as Mexicans.
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we → ’ → Mexicans
We like a party.
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We → like → party
We like sharing.
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We → like → sharing
We’re generous.
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I think those are the values you can add to your everyday ingredients to make them be Mexican.”
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them → think → ingredients
CHORIQUESO
Serves: 6
20 mL (4 tsp) vegetable oil
300 g (10 1/2 oz) fresh cooking chorizo, roughly chopped and any casing removed
200 g (7 oz) Emmental cheese
150 g (5 1/2 oz) fresh mozzarella
200 g (7 oz) pre-grated mozzarella
6 large flour tortillas
1/2 onion, finely chopped
30 g (1 oz) cilantro leaves, finely chopped
Step 1
Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat (you want to render the fat slowly) and fry the chorizo for 8-10 minutes until it starts to fall apart.
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it → chop → minutes
Place under the grill for 7 minutes or bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese has melted and is caramelized on the top.
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cheese → place → top
ALBÓNDIGAS
Serves: 4
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) ground beef
8 g (1 1/2 tsp) sea salt flakes
2 g (1 tsp) ground black pepper
15 g (1/2 oz) peppermint, with stalks, finely chopped
6 large eggs, hard-boiled and quartered
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1 quantity tomato caldillo (see recipe)
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
For the bread cream:
100 g (3 1/2 oz) crustless white bread
100 mL (3 1/2 fl oz/scant 1/2 cup) whipping cream
6 large eggs
1 roasted garlic clove
To serve:
Red Mexican rice
Bread or tortillas
Sliced cucumbers
Step 1
First, make the bread cream: combine all the ingredients and allow the bread to soak for at least 5 minutes.
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bread → grind → minutes
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
